Cassie Bucceri '09

1/11/2021

As athletes, we are always looking ahead to the next big moment, the record-breaking play, or the anticipated rivalry game. It is always what is next. You spend countless hours preparing for the next big thing, but when something comes your way that you just can’t prepare for, it makes you stop and take a second to appreciate all of the moments, each accomplishment, and every obstacle that you have overcome. For alumna Cassie Bucceri, that was definitely the case.

While Bucceri was attending college at Case Western Reserve University, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). This autoimmune disease caused Bucceri to lose her vision and her ability to walk and feel. Through therapy and treatments, she was able to get back to “normal.”

“It was a new, slower-paced normal, but I have been lucky to be surrounded by support on my difficult days,” Bucceri reflected. Knowing that so much was yet ahead of her, Bucceri pressed forward and graduated with a bachelor of science degree in political science in 2013.

A 2009 alumna of Hawken, Bucceri remains an active member of the community as the head softball coach as well as an assistant coach for the field hockey program. During her time at Hawken, Bucceri was a four-year varsity softball and field hockey player and was also a part of the basketball program for two seasons. She was a multiple-time Old Board Award winner, a peer leader, a class senate representative, and a gray team captain.

The tradition of Fair Play has positively affected her life. “Although I strive to develop a winning culture amongst our field hockey and softball teams, I strive even more to contribute to them being relentlessly good people,” Bucceri said. For her, that is the biggest win as a coach and why she continues to come back to Hawken.

In the spring of 2018, Bucceri took over the softball program at Hawken. After a year of building the program and preparing for what’s next, Bucceri had to put that on hold.

Bucceri and her wife Erin welcomed their daughter Beckett into the world at just 25 weeks old in December of 2018. Beckett spent five months in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Now at almost two years old, Beckett is doing exceptionally well, and now that she is walking, she is also learning to swing a bat just like her mom. However, Beckett has her own fair share of health ailments, which Bucceri and her wife have had to promptly adjust in the time of coronavirus. “Everything that I do is for her, so quickly transitioning our family into quarantine was effortless, and we are still operating our day-to-day lives with extreme caution.”

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit the United States of America particularly hard in the spring of 2020, the Ohio High School Athletic Association suspended spring sports just as Bucceri was set to return as the head softball coach. In an easy decision to transition to quarantine for the Bucceri family, the alumna was also inspired by how her student-athletes handled the pandemic.

“Our students understand that the global health crisis is bigger than them or the impact it may or may not have on their families. They look at things on a global scale, and this is no different.” Bucceri said. “When our team didn’t know what was to come, it was difficult, but it also made us appreciate what Hawken Athletics does for us in regard to team culture and competitiveness.” Losing a season is gut wrenching, but that just means for the next season, the team comes back fierce and ready to play.

When she returned for the fall 2020 field hockey season, Bucceri realized how lucky they were to be on the field and have the opportunity to compete. “The team worked hard and did not taken a moment for granted.” After a 11-3 start to the season, there was an extra sense of appreciation and urgency that contributed to how extremely special and strong each moment on the field and each opportunity to compete was as they headed into the regional semi-finals.

“My players have always inspired and continue to inspire me,” Bucceri stated. There is something special about the athletes here at Hawken, and throughout the pandemic, their work ethic and drive for their athletic programs and the Hawken community did not go unnoticed. “Their work on the field is one thing, but their passions, interests, and advocacy off the field cannot go without notice - and that is what is so awesome about Hawken athletes; they are so multidimensional and aren’t defined solely by their athletic interests.”

No matter what the next big moment is, whatever obstacle shows up in your path, or whether you choose to compete in athletics post-high school or not, what inevitably will follow you are the life lessons you have learned about perseverance and character. “Remember that strong women empower women, even amongst competition or difference,” Bucceri said. “It is important for these young women to know that their capabilities are limitless.” No matter what comes next, prepared or not, she shows us all that you can persevere.

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