Date: Fri 22-Nov-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: KIMH

Quick Words:

Russ-Weiss-Feature

Full Text:

Russ Weiss Feature

B Y K IM J. H ARMON

When Newtown scored the final point in its 3-0 win over Bristol Eastern last

Saturday to earn the CIAC Class L state championship, one of those people

jumping highest off the bench one of the first onto the floor to congratulate

the Lady Nighthawks was assistant coach Russ Weiss.

Coach Weiss had been there at the very beginning, almost from the moment the

team was born back in 1975. After assisting with Pam Northrup for six years,

he took over the program in 1983 and led it through several brushes with

greatness before stepping aside following the 1995 season.

Now, as an assistant to head coach Nell-Ayn Lynch, he has finally had a chance

to enjoy a championship.

Coach Weiss remembers well all the successes he had with players like Amy

Barrows and Jackie Smith and Jennifer Wyslick, the times his girls won the

Briggs Division title in the former Western Connecticut Conference and went to

the WCC playoffs and those many trips into the CIAC state tournament that,

unfortunately, ended in quarter-final and semi-final losses.

"We had quite a bit of success," said coach Weiss. "There have been a lot of

good players on the team. We had some great players this year and Nell took

the team and jelled it and had them believe. They accomplished almost

everything they could accomplish. I envy her for what she did."

When coach Weiss stepped aside this season, it was to take over the junior

varsity program and help Lynch keep the transition between head coaches a

smooth one. And coach Weiss had almost as much fun, leading the jayvees to a

14-2 record and some memorable wins - the most memorable one being over

Jonathan Law in Milford early one Saturday morning.

"I enjoyed myself on the jayvee level," said coach Weiss. "I had a great bunch

of kids and a lot of fun."

Looking back on the CIAC state championship and how it came to be, coach Weiss

added, "I look at the overall picture and I'm proud of them. I'm glad that the

program is now able to take another step. I think I did as well as I could

with my background and with what I wanted to put into it."

But with the radical change in volleyball philosophies and schemes and

rotations - added with the extra academic work he had to do in the NHS science

department - it became too much.

Something had to give.

But with coach Lynch there, coach Weiss said, "Now I can feel comfortable

because there is somebody there who can build the team and carry it through

the rest of the '90s into the next century.

"I filled a void," he added. "I was a stepping stone toward on building the

team to another level and I can feel comfortable with that."

Very comfortable - especially after a state championship.