Cocco’s passion for lacrosse shines in Peters Township
By Gina Vilsack
It’s a brisk March evening in the South Hills of Pittsburgh, as the girls’ lacrosse team anxiously awaits the start of spring tryouts outside of the Peters Township High School stadium. The nervous, yet eager, high school girls complete a warm-up lap, stretch and huddle up around the coaches to see what the night has in store for them. Melanie Cocco introduces herself as the new assistant coach, although the former player for this school is already a familiar face to most everyone. The coaches direct the girls to line up around the track to run a timed three miles. Cocco blows the whistle to begin the start of her new coaching journey.
Cocco has always had a passion for lacrosse. She graduated from Peters Township in 2014 as a four-year high school lacrosse player. She began playing the sport in fifth grade. She was a powerhouse on the defensive end and was a member of the back-to-back Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League championship teams in 2012 and 2013.
By the end of her senior year, Cocco was committed to play Division III women’s lacrosse and further her education in child development and special education at Washington and Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania, only about 25 minutes from home. She was excited and ready, she said in an interview, to discover what the student-athlete life was like at a higher intensity.
Things changed during that summer, as Cocco noticed that her previous injuries were limiting her in her training for college lacrosse. In November of her senior year of high school, she had discovered that she had “compartment syndrome,” which meant that whenever she ran, she would experience great pressure in her calves and her feet would eventually go numb. She immediately took action and had surgery, hoping to be injury free, but some of the symptoms still stuck around. She was able to finish out her high-school career, but knew that being a college athlete would require much more of a physical demand.
As the summer before college came to an end and fall ball rolled around, Cocco had to make a tough decision: whether she was going to try to continue her lacrosse career, or she should step down due to the severity of her injuries. Cocco decided to give up playing the sport that she had such a strong passion for.
“This was not an easy decision, and I was extremely lucky to have a saving grace come into my life a few months later,” she stated in an interview. “This saving grace was a call from the president of the Peters Township youth lacrosse program.”
The news had gotten back to her hometown that she was no longer playing lacrosse and, since her college was close to home, the Peters Township youth lacrosse program reached out to see if she would be interested in coaching. Cocco accepted the offer and said she was thrilled to stay involved in the sport as she began a new adventure as a coach.
She was offered the job in 2015 to coach the combined fourth- and fifth-grade team at Peters Township. Cocco’s time playing for such a successful program at Peters Township allowed her to incorporate skills from her experience and use them in her coaching efforts. Her competitiveness, motivation and determination stemmed from her playing days, which all translated into coaching the best way she could.
After the first year was under her belt, Cocco accepted an offer to move up to the middle school level and coach the seventh-grade team for the 2016 season. The year following that, she took over both the seventh- and eighth-grade teams. Before she knew it, she had been coaching for three years. She had made a lot of memories and was successful while doing it.
After the 2017 season, an assistant coaching position opened at the high school for the 2018 season. Cocco applied, knowing that it would be her final semester in college, and she would be student-teaching during the day at a local school. Her impressive coaching resume at such a young age led to her being offered the assistant coaching position for the junior varsity and varsity teams at Peters Township High School.
As a coach, Cocco said she hopes to create a winning and respectful team and to shape the athletes into well-rounded individuals on and off the lacrosse field.
“My top goals as a coach are to create a team that understands the importance of working together, works their hardest and respects one another, their opponents, coaches and referees. I expect my players to express these characteristics not only on the field but also at school and in their community.”
Cocco now works alongside Audrey Wilcox, who was once her coach in high school. Cocco deeply admires Wilcox and sees her as her key role model for coaching. As a junior in high school, Wilcox invited Cocco to help coach the junior varsity team when she was unable to play due to a concussion. Wilcox took Cocco under her wing, allowing her to still be a major part of the team although she was suffering a prolonged injury.
“Melanie was a very coachable player. She followed directions and had a desire to become better—two key points to a good athlete. She loved being part of a team so when she got injured she was naturally disappointed but also wanted to remain part of the team,” Wilcox stated in an interview. “Because of her maturity I asked if she would like to help out with JV players. Immediately, she embraced the small tasks that I asked of her, so I started giving her more responsibility. It was amazing to watch a peer teach a peer, and see mutual respect. Clearly teaching is her gift!”
Wilcox moved out of the country after Cocco graduated from high school, but when she was back in Peters Township, she made sure to stop by the elementary and middle school games that Cocco was coaching, even when she did not know any of the players.
Cocco says she is extremely grateful for Wilcox. “She was definitely one of my biggest motivators and helped me through a tough time in high school. This season I am coaching alongside her and continue to learn so much from her.”
Wilcox believes that Cocco has become a successful coach during her time at Peters Township. “Mel is successful because she cares. She cares about her players, her responsibilities to teach the game. She cares about representing herself as a role model. She also loves lacrosse, so caring about people and loving what you teach is a winning combination.”
Although she is busy with student-teaching during her final semester of college, Cocco said she believes that the stars aligned when she got the assistant coaching position prior to the semester. She said her happiness is complete at being a part of the team and having the opportunity to share her wealth of knowledge on lacrosse, while not having to stress about conducting practice plans, worrying about who will be starting in the next big game, or everything else that comes along with the head coaching position.
Cocco said she is glad to be surrounded by an extremely supportive coaching staff as well as a motivated group of players that are determined to bring the WPIAL championship back to the Peters Township High School girls lacrosse team.
