Each week through August, the Valley News will profile a local high school coach. It’s a chance to better know some of the people guiding the area’s student-athletes. Today, we meet third-year Mascoma High field hockey coach Jenn Hammond, whose entire family is deeply involved in sports.
Growing Up: Hammond is the youngest of the four children of Jon and Madeline Cattabriga, who attended the Enfield School back when it housed grades 1-12. Jon was an assistant foreman for the New Hampshire Transportation Department’s Canaan division, and Madeline worked in the Dartmouth College budget office for 45 years.
Glory Days: A three-sport athlete at Mascoma, from which she graduated in 1988, Hammond played field hockey, basketball and softball, winning a state hoops title her senior year. She was a field hockey defender, a basketball forward and a left fielder and first baseman in softball.
Long-Term Contract: Walter Hammond, a building contractor and Jenn’s husband of 19 years, was a Mascoma classmate who also won a state basketball title, but as an 11th grader. They met in junior high and began dating in ninth grade. “I would say determination is the key,” Jenn said of the couple’s longevity. “It’s not easy and it takes a lot of hard work, but when it’s something you both want, it makes it a lot easier. We’re best friends, and we both love sports.”
Royalty: The Hammonds’ son, also named Walter, graduated last year from Mascoma, where he played football, basketball and baseball. He studies architectural management and plays baseball at New Hampshire Technical Institute in Concord. His sister, Kayla, is a rising junior at Mascoma and competes in field hockey, basketball and softball. Father and son are regional automobile racers and can often be found tinkering and modifying their rides at the family’s garage.
Fun Fact: The Hammonds’ house of a dozen years sits in Orange, but the driveway leading to it is in Canaan.
Changing It Up: Jenn Hammond, a business management major at NHTI, worked 18 years as a Dartmouth finance manager before switching careers in 2010. She became a paraeducator and special education teacher at Mascoma and has added the title of distance learning coordinator to her resume. In the latter role, she helps students take online classes. “I wanted the flexibility to be on the same schedule as my kids and to have more of an opportunity to coach,” she said.
Dynamic Duo: Jenn Hammond and friend Danielle Pushee, now Mascoma’s junior varsity field hockey coach, started at the youth level and have risen through the ranks. Some recent Mascoma players had competed for Hammond since they were in elementary school. “The softball coaching job was open here last year, but I wanted to just be a mom and go to games during the spring,” Hammond said. “Being a parent is always going to come first.”
Coach Mom: “You kind of flip a switch when you step on the field and when you come off it. You have a job to do and your child may not always like your decisions, but as a coach you make them based on what’s good for the whole team. There have been some quiet car rides home, though, because you tend to be harder on your child.”
Mrs. Mentor: “The other kids on the team, I get to see them in school and outside of it, when they’re just having a good time. So you get to know them well enough to know which buttons to push while you’re trying to get them past fatigue and to learn life skills.”
Rising Expectations: Mascoma plays larger-school opponents during the preseason and takes advantage of new rules that allow high school coaches to oversee summer workouts and games. The Royals currently compete in a six-team league at Colby-Sawyer College and have had turnouts approaching 20 players. “We’ll be better because more kids are picking up their sticks before tryouts,” Hammond said. “Before, you’d have the fall sports meeting in the spring and not see them again for months.”
On the Rise: Mascoma won two games Hammond’s first season and four last fall. “We lost a lot of close games, including some in overtime,” she said of the 2015 campaign. “We only graduated three seniors, and I think we’ll be more ready to go this season. We have six juniors and they’re a super-competitive class.”
You Can Do It: “I’d say I’m competitive and passionate and disciplined. Unfortunately, a lot of kids don’t believe they have what it takes, so I try to push them a little bit and let them see otherwise.”
Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com or 603-727-3227.