When thinking about all of the sports there are to offer here at Forest Hills Central, the girls Lacrosse team is not typically the first one that comes to mind, but they’re hoping to change that. And a significant part of this change is the recent hiring of their new coach, Joe Curcuru. Coach Curcuru is taking over a team of Lady Rangers that isn’t quite at the top of the OK White, but certainly has the ability to get there in the near future. The record for the 2024-2025 season was 7-6-0, which holds FHC to more wins than losses, leading to an optimistic outlook for seasons to come.
Coach Joe Curcuru comes with plenty of prior coaching experience, with his previous varsity coaching career being thirty-five years long, and not limited to Lacrosse. Curcuru coached Lacrosse for eleven seasons, for both FH United and Catholic Central, and also coached girls and boys track, cross country, and swimming. So what makes this Forest Hills Central team so desirable to coach?
“FH Central is a special place,” Curcuru explained. “The Community has outstanding support for their athletic programs. The athletes are hard-working and the families are supportive”.
At the helm of this Girls Lacrosse team is senior defender Addy Quinn, who is already committed to play lacrosse at the Division I level in college, at Austin-Peay State University, in Tennessee.
“I’m very excited about the new coach because I’ve known him prior, because he was a coach at Catholic Central,” Addy commented. “So I know him personally and what he is as a coach, so I’m very excited, he did a lot of good things for their team”.
As a result of Curcuru’s past as a rival coach, specifically with Catholic Central, there is some lasting apprehension about this switch to an in-conference rival. Junior goaltender Josie Luyckx is someone who was apprehensive early, but she’s turned that apprehension into optimism.
“I knew him from Catholic Central, and I was a little nervous because obviously we were rivals and we played against each other,” Josie explained, “But he’s definitely really nice, I saw him at the tailgate and I got to talk with him a little bit, and he was really cool”.
While there is a little bit of nerves, it is also helpful that the returning athletes at least know their new coach from that prior experience; there’s even some excitement at the prospect of this new, yet familiar coach.
“I think everyone was really excited about it, because they knew he was a good coach as well,” Addy commented.
Team dynamics are a big part of sport; you need to be able to trust your teammates and coaches to have your best interest at heart, and this change in coaching doesn’t change that importance.
“I feel like it’ll [the coaching change] definitely help our team dynamic, for sure, because coaches in the past, I feel like, didn’t help us with team bonding and stuff like that.” Addy reveals, “And he’s already planned for an overnight we can have together and like some other team bonding activities that we can do, so I feel like it’ll help our team dynamic a lot, making us bond better”.
There are also changes to be made with this team, and changes are intended by both the coach and his new players.
“We have 3 goals for the season:” Curcuru explains, “1. Improve Individual Skills, 2. Work together to develop team cohesion, 3. and most importantly -Have Fun!”.
Josie Luyckx has a different goal, however.
“I really hope we can make it further into the playoffs this year with the new coach. I know it’s going to be difficult with only having one senior,” she confessed.
That sole senior, Addy Quinn, is looking forward to the changes in practice schedules for this year.
“He [coach Curcuru] is planning on having us have practices throughout the whole entire winter and fall season every Saturday morning for like an hour and a half,” Addy explained. “Which we’ve never had before, and I feel like it’ll really help us with our stick skills and in-season for the spring”.
The goal, obviously, is to make it to States, a feat which the Forest Hills Central girls Lacrosse team has not achieved in the history of this program. It is something, however, that coach Curcuru has accomplished prior, with his Catholic Central team, and is a reason for hope for the future of his new team.
“Catholic Central won states two years ago, so I mean, obviously, it’s a different team, but maybe his coaching can help us,” Josie said.
This is certainly the hope of the younger athletes, who have years on the team ahead of them, but the expectations of Addy Quinn, being the only senior, is that this will be a, hopefully, successful, growth year for the team.
“I would say our expectations that Coach has for us are just getting better,” Addy said. “Because I am the only senior this year, we’re not expected to have, like, the best season, but just growing as a team with such young players, I feel like”.
Good luck to the Lady Rangers of Lacrosse, who will start their season come spring, and good luck to coach Joe Curcuru as he takes over his new team.
“I feel like we need more people to come out and support us,” Josie said. “I feel like the student section is obviously always empty, but I don’t know, I feel like we need some people to cheer us on, and we’re gonna do great this year, it’ll be fun”.
