Special Education Teacher @ Dobbs Ferry High School Varsity Girls Basketball Coach Mom to 3 amazing kids
Joined August 2017
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Stephanie Mills retweeted
Jalen Brunson says 30 intentional minutes can beat 2 hours in the gym, and explains the NBA was never his goal because he was consumed with just trying to get a little bit better everyday
“People say, ‘Oh, I was in the gym for two hours today.’ Like, okay, what did you do in the gym?’ You can get a much more difficult and better workout in 30 to 40 minutes versus just being in the gym BS’ing for two hours.”
“While it was about consistency, it was about being precise. There was intent to everything you did. It was definitely commitment. I loved going out and working out. I loved going and playing pickup.”
“When we lived in Virginia, we lived in Charlottesville Virginia when my dad worked at UVA. I would go play at the rec center with college kids. We would play pickup, I’m playing against older people and I’m playing well. I’m not thinking, I’m going to the NBA. The NBA was never talked about. No. I’m just trying to get better. It was all about going to college.”
“There were baby steps. Yes there were long term goals, but I’m focused on the short term goals. Baby steps, one step at a time. People just want to jump straight there, and they get disappointed because they didn’t enjoy their journey. I enjoyed every step of my journey. Enjoy your steps.”
Stephanie Mills retweeted
Draymond Green says basketball is no longer a poor kid's game: “It's a rich kid's game”
“I didn't learn how to do a proper individual workout till I got to college. Growing up I'm going to hoop. Where's the nearest run. Drop me off, I'll play all day. That's what we did. We hooped all day. I think there's a huge benefit to that because you just learn to see the game”
“It's different when somebody just putting you in a position to tell you to do this move. How do you use your creativity? How do you learn if somebody just say do this? How do you know what your game is if you never tap into it and just figure it out”
“I think there's a time and place for a trainer and I think with where the game has gone, you need those resources in order to be successful”
“I feel like basketball used to be a poor man's game. Poor kids played it. We were poor. We had nothing and it was our way out. Basketball is not a poor kid's game no more. Basketball is a rich kid game”
“The days of seeing LeBron James from Akron, Ohio, from a single mom, those days are numbered. Because if you don't have the resources these days, you can't make it. But that’s also why you don't see as great basketball as you did before, because there's no imagination”
“Everybody's doing the same thing, playing the same way. I think a lot of that is due sometimes to having trainers. You just become a carbon copy of somebody else the trainer created”
Stephanie Mills retweeted
Elite athletes aren't built at million dollar facilities.
They're the product of
1) Relentless coaching from experts who are obsessed with technical details and long-term player development
2) Consistent exposure to elite peers who constantly push them to new levels
3) Meticulously designed training programs that prioritize deliberate practice and skill development
Stephanie Mills retweeted
The highest performers don’t waste energy on things they can’t control.
They focus on two things: their effort and their attitude.
When adversity hits, don’t look for a shortcut back. Just keep chipping away. One play. One response. One step at a time.
Stephanie Mills retweeted
Dobbs Ferry defeated Haldane, 4-1, in the Section 1 Class B softball championship at North Rockland on June 1, 2026: bit.ly/4dXBFpI
📹️: Peter Carr / The Journal News/lohud.com
Stephanie Mills retweeted
🏆🥎 Dobbs Ferry closed out three days of championship competition at North Rockland High School by defeating Haldane, 4-1, to capture the Section One Class B Softball title.
Stephanie Mills retweeted
Never overlook the players who impact winning in ways most people never notice. Don’t get me wrong… points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks matter. I mean, you can’t win if you can’t score. But so does helping the helper. So does taking away a scorer’s favorite move. So does denying a player 84+ feet for an entire game. So does guarding the ball without getting blown by all night. So does sprinting back in transition, setting a great screen, making the extra pass, getting a hockey assist, diving on the floor, talking on defense, boxing out so somebody else gets the rebound, making the extra rotation, and bringing energy from the bench when your number isn’t called. A lot of the things that SHOW UP in the box score only happen because of the things that DON’T. Winning teams understand that. Great players definitely do too.
Stephanie Mills retweeted
One of the most successful coaches in @BomberSports history now has a successor.
Ithaca’s young roster gets a Coach early in her career with a great ability to relate to players.
Coming from Trinity, the Bantams have consistently been a top women’s #d3hoops program - everything points toward Coach Erin Hughes being a great hire for @IthacaWBB
Erin Hughes Named Women’s Basketball Head Coach athletics.ithaca.edu/news/20…
Stephanie Mills retweeted
Congrats Jake Pampolina of @SuffernBoysBask on committing to D1 Tennessee Tech and coach Tobin Anderson.
Perfect pairing of a demanding coach and a player willing to do anything asked. Pampolina will need to prove himself. But Rockland's all-time leading scorer is ready
Well deserved!
Meet Anthony Ficarrotta, Westchester/Putnam basketball player of the year lohud.com/videos/sports/high…
The best ever .
We want to congratulate Coach Raymond on his retirement. The winningest coach in @IthacaWBB history.✍️
The impact you have had on the program, including 538 overall victories, is amazing. You are forever a member of our Bomber Family.
Thank you, for everything.💙
#GoBombers
Well deserved kiddo.
LHBCA 1st Team 2026: Anthony Ficarrotta, Dobbs Ferry.
Incredible when you step back and look at all that @AnthonyFic22 achieved at @DobbsFerryHoops.
The tribute to the all-time scoring champ:
youtu.be/9jIO5_tT1Lo?si=r3zy…
Stephanie Mills retweeted
D3 WBB Coaching News: Another huge retirement in this year's offseason: Ithaca head coach Dan Raymond is retiring after spending 26 years leading the program.
He compiled a record of 522-182, with 18 20-win seasons and 17 NCAA Tournament appearances at Ithaca. At the end of this past season, Raymond ranked 17th amongst active D3 head coaches in career wins. #d3hoops
My favorite person. No one better around.❤️❤️
Dan Raymond Announces Retirement as Women’s Basketball Coach athletics.ithaca.edu/news/20…
Stephanie Mills retweeted
Tappan Zee 51
Byram Hills 38
Christian Sanchez 17 pts
Isaiah Leveille 16 pts
Timmy Alexandre 10 pts
Jack Piccione 5 pts
Joe Linehan 3 pts
Kevin Kendall 17 pts & Ben Wolf 13 pts for Byram. Respect & credit to a well coached and strong Byram Hills team.
This is for you, MP❤️
Stephanie Mills retweeted
Unforgettable moment for Jack Piccione and his mom, Lynn. Jack ran over to her courtside moments after winning the Gold Ball for the third time in four years.
The best. Matt Piccione did one hell if a job raising this kid!! A true role model Jack is. ❤️❤️
In all my years of broadcasting, I'd never gotten emotional on air until tonight. It was impossible to hold back the tears.
Jack Piccione of Tappan Zee lost his father suddenly last Sept. 1. Matthew Piccione died of a heart attack minutes after playing pickleball with friends. He was 51.
Over the last three years, I got to know Matthew Piccione fairly well. One day back in 2023, he asked coach George Gaine for my number so he could call me just to say thank you for calling out Jack's contributions during Tappan Zee's championship run.
Jack was a role player who averaged maybe 5 points a game as a freshman. But he started and never came off the court.
"I know he doesn't score a lot of points," Matthew Piccione said. "But you are one of the only people who appreciates what he does for the team."
Matthew Piccione kept a very low profile at games and reinforced in his son to be the emodiment of all the things that make Tappan Zee basketball different than any other program in the state.
Play unselfish. Defend. Be coachable. Defend. Draw charges. Pass. Sacrifice for your teammates. And, of course, defend some more.
Nobody in the history of Tappan Zee basketball since I have been covering has ever played that role better than Jack Piccione. He's the best best defensive player in the program and is on an elite level of players I've been around in Section 1.
When Matthew died in September, I worried about Jack. I wondered what his senior season might be like. The person most responsible for instilling and reinforcing the values that made Jack great was now tragically gone.
Tonight, Jack Piccione scored 5 points in the Section 1 Championship game. FIVE. Yet not only did his team because of his performance, I had the honor of handing him the MVP Trophy to prove it.
In the final 90 seconds of the game, I shared the story of Matthew Piccione and his passing. You will hear the emotion in my voice. It's genuine, not because of any relationship I had with him. You just can't be a sports parent and not relate to loving your child and always wanting what's best for them.
Because here's what I am going to tell you. And I really want all parents to read this and remember it:
Your kids' youth - not just athletics, but all of it - is short and it's precious. You don't get this time back when it's over. It goes way too quick. And some don't even get to see it to the end.
You have a choice: You can spend this period of their lives stressing about how many points they score, what awards or accolades they receive, begging people to vote in the online poll for Player of the Week, emailing the coach and complaining about playing time or lamenting the number of shots they get in a game. Go ahead. You can make all of that important for yourself and your child. Trust me, you won't be alone in doing so.
Or you can do what Matthew Piccione did. Sit in the stands and enjoy watching your children compete. Teach them that it's team above all else, stress what it means to sacrifice and ensure them that, when you do those things and have success, the feeling of hanging a banner will far exceed any of the personal accolades think are important.
And, sadly, God might choose that you won't be around to see it all anyway.
Matthew didn't get to give his son a hug after he won tonight. And Jack didn't get to see the pride in his father's face. Think about that. If you are a parent, try to put your child in Jack's shoes. If God forbid your child was confronted with the same tragedy, you'd want them looking back on this sacred period of their lives the way Jack will forever recall them with his dad.
Tonight was complete validation for Jack Piccione and all of the things his father always told him.
Jack scored 5 points and won the MVP on his way to becoming the most decorated basketball player in Tappan Zee history.
Nobody has ever won more in a TZ uniform than the most unselfish player they've ever had. He wouldn't trade his career with anyone, either.
Take a moment to listen to myself and Pleasantville coach Nick Bonura from tonight's @SportsEngine broadcast of @TZeeAthletics @TZhoops