Grace Miner: Mrs. Patty Carosotto is a Transformative Coach

By Grace Miner

Note: I am pleased to continue my blog 52 Incredible Women on EG Patch. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Elizabeth McNamara, most recently of East Greenwich News. Elizabeth initially encouraged me to blog and gave this blog its first home.

For many people in our town, Mrs. Patty Carosotto’s name is synonymous with the Unified Volleyball team at the high school, but I met Mrs. Carosotto during my 8th grade year at Cole. I was a member of the Cole Unified Basketball team, and it was an amazing experience. I had never played sports of any kind for any school or community based team. The idea of being on a basketball court was actually a little stressful for me. That was until I met Coach Carosotto and experienced Project Unify. Project Unify is a Special Olympics education and sports based program that increases athletic and leadership opportunities for students with and without intellectual disabilities, creating a community of acceptance for all.

During that season we practiced and played numerous basketball games, each ending with a pizza party. We made new friends and learned new skills that helped us grow as athletes and human beings. I witnessed firsthand how unified sports allows all students to develop their physical fitness, demonstrate courage, and experience the excitement, friendship, and joy of being included on a school’s sports team. I owe that to Mrs. Carosotto.

From the first moment you meet her, Coach Carosotto puts you at ease. She personifies unity, inclusion, acceptance, and respect. She asks for your best effort and challenges you to come out of your comfort zone and take risks, regardless of your abilities. Her efforts have achieved amazing things in our community. Project Unify and the Unified Volleyball team have been huge factors in creating an atmosphere of equality and social inclusion at EGHS. Many credit Coach Carosotto not only for the team’s success, but also for its positive impact on student life. A large number of EGHS students have participated in the program, and the Unified Volleyball team enjoys school-wide support.

The Carosotto family settled in RI in 2007, after moving 8 times while Mr. Carosotto was in the Coast Guard. After the move, Mrs. Patty Carosotto became a special education teacher with the Providence Public Schools. Having been involved with Project Unify in East Greenwich for many years, she started a Young Athletes Unified Program with her preschool students this past year. Her students actually led all of the athletes into the Rhode Island Special Olympics State Summer Games Opening Ceremony this year.

Coach Carosotto believes she is the “luckiest coach” at EGHS and is quick to point out the many ways in which she has received help and support from the community. She is truly humbled by her experiences and successes. Those successes include winning the State Championship in the fall 0f 2012 and 2013, after being the state runner-up in the fall of 2010 and 2011, and becoming National Champions in the spring of 2012 and 2013. In the fall of 2014, the team was the state runner-up again. Additionally, in the summer of 2014, Mrs. Carosotto coached the Rhode Island Unified Volleyball team. That team went on to become National Champions with the help of EGHS alum Colby Grant.

Yet, winning championships is nothing new to Mrs. Carosotto. She was a competitive swimmer and volleyball player in high school, winning state championships in both sports during her junior and senior years. She went on to swim and play volleyball in college. Two of her children, Kyle (a senior and lacrosse player at the Coast Guard Academy) and Kristin (EGHS class of 2016) have participated in Project Unify and have also won state championships in boys lacrosse and girls volleyball with EGHS.

Still, her greatest memories are not those championships, but “the times when players worked so hard at something and finally accomplished it.” She recounts a time watching “a partner finally be able to set a ball right where an athlete is and then watching that athlete finally get it over the net to the cheers of the entire bench and stands.” Those moments inspire her to continue, and she has a much more personal reason as well.

The Carosottos’ 11 year old son Matthew is a student at Hanaford and a Special Olympics athlete. Matthew has been competing since he was four years old and is currently a member of the North Kingstown Special Olympics team. For Coach Carosotto, Project Unify is about “so much more than what happens on the court.” She credits Project Unify with “not only encouraging inclusion and mutual respect but promoting giving back to others.” She is most pleased when she sees her athletes, and her own children in particular, helping and supporting their teammates. She hopes to one day watch her son Matthew compete in the Special Olympic World Games.

This inspirational, hard working, and transformative coach got involved with Project Unify in East Greenwich hoping to create an environment that fosters unity and promotes understanding of the wide array of human talents and potential. She wants students to walk away from unified sports saying that it was the best part of their school experience. Thanks to Coach Carosotto efforts, so many of us do.

46 Incredible Women to go!