Sophie Damiano is a Bellwood-Antis graduate (2017), and she is now in her first year as the head coach of the Bellwood-Antis volleyball team.
She has been coaching at B-A for four years in total.
Sophie’s decision to begin coaching at Bellwood made perfect sense. She played volleyball for Bellwood and she still lives in the Bellwood-Antis community. Along with playing volleyball here, Sophie played basketball in the winter, and ran track in the spring.
While Sophie was in high school, she was a part of many successful teams here. She got the chance to compete in three District title games in basketball along with making it to the final 4 in the state.
Recently, Sophie was able to accomplish something that she was never able to do in her high school career: she led her team to win the Bellwood-Antis High School Girls Volleyball Invitational. This was the first time a Bellwood team has won that tournament in more than a decade.
One of the best parts of coaching is that you get to see the development and improvement of your players. Sophie says that her favorite part of coaching is not only getting to see how the girls all grow as athletes, but as people too. She also says that she enjoys the interactions that she gets to have with the girls.
The volleyball team has found success in its new conference this year (the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference), with a 9-7 record against some of the top programs in Pennsylvania.
“Our team has battled hard this season. With new competition in the LHAC, I think we have stepped up to the plate and held our own,” says Sophie.
Sophie has high expectation for her team. Her goal for the this season is to make it to the District 6 finals.
“Not only would we get to compete for a District championship, but it would also give our team a ticket into the state playoffs,” she said.
Good luck on the rest of your season coach Damiano.
