Anne Goralczyk, a new coach for Saint Joe Girl’s Basketball, was a former student at Saint Joe and also a member of the girls basketball team. During her time on the team, she enjoyed having a place to release her competitive energy. She also liked the physical aspect of the sport. One of her favorite memories from playing basketball at Saint Joe was beating Marian in the holy war during her senior year. She had a great time celebrating with her teammates after the big win.

Goralczyk is now coaching for the Saint Joe Girl’s Basketball team. She decided to return as a coach because she still wanted to be involved with the basketball after stepping away from the game as a player. What she enjoys about coaching is the relationships she gets to make with the players as a coach.

“Because we are so close in age, I feel like I can be a role model for them. I also enjoy watching players grow and improve throughout the season; seeing them hit shots or make moves that they weren’t able to at the start of the season is super rewarding.”

One of her favorite memories from coaching this season was the JV Lowell game. It was her first time coaching the JV team, but they had a lot of fun. They created a really great atmosphere and it made her happy to see everyone enjoying themselves and playing hard. She also enjoyed beating Penn in the first C team game of the season. It meant a lot to her to start out on a win, and winning against Penn made it even better.

Along with coaching, she is also in college studying elementary education with minors in English as a Second Language (ESL) at Saint Mary’s College. After college, she plans to teach in a local school corporation and continue coaching.

Her advice for current players is to play every game like it’s your last. She also says to have fun because “too often, we forget that basketball is supposed to be FUN, and we wish the season away. Enjoy it while you can; it truly does go by so fast.”