Photo by Sophia Kim ’24/The Choate News
“Every woman was trained the same, and it was a long time before enough women got into coaching to start changing that,” Coach Sara Massa explained. Coach Massa was one of two female head coaches in Connecticut when she first started coaching in the late 80s and 90s. Growing up, Coach Massa was surrounded by male swim coaches who embodied the mentality that “if a swimmer didn’t do well, the swimmer didn’t work hard enough. Somehow, it was the swimmer’s problem.” Coach Massa shared, “As I got older, competing became [attached to] more and more pressure, and that took a lot of the fun out of swimming.” Because of her past experiences dealing with strained mental health and gender inequality in swimming, Coach Massa has contributed heavily to fostering a safe environment for swimmers’ mental health and promoting gender inclusivity in Choate’s Varsity Swim Team.
When one thinks of swimming at Choate, Coach Massa is often the first thing that comes to mind. This year, Coach Massa celebrates her 14th year as Head Coach of Choate’s Varsity Swim Team and her 10th year as Choate’s Aquatics Director. Before Coach Massa began her career in coaching, she was an elite, competitive swimmer, qualifying for the Olympic Trials at 13 years old. Sharing her passion for competitive swimming, Coach Massa explained, “I love swimming, and why I think others like swimming is because we like to be in control of our own destiny in our sport and our own work ethic. We like not being dependent on what others are doing. Swimmers like to manage their own training, mindset, and goals.”
Coach Massa also utilizes her degree in psychology to aid her coaching methods. “I have a degree in psychology and never intended to coach. My first coaching job was because a coach got ill, and I said I would substitute. I was going to be a practicing counselor, but I still use psychology when coaching,” Coach Massa stated.
When asked to give an example of how she merges her degree in psychology with her coaching, Coach Massa responded, “If I am sending a swimmer up to the block, I should know them well enough to know whether they’re very nervous, putting too much pressure on themselves, or they’re ready for the perfect race. Coaches have to adjust to who a swimmer is, both athletically and psychologically.”
When asked what her favorite things about coaching Choate students are, Coach Massa noted, “developing relationships with my swimmers, watching their growth, and hopefully contributing as a positive mentor.” Coach Massa considers the most outstanding achievement of her career as Head Coach for Choate’s Varsity Swim Team to be “keeping the feeling of the team alive” after taking over for Mr. Robert Burns in 2008 by “allowing kids to recognize, respect, and allow individual growth while remaining team-oriented.”
After 14 wonderful years with the School, Coach Massa is stepping down from her position as mentor and director at Choate, and those who know her will miss her. Chris Childs ’24, who has swam under Coach Massa for around a decade, said, “One of my fondest memories of Sara is when she decided to welcome us back with the hose on one of our first practices back from summer. We all jumped in the pool very quickly after that.” Since freshman year, Grace Furtado ’23 has swum for Choate’s Varsity Swim Team, and when asked what her favorite memory with Coach Massa was, she said, “When I first joined the team, Coach Sara insisted that I was a distance swimmer. After complaining every time I had to swim the 500 Freestyle, it eventually paid off when I qualified for finals at New England’s this year, and it’s all thanks to Coach Sara.”
Coach Massa is hopeful that in her absence Choate’s Varsity Swim Team will continue to see “decades of success” as they have seen in the past. When asked what Coach Massa will miss the most after stepping down, she reminisced, “I will miss the interactions with the students and getting to know them as people. I will also miss training very much; I love the science of training and getting to be creative with training. But most of all, I will miss my swimmers and my fellow coaches.”
As a final message to the swimmers and coaches of Choate’s Varsity Swim Team, Coach Massa said, “As sad as I am to leave, and I know some of my swimmers are sad, they’re going to do great, and I fully expect them to carry on the Choate tradition of great swimming. This was one of the most difficult decisions I have made, especially because it was not for health reasons or because I was moving, but because I thought it was best for Choate and my swimmers.” Choate’s Varsity Swim Team and the Choate community will not be the same without Coach Massa, but her legacy will live on for years to come.
