2011 Rosters and Schedules
Outstanding Tradition
The Sparks have enjoyed a rich tradition of providing our players with quality coaching. Our staff has experience at various coaching levels, coaching at the college, high school, AAU, and youth programs in and around the Capital District. However, what we are most proud of their dedication to kids and the game of basketball. All of the coaches are avid fans of the game and work hard together at improving their coaching skills as well as improving the resume of the organization.
Select an age group below to review our coaches staff and experience:
Our coaches adhere to this philosophy, "Players should strive to be sound fundamental players and to always remember that if you play hard, play smart, and have fun, you will always be on top of your game no matter the outcome!" The coaches primarily want each player to improve and have fun doing it. A mark of their success is that over 90% of our players return to play for the Sparks each year. We believe a large part of that is due to our committed and knowledgeable coaching staff.
Outstanding Tradition
The Sparks have enjoyed a rich tradition of providing our players with quality coaching. Our staff has experience at various coaching levels, coaching at the college, high school, AAU, and youth programs in and around the Capital District. However, what we are most proud of their dedication to kids and the game of basketball. All of the coaches are avid fans of the game and work hard together at improving their coaching skills as well as improving the resume of the organization.
Select an age group below to review our coaches staff and experience:
Junior Coaches
- Coach Curcio: was the head men's coach at Schenectady County Community College for five years. He has also coached AAU in Queens, New York. This is his second year with the Sparks.
Sophomore Coaches
- Coach Mingione has been coaching girls basketball for twenty years. He coached travel basketball for Clifton Park. For the past six years he has been the assistant coach for Shenendehowa Girls Varsity. He is in his ninth year with the Sparks. He has a coaching certificate from New York State.
- Coach Holland is currently playing basketball for Hudson Valley Community College. She was a member of the Shenendehowa team when it won the Sectionals in 2008. This is her second year coaching with the Sparks.
Freshmen Coaches
- Coach Mitchell is currently the JV Girls coach at Watervliet High School. He has twelve years experience coaching AAU with the Sparks, Night Hawks and Arsenal City. He has also coached travel basketball for Clifton Park.
- Coach Swan has been a youth sports coach in the Capital Region for the past 12 years. Mr. Swan has coached with the Saratoga Sparks AAU program and with Clifton Park Girls and Boys Travel Basketball. Coach Swan is also a co-founder of the Sparks. He currently serves on the executive committee of Coaches vs. Cancer's "Teeing Off on Cancer Golf Classic", an event that benefits the American Cancer Society.
8th Grade Coaches
- Coach Pleasure played three sports in college at SUNY Cobleskill and St. Joseph's College. Coach Pleasure has a Masters in Sports Management from Canisus College where she was also the Women's Basketball Team manager. She is currently the Associate Women's Basketball Coach at SUNY Cobleskill and has coached in clinics at Siena College. This is her second year with the Sparks.
- Sarah Hopkins grew up participating in the Clifton Park Youth Basketball Program. The positive experiences she had at the youth level up through the Shenendehowa varsity program, greatly impacted her knowledge and affection for the game. At Siena College she volunteered with the St. Catherine’s CYO program to coach kids from urban districts without adequate physical education programs. Hopkins has been involved in youth sports for ten years and is currently the girls’ freshman coach at Bethlehem High School. This is her first year with the Sparks.
- Coach McGan played high school basketball at Notre Dame Bishop Gibbons in Schenectady. She has been coaching in the CYO for 5 years and also referees youth basketball. She is also working on the NYS high school coaching certification. This is her first year with the Sparks.
- Coach McGivern has been coaching girls youth basketball for almost twenty years. He has multiple years as a Varsity and freshman Assistant and as head JV coach for Shaker. He also has 12 years coaching travel basketball a St. Basils and Colonie. Coach McGivern has nine years coaching AAU, 6 of them with the Sparks.
7th Grade Coaches
- Coach Kuhn played three varsity sports in high school. She has completed two years as assistant coach for the Shenendehowa freshman team. She is in her third year with Sparks.
- Coach Hinman played college basketball for Nazareth College. She was a four year varsity player at Shenendehowa where she led her team to the final four teams in the State Finals. This year she was the assistant JV coach for Shenendehowa. She is in her third year with the Sparks.
- Coach Doiron has coached youth basketball for the past at the YMCA and Clifton Park Travel for the past seven years. He has also coached at the Junior Varsity level for 2 years. This is his first year with the Sparks.
- Coach Ryan has coached youth Travel and CYO basketball for the last five years. This is his second year coaching with the Sparks.
6th Grade Coaches
- John Ricci has been involved in youth sports for several years including the last five years in the Clifton Park Girls Basketball organization. He has coached Clifton Park Girls Travel Basketball teams for the last three years. Currently he is coaching the Clifton Park Girls Biddy A travel team. This is Coach Ricci first year coaching with the Sparks.
5th Grade Coaches
- Coach Domicolo has coached youth basketball for four years. He played high school basketball at Weedsport High School. This is his second year coaching with the Sparks.
4th Grade Coaches
- Coach Frank Rainville currently coaches youth basketball, baseball and football in East Greenbush. He had been doing this for the last 5 years. He currently coaches the East Greenbush 4th grade girls Capital District team. He played high school basketball and baseball at Catholic Central and was an All Big 10 performer. He played college basketball at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
- Coach Randy McHale coaches youth basketball, football, baseball in East Greenbush. He's been doing this for 8 years. He has 8 yeas experience coaching boys basketball for the East Greenbush Capital District team. Have also coached the East Greenbush AAU boys team for 4 years at various levels. he is currently coaching the East Greenbush girls 4th grade team. Coach McHale played high school and college level football and basketball at Troy High and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI).
- Coach George Pearson has been coaching youth sports for the last 4 years, this year he coached the South Colonie Biddy team in the Capital District Girls Basketball League.
Our coaches adhere to this philosophy, "Players should strive to be sound fundamental players and to always remember that if you play hard, play smart, and have fun, you will always be on top of your game no matter the outcome!" The coaches primarily want each player to improve and have fun doing it. A mark of their success is that over 90% of our players return to play for the Sparks each year. We believe a large part of that is due to our committed and knowledgeable coaching staff.