New AD can see opportunities
By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
Kim Ciarrocca has already proven herself to be one of the top women’s lacrosse coaches in the country — she has 209 career wins to show for her 21 years as a head coach.
With her coaching career now behind her, Ciarrocca is ready to prove herself in a new environment — as an athletic director. On July 1, Ciarrocca began her new position at Stuart Country Day School, where she takes over leading the school’s health, physical education and athletic departments.
”I’ve lived in the tri-state area my whole life,” said Ciarrocca, who retired after the 2010 season as the head coach at the University of Delaware. “I was at Delaware for seven years and for 13 years before that I was at Temple University. Last year, in December before my season even started I announced my retirement and decided I was going to stop coaching Division I.
”I wanted to take a year off. I didn’t get to really see my own kids play sports. I was missing my daughter going to high school and I figured if I was going to be around this was the time. I decided I was going to retire. There was never a good time to do it. I still had the love of the game and I never wanted to leave the game not loving it anymore. I was still energized and I loved it but I felt like I was done with college coaching.”
Ciarrocca spent the last school year watching her daughter, Colby, play soccer and lacrosse at Montgomery High School. Her younger son, Cade, has also been involved with sports in the community.
”One of the things I really wanted to do was become an athletic director,” Ciarrocca said. “I just waited for the year and I was extremely lucky when this opened up.”
This will be her first administrative job after spending more than two decades as a head coach. But Ciarrocca has gained plenty of administrative experience while being a head coach, especially at the Division I level.
”The one thing with college coaching is I don’t think people realize how much administration we do,” said Ciarrocca, who enjoyed a standout playing career in field hockey and lacrosse at Temple University. “With all the compliance and NCAA rules there is a lot of administrative work that goes into it. From head to toe you run your own program. That was what I really loved about Delaware. It was pretty much them saying coaches here is your thing and you run with it.
”I did everything I’ll be doing here, which is wonderful and I will also be the PE and Health chair. That is what my degree is in and I am excited to be getting back to the school atmosphere.”
Ciarrocca conducted a lacrosse camp at Stuart and has already had a chance to meet several of the school’s student athletes. It’s been a nice way to slowly get to know everyone as the school year draws closer.
”I did a lacrosse camp here so I got a little taste of it,” Ciarrocca said. “I met some of the kids. Some athletes have been in for physicals and concussion tests and things like that. So I met a lot of parents who are coming in and some new students.”
Ciarrocca has a vision for what she would like to see the Stuart program become — and he main focus is on making sure the girls take advantage of the opportunities presented to them.
”The major thing I want to see is the girls have as many opportunities as possible,” Ciarrocca said. “There I so much out there for the girls, especially in this day and age. I’ve said to some of the upperclassmen I have met already that you learn so many valuable lessons from sports. You learn time management, teamwork, leadership and a lot of self-confidence.
”And whether you go on to play in college or not it is OK. But a lot of corporations and colleges are looking at things like what extra-curricular things have you done.”
And when Stuart has those athletes that are focused on playing at the college level, they have someone to turn to in Ciarrocca.
”If we do have that special athlete, they have someone they can come to,” she said. “They can come to me and say ‘Mrs. Ciarrocca, how do I go about this?’ One special thing I think I can bring is I am going to do college nights with the kids. I’ll bring in panels and some kids that have played or currently play, so our athletes can talk to them about how they got to where they are. I’ll be streamlining and making sure they are going in the right direction.
”I think Dr. (Patty) Fagin has great vision for this school since she has been here. I am looking forward to working with her and the whole staff. There are great opportunities and I just hope I can help them with it.”
Stuart’s program will grow this year with the addition of soccer as a fall sport. That is one thing Ciarrocca is already excited about.
”Our coach is Megan Lipski and she is energetic and fun,” Ciarrocca said. “I think she will bring a lot to the program. It’s one more sport that we have added. There are plenty of opportunities for people to get out on the field and be successful. I am looking forward to it.
”We’re looking to get more girls out. We have 21 girls out for soccer for its first year. So we’re excited about that. It will be a club. We’ll go full varsity next year. We’ll still be our traditional rich in field hockey, but now we also have soccer, which had to be added.”