The girls’ softball varsity team has been taken to new heights and challenges by head coach Ms. Suca. While she teaches Algebra 2 and math support by day, you can find her organizing and cleaning the fields by 8^th period. Her dedication to the team is shown through the family-like vibe and good chemistry of the team as a whole. Coach Suca began playing softball at the early age of five and went on to play for our very own Joliet West High School, of which the team made it to the state finals her junior year. Coach Suca continued to play softball at the college level at Indiana University. It was there, she claims, that she learned all of her techniques for coaching high school softball. One of the great things about the team is the avid communication between coach and athlete. Ms. Suca uses her two captains, Katie Bourg and Katie McKay, to communicate with the other athletes in an accurate and helpful way. “Coach Suca is strict, but fair. I feel that this year will be a good year to correct any mistakes and improve my technique before I play in college. This is a great year for experiences for the younger girls,” Katie Bourg said. In order to make the team’s goals, as well as the individual athlete’s, Coach Suca had the girls take time to talk and write about their personal goals and thoughts about practices to ensure that everyone is staying on track. Coach Suca expresses confidence in the team’s goal of winning half the games at their conference to make it to sectionals. Although their conference is the hardest one out of all, that does not affect Coach Suca’s optimism. She also likes to make sure that the girls stay well-rounded. Being a good student as well as a good athlete is very important to Coach Suca and her goals for the rest of the 2011 softball season.