Sports

Ursuline Field Space Challenges New Athletic Director

Mike O'Connor spent much of the first few weeks in his new job finding practice space for up to six teams.

With the door open and the leaves blowing in the white door of Mike O'Connor's office, he tackles to-do list 48 lines long.

As the new athletic director at Ursuline Academy, O'Connor spent the first official days of his job finding places for his girls teams to practice. The all-girls Catholic high school has one field – more of a backyard – at the school for six high school and junior high school teams.

"If soccer has a game, then obviously field hockey can't play here, so there is a lot of juggling," he said.

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Last year, Ursuline unveiled a new field hockey team, and even with tightly stretched field space, O'Connor said he would add a junior varsity team if enough girls tryout for the team this week.

The 56-year-old former Boston cop bargained for field space at the nearby Dedham Country Day School, and asked the town for use of Fitzgerald Field on Common Street.

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The teams will practice two days at Country Day and five days at Fitzgerald Field.

"It may not seem like a lot [the days], but it is just enough to take the curse off," O'Connor said.

The school is discussing using Northeastern University's satellite campus, which has facilities for a practice field and a track. But, O'Connor said, a fee could be involved with using the Huskies' facilities.

"We know we need to do something for our track team," he said. "But [a fee] is going to be an issue for us."

The six teams that could make up Ursuline's sports lineup will play on the multi-use field for games, while the other teams practice at other locations.

O'Connor said he didn't want practice schedules to impede the studies of the athletes, but said the school recognizes the role sports plays socially for the girls, who often live in different towns.

In an academically rigorous school such as Ursuline, O'Connor said creating the balance between sports and getting schoolwork done is his top priority.

"You want them to play in sports and after school activities, but at the same time, they are here for the academics," O'Connor said.

O'Connor coached for Ursuline in the 1980s, and had two daughters pass through the academy. The soft-spoken, in-shape man said he worked as a volunteer athletic director at Mission High School, his alma mater, before it closed. He also was on the athletic board for Ursuline prior to the school moving to its current configuration with a full-time athletic director.

Bob Stanley, who recently stepped aside as the head swimming coach at Ursuline, said it was O'Connor who talked him into staying on when the school went through a leadership change in the 1990s.

The transition to O'Connor will be a "nice, easy transition," said Stanley in a phone interview. Stanley is currently the assistant director of Parks and Recreation for the Town of Dedham.

"Things are going to go nice and smooth with him over there," Stanley said.

How O'Connor finagles the practice and game schedules remains his biggest hurdle, and making sure his girls have enough time on the field.

"He is definitely crunched for field space," Stanley said. "He doesn't have anything over there. That's definitely going to be his biggest challenge – to try and work around those issues."


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