The Eastside Catholic Varsity Girls’ golf team wrapped up last season with an 8th-placed finish at the state tournament, and this year, the Crusaders are bringing in a new coach to come in and try to lead the ladies to an improved finish this time around.
In high school, there is a realm of athletics and academics. Samantha Galluzzo is intertwined with both of them. She leads her team to success on the golf course while also charting and guiding the courses of high school lives.
Galluzzo is a college counselor at Eastside Catholic High School and is also the girl’s golf coach. Galluzzo graduated from Gonzaga University and went back and became an admission counselor at Gonzaga. She loves to go on walks and listen to podcasts. Family is the most important thing to the Newcastle, Washington native.
So what’s it like being responsible for the well being of Crusader students as well as Crusader golfers?
“It is great being new to EC. Everybody is very warm and welcoming and wants me to be a part of the community which makes me want to be very involved with the community,” Galluzzo stated.
Despite being to the EC, Galluzzo is eager to show that she can assimilate quickly and help guide (and perhaps coach) her students.
“I am very passionate about helping students figure out what life after high school is going to look like because for some that means college and for others that doesn’t and that’s okay. And we should normalize that everyone’s path looks different as it should.”
Galluzzo has been an asset to the team and school so far. From helping the Crusader ladies with their swings to encouraging young scholars to realize their potential. So how does she anticipate navigating the two worlds?
“Being a counselor and coach are both similar because just like with golf, counseling is such an individual thing but at the same time you have a team that is rooting you on. You are playing your own game but everybody is there to support you,” Galluzzo says.
The importance of creating safe spaces for people is a necessity.
Galluzzo talks about how “[Coaching and counseling] have to intertwine because both positions to students have to be safe spaces for students. Coaches have to be safe spaces for students and counselors have to be safe spaces for students. They have to be intertwined” She said. “Building relationships with students and people in general is such an important thing”
Coaches can really help to inspire them. Her ambition to be both a coach and a counselor highlights the profound impact of these roles.
“I had wanted to be a high school college counselor for a while because my high school college counselor was so great and was the reason I found out about the school I went to [Gonzaga]. I want to be a like my own high-school counselor for the students I have today. I have always wanted to be a golf coach for the flipped reason. I didn’t have the experience with my coach in high school that I wanted. I want to be the coach to everyone that I didn’t get.”
While it might seem daunting for your two professional worlds to collide, Galluzzo helps to find a perfect balance, seamlessly uniting the realm of athletics and academics.
With her Lady Crusaders off to a 3-0 start in conference play, it’s safe to say that Galluzzo is already finding her groove at Eastside Catholic.
Featured Image credit: Eastside Catholic School
