Local coaches share keys to success

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In sports, as in life, good coaching is a key to success.

Manhattan College’s Steve Masiello, JFK Campus’ Johnny Mathis and Horace Mann’s Ray Barile all believe as coaches they need to make sure their players believe in their respective philosophies.

For this to be done, each said, a coach has to show passion for the sport, be smart, possess the capability to break down a game and recruit other players who are not only talented, but can improve each member of the team. Finally, a coach has to be fair and consistent with his team members as both players and people.

“There are so many factors that go into it,” Masiello said. “You have to incorporate all of them. That’s what makes coaching so difficult.”

Masiello, Mathis and Barile  said relationships with staff and players are also key as a means of showing interest in both their professional and personal well-being and the betterment of the program. The message is always about creating a legacy for them. To sum it up in one word: family.

Masiello said Manhattan was able to win back-to-back Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championships despite losing players such as Rhamel Brown and Michael Alvarado because current seniors Emmy Andujar and RaShawn Stores sustained the culture of what Masiello called “respected integrity.”

Players such as Brown, Alvarado, Andujar and Stores are the type of players who can relate to their teammates on a level a coach cannot, though they are hard to find. When they are available, that’s what separates the good teams from the bad ones, Mathis said.

“They go a long way in helping develop a team that you’re coaching,” Barile said. “It definitely makes my job easier.”

Off-court leadership is as much a repeated lesson as the on-court side of it, Mathis said.

“You have to help keep the next guy out of trouble,” Mathis recalled telling his team recently. “You can hurt your team in times of a big game. Make sure he’s doing his work.”

Manhattan College, JFK campus, Horace Mann, Steve Masiello, Johnny Mathis, Ray Barile, Jonathan Reyes
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