|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
People SearchFind an individual who either played a sport or was a member of a support group. Search by last name by clicking on the first letter of the person's last name.
Mr. Thomas "Tom" Burke
Home:
Work:
Home Phone: -- Director of Compliance * * * * * * * Move pays off for Burke, STM Kevin Foote • kfoote@theadvertiser.com • December 26, 2010 When Jessica Burke’s husband, Tom, got a job in the UL compliance office in December of 2008, she left her job as an assistant volleyball coach at Troy University and moved to Lafayette. At the time, Burke just assumed that her coaching career — at least in the near future — was over. For a year, she moved around random jobs and taught some classes in the UL kinesiology department. “I figured I was done (coaching),” Burke said. Volleyball wasn’t totally going to be a thing of the past, though. Plans were under way for Burke to teach some volleyball classes at UL. Then came her big break. After 12 years on the job, Julie Dawson decided to leave St. Thomas More to fill the coaching vacancy at ESA. Her husband, Mike, just happened to be a professor in the kinesiology department at UL, and encouraged Burke to consider this new volleyball job opening at St. Thomas More. Apparently, her passion and knowledge in the sport didn’t leave Burke. Despite getting in as STM’s new coach just before the school year, Burke wasted no time making an immediate impact on the Lady Cougars’ program. Not only did she extend the school’s tradition of volleyball excellence, but went one step farther by leading STM to its first state championship in volleyball. For that, Burke is the 2010 Daily Advertiser All-Acadiana Coach of the Year. “Mike and Julie were so great,” Burke said. “Mike encouraged me to apply for the position and Julie really helped me with the transition. They really helped me a lot.” Burke played her high school volleyball in Wisconsin and college ball in South Carolina, before joining the coaching staff at Troy. While at Troy, her primary responsibilities were film exchange, scheduling and organizing practice plans — all skills that served her very well at the high school level. “It’s kind of like riding a bike,” Burke said. “(Coaching) has always been natural for me. One of my friends told me that I just have a coaching personality. I don’t know if that’s good or bad.” One big difference between coaching at the high school and college level is handling the emotions of a younger team. “With high school girls, there’s a lot more of handling the mental part of it,” said Burke, who led STM to a 30-9 record this season. With Burke not being that far removed from that stage, only being 27 years of age, she proved equipped for coping with that side of the profession. “One of the things that really helped me in that area is that I’ve been around so many coaches as a player that I learned what to do and what not to do,” she said. While high school coaching was new for Burke, her different approaches to the game worked well with her new players. “They were just so excited from the beginning,” Burke said. “I had some different ways of doing things and they just bought into it. They were just excited for something new. They just took to everything so well. “I think the biggest thing that was different was the speed of the offense.” As smooth of the transition, Burke admits she felt the pressure. She certainly felt the bull’s eye taking over a program with tremendous success in district play against teams she was very unfamiliar with. “We had gotten beat in the summer by a district team, so I definitely felt pressure about winning the district championship again,” Burke said. “I felt a lot more comfortable after we went through the first round in district.” For the team as a whole, the hump ended up being the marathon win over Cabrini in the semifinals. “Once we got past Cabrini, I think we all felt like we could do it,” Burke said.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
