Catherine Walker

NCHS Girls Varsity Tennis Wins 3rd Straight State Title [Q&A]

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The New Canaan High School Girls Varsity Tennis Team won its third straight CIAC title last weekend. We put some questions to coach Catherine Walker following the team’s championship win. Here’s our exchange. ***

New Canaanite: Coach Walker, when we connected last year following the team’s state title, you said that NCHS would be looking at another strong team this year, despite losing three seniors. Tell us about last weekend’s CIAC title for NCHS varsity girls tennis team.

Business

New Canaan Couple Launches Breast Protection Insert for Female Athletes

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Christian Murphy had no idea that sending a message of support to his close childhood friend from Australia would lead to a new passion in his life. The former A+E Global Media employee was looking through LinkedIn one day in 2023 when he came across the inspiring story of Suzie Betts, Christian Murphy recalled. “I hadn’t been in touch with [Betts] for a very long time, but saw that she had recently undergone multiple surgeries and biopsies to address what were non-cancerous but extremely painful lumps in her breasts,” Christian Murphy told NewCanaanite.com Monday during an interview at New Canaan Library. “Based on this experience, she had developed a product to protect other female athletes so they wouldn’t have to go through the same experiences that she did.”

He continued: “I really admired what [Betts] was trying to do. She was trying to address a major problem in our society: a lack of funding and support for the proper equipment in female sports.”

Betts had her first surgery in 2018 and then, after conversations with her own daughters that showed a need for additional breast protection in youth sports, founded her product as ‘Boob Armour’ (later ‘Boob Protect’) in 2021.

Homepage Featured

‘A Beautiful Facility’: Officials Cut Ribbon on ‘Coppo Field,’ New Home of NCHS Varsity Baseball

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Hundreds of New Canaan Baseball players of all ages, family, friends and supporters gathered at the new Coppo Field on Wednesday afternoon for a ribbon-cutting and inaugural game at the widely anticipated facility in Waveny. Named for the late Joe Coppo, the turf field will serve as the new home of the New Canaan High School varsity Rams, whose first-ever game (also against Darien) had been played nearly 100 years ago when NCHS first played at Mead Park. 

Coppo himself “was a longtime resident of New Canaan and ardent supporter of New Canaan Baseball who graciously volunteered his time coaching and was an active board member,” the emcee of the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Terry Dinan, told those gathered at the field on a comfortable, sunny day. 

He continued: “Joe Coppo tragically lost his life on Sept. 11, 2001. His spirit and legacy lives on in all who take the field to play. We know Joe would be excited, and proud, to see the unveiling of the renovated Coppo Field today.”

Those in attendance included municipal officials such as First Selectman Dionna Carlson, Selectman Steve Karl, Public Works Director Tiger Mann, Parks & Recreation Director John Howe and Superintendent of Parks Ryan Restivo, district representatives such as Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi, NCHS Principal Bill Egan and Athletic Director Jay Egan, and New Canaan Athletic Foundation founding Chair Mike Benevento and Board President Ian MacAllister. 

Also in attendance were members of the Coppo family, including Joe Coppo’s son John who threw out the ceremonial first pitch.

Government

‘Coppo Field’ Turf Baseball Stadium at Waveny To Open Next Month

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The creation of a widely anticipated new baseball stadium at Waveny is on budget and nearing completion, according to the head of the nonprofit organization driving the project. The Coppo Field project, an approximately $5 million job—$2 million of which is coming from the town, while the nonprofit New Canaan Athletic Foundation is paying the roughly $3 million balance—is expected to significantly increase both the turf footprint and seating surrounding the field in an effort to create more space for the town’s youth athletics programs, NCAF Chairman Mike Benevento told members of the Parks and Recreation Commission last week. “Our biggest bottleneck from youth all the way through varsity sports is getting access to turf fields,” Benevento told Parks & Rec during its regular meeting, held March 5 in Lapham Center and via videoconference. “Especially in the busy spring. We had a wonderful fall last year but the fall prior to that was a total washout.

Chrysi Gabriel

‘We Stood by Each Other and Acted as Family’: New Canaan Girls Soccer Wins FCIAC and CIAC Championships

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A 4-0 loss to St. Luke’s in their first scrimmage of the year wasn’t an ideal start for the New Canaan Girls Soccer team. Losing two of their first three official games only made things worse. At that moment, the season seemed destined for disappointment. 

Yet the girls took control of their own narrative and flipped a switch, winning 18 of their next 20 games and then riding off into the sunset, holding high both the FCIAC and CIAC trophies. New Canaan Girls Soccer was crowned as champions once more.