After joining the South girls soccer coaching staff six years ago, Allysa Bollaci starts the 2014 season in a new role: as head coach of the varsity team, replacing former coach Chris Miller, who had led the team for 19 seasons.
“Chris Miller is somebody who has one of the biggest hearts I’ve ever seen, she truly and genuinely cares for the girls, their well-being and their happiness,” Bollaci says.
A New Jersey native, Bollaci attended South Brunswick High School and graduated from Richard Stockton College with a double major in political science and education and a minor in history.
During college Bollaci also played for the Ospreys’ Division III soccer team. She focused on midfield and occasionally appeared as a forward during her time with the team. In the 2004 and 2006 seasons, she appeared in 20 games. Bollaci says she enjoyed the higher level of competition college soccer provided.
Bollaci has two older siblings, sister Deana and brother Ben. Ben started playing soccer at a young age, and Allysa followed her older brother, starting in first grade. She loved the competiveness of the sport, and played all different positions when she was younger.
Her parents, Frank and Diane, still reside in New Jersey. Bollaci recently married over the summer, and her husband’s family also lives in the area. “Family is always is really important to us, so staying in this area was important,” Bollaci said.
Bollaci was inspired by her teachers to go into education, and joined South’s staff as a social studies teacher in 2008. When the freshman soccer coach left the team suddenly, Bollaci took over as coach mid-season. Bollaci relied on her own experiences to coach the team.
“It was a very unorthodox beginning to my coaching experience,” Bollaci says.
Now Bollaci pays more attention to what support the girls need while experimenting with different drills. “I’ve been trying to find new ways to build that team spirit and to also figure out new ways to get the girls to play better together,” Bollaci said.
From her six years of experience, Bollaci has learned that teaching is a trial and error process. She uses the same approach in coaching, recognizing that certain strategies will work for one group but not the next.
“The thing I love [is] you can try something out and if it doesn’t work you’re going to have to deal with it in that moment and then you can change it,” Bollaci says.
“My biggest goal is to have the girls really reach their full potential,” Bollaci says. “To work collaboratively together as a team and also improve together as a team and also individually.”
“I’m also looking forward to the opportunity of trying to take taking this program of the entire girls soccer program and turn it into my own,” she says.
