Del Pizzo Resigns From J.V. Boys Tennis Coaching Position
Media by Lisa Del Pizzo
After 19 years of coaching, Matthew Del Pizzo announced his resignation from coaching j.v. boys tennis.
Del Pizzo will still continue to coach varsity girls tennis in the fall, but he said he wanted to resign from one coaching season in order to have more time with his wife Lisa and stepdaughter Nikki.
“I want to watch my step daughter play sports,” Del Pizzo said. “I have been watching everyone else’s kids play sports for 20 years, and I’m missing out.”
Del Pizzo also cited the time commitment of coaching as a factor in his resignation.
“The last couple of years, Lisa and myself had talked about stepping down, going on vacations and not being beholden to coaching all the time,” Del Pizzo said.
Although he is looking forward to more free time following his resignation, Del Pizzo said he would consider stepping back into the role when his stepdaughter leaves for college.
Anuraag Pujari, junior, has played on the j.v. tennis team for three years and said he was surprised by the announcement.
“I’ve gotten used to Del Pizzo’s coaching over the two years I have known him,” Pujari said. “It’s going to be a change to move a new coach in and see how they coach and manage our lineup.”
Pujari said the team will miss his humor and straight forward mentality. He gave an example from when he and his partner were losing in a doubles match.
“Del Pizzo pulled us aside and told us we should be destroying them,” Pujari said. “Eventually we won when we listened to his advice.”
Alex Nelle, varsity boys tennis coach, said the team will definitely miss Del Pizzo’s contributions.
“Having a coach as experienced as he is takes a lot of things off my plate,” Nelle said.
Nelle said Del Pizzo can lead the j.v. boys team of 30 to 40 athletes and still make everything run smoothly.
Even though Nelle said the team will miss him, the announcement didn’t come as a shock to him.
“He coaches the girls in the fall and does so much with basketball in the winter,” Nelle said. “It’s like he’s doing three seasons which is very taxing on your mind and body.”
The team recently announced that Robert Jacoby will be taking over j.v. boys coaching duties.
“I know I have big shoes to fill, but it sounds like we have a great group of young men who will be playing tennis this season,” Jacoby said.
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Connor Del Carmen, senior, is the Associate Editor for the Marquette Messenger. This will be his second full school year on staff. Connor also runs varsity...