Westwood High School Coach Ready for Upcoming Season

Daniel Rattacasa has been teaching at for eight years and has made his stamp in the athletics program from the beginning.

Rattacasa has been coaching bowling since he started at Westwood and last year was his first year coaching the Lady Cardinals softball team after also being a coach for boys and girls spring track for five years. Rattacasa has enjoyed his time with bowling and has been a big part of the program.

"Some highlights throughout my coaching career include being one of the founders of the first ever female bowling division for the BCSL American Division three seasons ago," said Rattacasa. "The boys have finished second in their division and the girls have won the league the past two seasons. The boys placed in the top 10 in the county and we had the No. 2 overall best bowler in the county this season. The females went to the state championship for Group 1 and competed for the first time ever in school history."

Rattacasa has been coaching bowling the longest but the TCNJ graduate and former baseball teacher has had great moments in all the sports that he has coached.

"Being an assistant coach for cross country and spring track, the boys and girls have won numerous county, sectional and state championships," he said. "The No. 1 highlight for softball had to be watching our squad develop into a family over the course of a tremendously challenging season. We did make the state tournament as the No. 13 seed as we nearly ousted the No. 4 seed as they needed two runs in the bottom of the seventh to come from behind and win...one of the most exciting games I have ever been a part of as a coach."

The softball team will be returning many players and the bowling teams look very promising as well. With students dedicated to their teams and a hard working coaching staff, things look up this year.

"I love allowing our players to experience adversity and coping with such obstacles when they arise," said Rattacasa. "Staying composed when things aren't going your way, adjusting to a tough opponent or keeping your wits about you when the calls aren't going their way are some of the valuable lessons I like to focus on during each season. I love to watch leaders develop and I like to witness them using their experiences that they learned from athletics within their real life. Finally, I love it when team members realize that a team-first attitude is the only option for success."