This year, Catherine Guerriere, previously the head of the Physical Education Department at Friends Seminary, has taken the role as the Co-Director of Athletics. Working alongside David Lieber, she keeps the community informed of the student athletic teams and looks for ways to continue growing and improving the athletic experience at Friends. 

To further involve the wider Upper School community with the athletics at Friends, Guerriere sends informative weekly emails with updates on recent sports events and keeps track of teams’ records, schedules and accomplishments. Additionally, she organizes fan-buses for Upper Schoolers who wish to attend games. “Supporting our student-athletes, helping to promote all sports at all venues, and drawing an interest from your peers, as students, and making more of an athletic culture here is something that I feel I can help with right away,” Guerriere explained. 

Guerriere also runs the recently-created @FriendsAtheltics instagram page, which allows for the wider community to engage in the progress of both Middle and Upper School athletic teams. She highlights both boys and girls teams in “Team of the Week” posts, which include descriptive updates on each team’s season and photographs of the athletes in action. Additionally, her Instagram series, “Spotlight on Senior Student-Athletes” sheds light on dedicated senior players, giving them an opportunity to share their experiences and memories on the team. “Right now, I think it’s great to have the social media piece pick up a bit for attention around our sports,” she said. 

Guerriere hopes to involve student input on decisions in the athletic programs and hear their voices on what can be improved. Through an organized meeting of Upper School captains, both athletes and faculty were able to discuss future goals and team-specific topics such as getting access to more soccer fields. “I really like the initiative of the captain’s coming together and having a voice. I would like our student-athletes to take ownership in their team, and help promote ways that we can bring attention to the highlights that we have week by week,” Guerriere stated. 

Guerriere has also coached various athletic teams for over 17 years, including the 7/8 Grade Girls’ Softball team and the Varsity Swim team. Through interacting with athletes and coaches, and attending many games and practices, her experience has shaped her vision for the athletic program’s future and enables her to view issues from athletes and coaches’ perspectives. “I think having experience as a coach for 17-plus years has helped my initiatives – right away from seeing it from a coach’s point of view and then helping to fill my administrator role.”

Guerriere’s goal is to find ways to make the community excited for the future of the program. In future seasons, she hopes to have more consistency with participation in both male and female sports, invite new coaches to the Friends community, and help bring teams to success. “What helps teams succeed–consistency, coaches who are definitely skilled, and bringing in outsiders that want to be a part of our community–is really important to strengthen our program,” said Guerriere. 

As the Friends athletic program evolves in new ways, Guerriere is thrilled to be a part of the process. “As I go season-to-season it’s exciting to see what I can–how we can make the community excited for the future of the program.”