No matter her position on the court, Kaity Healy says she \u2018tries to do the little plays that nobody likes to do, like taking a charge, getting a steal, getting a stop on defense.\u2019<\/p>\n
When Kaity Healy became captain of Seton Hall\u2019s women\u2019s basketball team three years ago, she hadn\u2019t yet played a single minute for the Pirates.<\/p>\n
The graduate of Colts Neck High School in New Jersey sat out her first season with the Pirates as a redshirt. And yet, before the start of the following season, and before she\u2019d seen any game action, she had taken over as a leader of the Pirates.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t name her a team captain,\u201d says head coach Tony Bozzella \u201989. \u201cShe earned the captaincy. She did a great job of becoming a leader. She had to earn it with her work ethic. \u2026 She was a good captain at the beginning, and now she\u2019s become a great captain.\u201d<\/p>\n
Healy remembers Bozzella telling her about the new role \u201cabout five minutes before he told the team. I was in a little bit of shock as well, but I was like, OK, whatever you need, Coach. I was so happy, and at the same time so nervous, but my teammates had my back, the coaching staff had my back, so it was a really easy transition.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leadership may have come naturally because of Healy\u2019s upbringing. Her mom, Jeanene, played basketball at Wagner College and then coached her daughter through high school. Healy\u2019s dad, Robert, played soccer at Greensboro College, but quickly transformed from a soccer guy to a basketball fanatic as she progressed with the sport. Her folks were her biggest supporters and role models. \u201cThey instilled in my sister and me a very blue-collar work ethic,\u201d Healy says. \u201cNose to the grindstone, don\u2019t worry about anything else, and the most important thing is the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
At practice and during games, Healy has adapted to whatever the Pirates needed. A 5-foot-6 point guard when she played in high school and during her first years with the Pirates, in her final season on the court at Seton Hall, with the team\u2019s new system, Healy started playing off the ball as well, a role change that saw her shooting the ball more. No matter her position on the court, she says she \u201ctries to do the little plays that nobody likes to do, like taking a charge, getting a steal, getting a stop on defense.\u201d<\/p>\n
Healy \u2014 an accounting major who is also getting her master\u2019s in the same field \u2014 altered her on-court play, and also adjusted her leadership style during her three years as a captain, saying, \u201cThe first couple of years I would definitely say it was more lead by example, and this year, because it\u2019s my last year and I feel like I\u2019ve grown so much as a person, I try to be a bit more vocal and still lead by example.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bozzella recruited Healy early out of high school, and when she was just a sophomore she committed to Iona College, where Bozzella coached before taking over at Seton Hall. She ended up following him to South Orange, where he watched her mature into her role as a captain and grow on the court as the strength work she put in during her redshirt season paid off. \u201cShe\u2019s much more vocal and holds the kids a lot more accountable,\u201d he says. \u201cI think early on it was hard for her, but she had to take that mantle and she did. It was important that she do that if we were going to be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Healy finishes playing, she wants to follow both her mother and Bozzella into the coaching world. But she\u2019s also inspired by trailblazer Edniesha Curry, an assistant coach for the men\u2019s basketball team at the University of Maine, who has a unique role in the male-dominated field.<\/p>\n
Healy explains, \u201cMy ultimate goal would be to be a men\u2019s college coach, either professionally, but mostly college \u2026 I feel like I have a really good I.Q. and feel for the game so hopefully I can just get an opportunity and get my foot in the door.\u201d<\/p>\n
When she does become a coach, she\u2019ll surely look for strong leaders and feisty, versatile players who remind her of a Seton Hall guard named\u2026Kaity Healy.<\/p>\n
Shawn Fury is an author in New York City.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" No matter her position on the court, Kaity Healy says she \u2018tries to do the little plays that nobody likes to do, like taking a charge, getting a steal, getting a stop on defense.\u2019 When Kaity Healy became captain of Seton Hall\u2019s women\u2019s basketball team three years ago, she hadn\u2019t yet played a single minute…<\/p>\n