Minicus adding to her plate
August 9, 2018
Written by Anthony E. Parelli
STAMFORD—As Chelsea Piers expands its sports offerings, the club has started to peg Darien coaches as those that they want to run these programs.
First was lacrosse coach Jeff Brameier, and now field hockey coach Mo Minicus will be one of two to start the club program in Stamford.
“When Jeff got the position at Chelsea Piers and was trying to figure out the direction they wanted to go, one of the projects they wanted to start was a club field hockey team to use the facility for all it has to offer,” said Minicus, who will also maintain her role as the Darien coach. “So naturally, with the relationship between Jeff and I, he approached me and I went in and listened to his vision and it worked itself out from there.”
With the culture in field hockey in the state in mind, Minicus wanted to take an already formed team and relocate it to Chelsea Piers instead of creating an entirely new program.
Enter Emily Prince.
“Emily prince is younger than me, we just share the same coaching philosophy,” Minicus said. “She’s got a great personality and she started her own club called NyConn a year ago, so I thought she would be the perfect person to approach to see if she wanted to bring her club to Chelsea Piers and partner with me and together we’d run our own club and she was ecstatic. For the both of us to combine our resources made the most sense and we’re really excited.”
While most of her experience is at the high school level, Minicus is looking forward to lending her knowledge to the younger players on the team.
“It’s totally new and I’ll learn as I go along but I don’t think it’s that much different,” Minicus said. “Obviously, if I’m coaching the younger girls it’s more about teaching them the basics of the sport. My priority for the younger girls, the U10, U12 is how to play the game and, more importantly, how to love the game. With the U14 and U16 you start to get a little more competitive with those girls.”
Her shared philosophy with Prince is what makes Minicus confident this new project will work.
“I think both Emily and I are so passionate about the sport,” she said. “We just want to share that passion with the girls and we just want to do our best to teach them to become the best players they can be and find the passion for the game at the same time. I think when those ides mesh it takes over from there.”
The opportunity couldn’t have come at a better time. Minicus is a mother of four boys, but with two in college and two in high school, now is the perfect opportunity for her to expand her already glowing coaching portfolio.
“I’m excited to step into this arena, for years I kept my distance because of my four boys and this will be a big commitment and I think for me timing is everything and for me the timing is right,” she said. “My kids are older and now I have the time to commit to it and see what Emily and I can do together to create this new club and coach more girls in the offseason.”
Of course, as has been the case with the recent influx of coaches at Chelsea Piers, the facility is one of the main driving forces behind their decisions.
“I think it’s great for the girls to realize Chelsea Piers is their home,” Minicus said. “The facility is amazing and in the late fall or early spring running tryouts, weather will never be an issue. Whether it’s the scalding heat of the summer of the freezing cold I think that’s a huge plus for the girls and the coaches and it’s great for the families to know exactly where the practices are and not be moving site to site.”