By Holly D’Addio, Courier Sports
Writer:
For Valley Regional
High School junior Maria
Pecoraro, sports is just one more thing she can add to her repertoire of
activities she is involved with throughout the year. A member of the Valley
field hockey and lacrosse teams, she has also been a tap dancer for 13 years,
an avid volunteer at school and around town, and is very much involved with her
school community.
Maria started
playing field hockey when she was a seventh grader at John Winthrop
Middle School and joined
the intramural team.
“My older sister
played field hockey so I decided to try it after she talked it up,” says Maria.
“It sounded like a lot of fun and seemed like a different sport.”
Making varsity her
sophomore year as a left wing, Maria’s team went through some changes,
including a new head coach this season, and finished 2-10-4. Maria was named
Player of the Game this season by her coach and was also named a captain for
next season.
“Despite what our
scores said, we played pretty well this season,” says Maria. “We improved as a
whole and kept up with a lot of teams.”
Outside of Valley
field hockey, Maria has been playing indoor at the Madison Sports Complex
during the winter for three years. She has also attended clinics held at Valley
by both SCSU coaches and Phil Danaher.
In spring of this
year, Maria tried out for the lacrosse team for the first time and earned the
Most Improved Award for junior varsity.
“I was going to try
out my freshman year, but I chickened out,” says Maria. “I didn’t know anything
about lacrosse but I wanted to learn so a few of my friends that were already
on the team showed me some skills beforehand and I also knew the coach so the
transition was easier. Lacrosse is somewhat similar to field hockey and it
keeps me in shape up until field hockey season.”
Besides school
sports, Maria has been a tap dancer for 13 years now at the Dance with Gina
studio. She has taken weekly classes and has performed in a two-night recital
every May since she was two.
At Valley, Maria is
involved with the school musical during the winter, is a member of Student Council
and Musical Student Council as well as the women’s choir and Peer Advocates.
Maria also spreads
her time around with the Essex Parks and Recreation Department as a summer camp
counselor and has also been involved with Christopher’s Haven—an organization
for cancer children at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Once a year,
she helps out with an auction held as a fundraiser and this year’s auction fell
on Nov. 22.
Although college is
still some time away, Maria has set goals for herself to perhaps better prepare
herself for what lies ahead in her future.
“My biggest goal is
to really try to better myself,” says Maria. “Better my game, better my ability
as a player.”
Sidelines with Maria
Pecoraro
What is your most
memorable sports moment?
This past season in
field hockey we lost our second game against HK only 1-0 after we had lost to
them the first time we played them by like five or six goals. It just showed
how we put up more of a fight and improved during the season and were able to
step it up.
Who would you like
to thank?
Our new coach, Beth
Powers, for coming in and helping our team and sharing her experience with us.
I also want to thank my parents for always coming to my games and my mom
particularly for bringing food to many of the games. Also my boyfriend for
supporting me and coming to my games in his homemade T-shirts.
Pictured: Maria Pecoaro just finished her second varsity season with the Valley
field hockey team and looks forward to leading the team as a senior captain
next season.
Photo by Erik Johnson