Schools
Track Coach Emphasizes Coaching The Individual
Two Montville athletes will compete in Thursday's State Meet of Champions in Old Bridge.
- Name: Anthony SanFilippo, 32, has been a track and field coach at Montville Township High School (MTHS) for 6 years. For the past 4, he has specialized as a “throws” coach for discus, javelin, and shot put. “Track has always been my passion sport,” said SanFilippo. “So, when the opportunity presented itself to coach it, I jumped on it.”
- Sports History: The 1997 MTHS graduate actually played football for Montville in his freshman year. “I was the quarterback and I always had a quarterback’s mind. I loved creating and scheming offenses,” SanFilippo explained. Unfortunately, a serious concussion ended his football career. SanFilippo went on to play Junior Varsity basketball, and ran spring track in ninth grade. That’s when he discovered that he “was pretty special in track.” By the next fall, SanFilippo had decided to go out for both fall and spring track, excelling at being a “thrower.” SanFilippo also wrestled competitively. In college he competed on the Monmouth University track team. He credits his knowledge of a variety of sports with his ability to explain technique to student athletes. “I can put things into terms they can relate to.”
- Current Activities: On Thursday afternoon SanFilippo will accompany Taylor Bernstein and Julia Rizio, two Montville athletes, to the New Jersey State Meet of Champions in Old Bridge, NJ. “This year’s team has been very special,” said SanFilippo. “We’ve had a lot of national qualifiers, a lot of school records broken this year. It’s been a very special season.” Despite a predicted high of 97 degrees, the students will participate in two events each. Bernstein is currently ranked as the sixth best shot put thrower in the state. He will also compete in the discus. Rizio qualified for both the 100 and 200 meter races. Each student has bested three to five thousand competitors in each event in order to qualify for today’s competition. “We’re hoping for four medals, best case scenario,” noted SanFilippo. “We’ve had a number of them over the years, but we’ve never had a chance at this many in the same year. So, we’re keeping our fingers crossed.” SanFilippo became the throws coach four years ago. Since then, Montville has participated in three consecutive State Meet of Champions tournaments. “The heat is the biggest thing they will have to watch out for, said SanFilippo. “Taylor loves the heat, though, so he’s excited.”
- Technique: “I have two main influences,” explained SanFilippo about his coaching style. “One was my collegiate coach, Mark Gottdenker. The first day he saw me he said, ‘Kid, we‘ve got to start you from scratch.’” SanFilippo thinks that the reason he was able to improve is that Gottdenker not only taught him technique, but drilled him over and over on that technique. “And that’s a lot of what I have my kids do now.” Gottdenker went on to coach throws at Penn State, the University of Massachusetts, and Monmouth Regional High School. SanFilippo’s other influence has been 1996 US Olympic throwing coach, Tony Naclerio, of Rockaway. “He cheers on every kid. He does it for the love of it not for money,” added San Filippo. “His enthusiasm, the way he coaches, his technique drills are also something I have learned a great deal from.”
- Additional Activities: Although SanFilippo hasn’t played professionally for about five years, he’s been a musician all of his life. He enjoys music. “It’s funny, both of my parents always coached, and my sister was a singer,” he said, noting that coaching and music are also his passions.
- Married: SanFilippo’s wife, Kristen Vetri, also ran track for Montville High School. She was an all-state runner from 1994 to 1997. “She was massively successful,” SanFilippo said. “Way more successful than anyone else on the team. Her school records just got broken this year by Julie Rizio.” She also coaches track. While both coaches went to Montville schools, and have known each other since the sixth grade, the two didn’t start dating until after college. They have been married five years. Today the couple lives in Basking Ridge, but hope to return to Montville.
- Career: SanFilippo has a job in investment sales. His hours are somewhat flexible, and each day, when he’s not working he’s coaching. “It is never easy, balancing both, but I have been very fortunate to have bosses who understand that this is my passion,” he said. “If I could do it for a living I would. But, there’s really no way to make ends meet just as a coach, unless, you’re a collegiate coach.” While SanFilippo has been offered that opportunity, he is committed to Montville. “I grew up here. I threw here,” noted SanFilippo. “My coach was a guidance counselor who learned from books. He didn’t have a whole lot of knowledge to give me. When I came back I said, ‘No kid is ever going to feel unprepared when they go into a meet the way I did.’ And that’s what keeps me coming back every day.”
- Time: Because he loved football, and was unable to play due to the injury he suffered as a freshman, SanFilippo began coaching while still in high school. He coached Montville’s first 7-year-old team. From there he eventually became the athletic director for the St. Pius X Catholic Youth Organization. After 18 years, he's still coaching. Today, during track season, he generally coaches from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m., takes a dinner break, then returns to the track from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. to coach the town’s youth track program. In addition, every morning SanFilippo researches his team’s opponents. He keeps statistics on each competitor his athletes will meet on the field. “It makes me feel better,” he said.
- Coming Up: Athletes who have qualified will attend the Junior Olympic regional qualifier meet this weekend. Next week, SanFilippo will attend the New Balance National, in which Bernstein will compete. “If a kid’s willing to do the work, there’s nothing I won’t do for them,” said SanFilippo. “If they show me that they are passionate, that they want to improve, then I give my all to them, because they’re giving their all to me. And that means, on my own dollar, traveling to North Carolina to Nationals, and traveling to South Carolina for USATF Nationals…Because, if they want to do it, then I’m going to be by their side. Because they need a coach. They need someone to be with them to guide them, that’s what I do.”
- Hobbies: In the summer San Filippo coaches track. For free. All summer long. “Throwers get to know each other. They come from other towns. They become like a fraternity,” SanFilippo noted. “They want to improve, and I give them a place to do that.”Each day after work he can be found on the MTHS track coaching throwers.
- Favorite Thing about Montville: “It never changes. People evolve and kids are doing crazier things, but, at the same point I always still feel like it’s home. You know? You come back here and it’s the same , and 7-Eleven, and , and that’s about the extent of it.”
- Something He Would Like to See Changed: San Filippo would like to see the entire football field area improved with new bleachers and field, and an eight lane track. He feels the improvements would be a better place for town events, “like the 4th of July,” and area fundraisers. “They did a great job when they renovated the town fields,” he noted. “I think they should extend that.”
- Philosophy: “To coach the individual. Each athlete has his or her own way of learning. If you can't adjust your coaching style to fit each individual, you will never have a great team.”
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