by Marc Narducci; Photo Courtesy of Jim Kay | Jun 26, 2020
Jim Kay enjoyed an accomplished career as the girls’ soccer coach at Haddon Township, but he resigned after the 2018 season to spend more time coaching his own children.
Kay and his wife Stacey have four children, all involved in different activities.
So this past year, he was busy, but there was still a void.
“It was nice to come home and coach my kids but with the time off, you realize how much you miss it,” Kay said. “In the end I definitely did miss it.”
Yet Kay wasn’t going to get back into coaching for any job.
In fact, there was only one that was likely going to lure him out of “retirement” and that was the Sterling girls’ soccer program.
Kay has deep roots with Sterling.
Both Kay and his wife played soccer at Sterling. They live in the school district and their children will attend there.
His oldest, Ireland, who is an accomplished player, is going to be an eighth grader, so in a year he will be coaching her at the high school level.
So he agrees that this is the one job that attracted him back to coaching in high school.
“Definitely,” he said. “It is a unique opportunity to be involved with my alma mater, the community and the kids are special. I have seen them since pee-wee soccer.”
In 16 seasons at Haddon Township, Kay compiled a 226-128-18 record. He also coached at Gloucester before taking the Haddon Township job.
At Haddon Township, the Hawks won several division titles and were perennial postseason participants.
The furthest thing from Kay’s mind was a return to coaching so soon, but that changed when Sterling head coach Emily Caracciolo resigned and the job opened up early in the spring.
“She was a great coach and I respected what she did and when the job opened up, after talking to my wife, I decided to throw my name in,” he said. “No worries, if it happened it happened.”
Obviously, it did happen.
There were many things in Kay’s favor including his success at Haddon Township and his familiarity with the youngsters due to his involvement coaching youth soccer
It all made a lot of sense.
Now Kay will have the challenge of coaching in one of the top small-school divisions in the state, the Colonial Liberty.
Consisting of Group 1 and 2 schools, perennial heavyweights such as Haddonfield and West Deptford. In addition, Haddon Township and 2018 state Group 1 champion Audubon, two teams with strong returning lineups, will be in the Liberty.
Kay knows the talent in the Colonial and the excellent coaches. He understands what he is up against but also knows how to build a program.
During his first year at Haddon Township, the Hawks earned just one win. It was a major rebuilding job, but Kay was able to build a consistent winner.
Given time, that will be the goal at his alma mater, a place that is truly special and the only one that could get Kay to return to the high school coaching ranks.
Article continues below
advertisement
© SouthJersey.com 2020. All rights reserved. This article or parts thereof may not be reprinted or reproduced by any other party without the express written consent of SouthJersey.com. For more information, please call 856-797-9910.
To receive special deals directly from SouthJersey.com, subscribe here.
For more Local Sports features, visit our South Jersey Sports page.
Author: Marc Narducci; Photo Courtesy of Jim Kay
