Kremer: Suca Girls Give JT Home Court Advantage

For the two sisters coaching two different varsity sports at two different campuses in the same school district, the path they followed to reach this juncture can be traced to a single starting point.

Home.

Joliet Central’s Lindsey Suca and Joliet West’s Heather Suca were raised by life coaches—their parents—and taught from a young age there is a right way and a wrong way to go about your business.

Those early lessons made a lasting impression. And, naturally, they’ve become coaches themselves.

“Mom and dad both—they influenced me to be the way I am, disciplined,” Lindsey Suca said. “Discipline is huge. That’s what I carry over into my coaching. And, it sounds dorky, but I wanted to be a teacher ever since I was little.

“So, I even had the schoolroom in my basement and everything. My sister was one of my students at one point. I had the blackboard. There wasn’t really a subject—just kind of a schoolroom. We were little. My parents were right in front of it at all.”

Then and now

Today, Lindsey teaches her students at Joliet Central and her athletes what she learned from her parents, John and Rita Suca, growing up on Home Court in Shorewood. Lindsey played volleyball from the time she was in fifth grade until she was two years into her college career at McKendree University.

She earned two majors—one in health science and the other in physical education. She now teaches P.E. and coaches the boys volleyball team at Joliet Central.

“Discipline is key, like right now, my students and my athletes, they need to learn the value of discipline—being on time, following directions,” Lindsey Suca said. “That’s going to get them to next stage in life.”

She believes winning eventually takes care of itself and views that concept—winning—as a bonus that comes from putting in the hard work and effort that is required to make a go of it in the Southwest Suburban Blue Conference.

Her Steelmen were 4-7 heading into Thursday’s match against Lincoln-Way Central, just one of the many Goliaths on JT Central’s boys volleyball schedule.

“The discipline gets you to that,” Lindsey Suca said. “It gets you to conforming as a team and them realizing you have to do this on time, you have to listen to your coach, you have to respect your other teammates, respect your coaches. That gets you to winning.”

Heather Suca teaches math and coaches the softball team at Joliet West, one that raced out of the starting blocks in late March and early April with seven wins in its first 10 games. She played the game herself back when she attended JT and those who saw her will tell you she played it like it is meant to be played.

She was known for the fearless way she charged from third to field slap bunts and for her tenacity on the basepaths. Given a hint of doubt from an outfielder, she could stretch a routine single into a double no matter the strength of that outfielder’s arm.

She went on to earn Academic All-Big Ten honors at Indiana. She also earned three degrees—one in sports marketing and one in business at IU. Later, she added a master’s in education at the University of St. Francis and returned to the JT fold.

Both girls attended JT West. Both are happy now to be back on home turf. Both have a passion for their jobs that comes from a sense of belonging in the community. Both learned the value of an honest day’s work from their parents.

Twinkle, little stars

John Suca is an iron worker. Rita is a tech at ATI Physical Therapy.

“My parents—they raised us very well,” Heather Suca said. “They taught us to be great individuals, great people and, on top of that, taught us to be great competitors. They always had us in stuff since we were 5 years old. Dance, gymnastics—anything at the park district, always, always had us active in something.”

Heather said her mother nudged the girls in the beginning.

“Well, it was dance first, so I’m going to go with mom,” Heather Suca said. “She started that off. Then, I think where the softball actually came from, my dad would go to slow-pitch games and I could never go with him.

“So, I guess I figured at that age if I started playing I could go with him, too.”

John Suca teamed with Joliet attorney Jim Brumund to coach Heather and many of her closest friends when they played travel ball with the Joliet J’s. Today, John and Jim serve as volunteer assistants with the Tigers.

One of John’s jobs is to drive the tractor and drag the infield. He built the dugouts on the softball diamonds and works to maintain the JT West playing field—anything to stay around the game. He’s been a softball dad for 18 years.

“Yeah, I pretty much do all the maintenance out here—and help coach,” John Suca said.

He remembers fondly how the Suca softball journey began, Heather tugging at his pant legs as a toddler.

“Basically, she started watching us and taking after us playing,” John Suca said. “She got away from the dance stuff. She wasn’t very good at dance anyway. I could show you some videos of that. It wasn’t pretty.”

Here, he pauses for a laugh.

“She probably made the right move,” he said.

Like Rita, John is proud of both of his girls, how they’ve grown up to be teachers and coaches, to be leaders for the next generation of JT students and athletes.

“That’s why I’m out here helping both of them,” he said. “I love it. I’ll keep doing it as long as they’re doing it.”

Please, make yourself right at home, John.

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