The junior varsity softball program recently hired a new head coach, Mana Parisi.
Parisi was officially assigned the post about a month ago, when she chanced to run into varsity softball coach Joe Long. According to Long, “she demonstrated a lot of ability to coach,” from her experience as a competitive athlete in college and San Ramon’s recreational league, her outgoing and confident personality, and nurse certification.
So far, Long has been pleased with his decision. “I think she’s brought a lot of excitement. She has a lot of enthusiasm and she’s very encouraging to the JV kids, who are somewhat inexperienced, and they are responding well to her coaching.”
The girls Parisi coaches are also pleased. According to co-JV team captain Sharon Maher, Parisi “is really very capable and she’s pushing us a lot harder than our coach last year did. This past month at least, everybody’s already grown a lot.”
Moreover, according to Maher, Parisi’s coaching techniques are much more effective. “It’s definitely more aggressive; learn by doing versus learn by watching or learn by thinking about it almost. If you don’t know how to field a ball, she’ll just hit a ball at you and see if you can do it, so it’s just more hands-on,” Maher said.
So far in her time here, Parisi has seen much that she wishes to do with the program. “There’s a lot that I want to improve. I want to make it more appealing,” she said. “I want to make it more desirable for kids to come and play softball. I want to keep the JV softball program alive. I want there to be a line out the door for people to come and try out.”
“I think it’s just nice to have a really qualified coach because it makes people want to play it more,” said Maher. “She’s very enthusiastic and she definitely wants us to behave like a team, and all the parts that come with that; if one person messes up, she considers all of us messing up. She definitely just has this positive team dynamic, which is what you need in a sport like softball.”
