Ann Moscovics

Posted on September 1, 2015November 22, 2016

Ann started playing volleyball as a sophomore at Amity Regional (Amity was a 3-year senior high school) in 1980. With little experience to speak of but a great deal of talent, she tried out and won a spot as a varsity starter, no small feat on one of the top teams in the state. She was a strong side hitter with great passing skills and quickness which made her an effective player in the back row as well as the front. In fact, her combined talent and attitude earned her the team MVP award that year and she helped lead Amity to the Housatonic League title. As a junior, Ann was named team co-captain and helped her team continue its winning ways. Amity won another Housatonic League championship and added a CIAC Class LL State Title. As a junior, Ann was chosen team MVP for a second time and was selected first team All-Housatonic League and All-State. During her senior year it was more of the same. Amity finished the season 19-3 and won a second State Championship. Ann was once again selected team MVP, All-Housatonic League, and All-State. She also played in Team Connecticut on the AAU circuit that year. Ann’s excellence in athletics was not limited to volleyball, she also played basketball and softball at Amity. In basketball she scored more than 1,300 points in three years and in ’83 was selected as a Carnation Women’s Basketball All-American. In softball, Amity won a state title in ’82 and Ann was selected to the All-State team.

After graduating from Amity, Ann attended New Hampshire College. She played four years of Division II basketball with the Penwomen. In ’87, Ann turned her athletic interest to coaching. Her first position was as the head coach of the mane’s volleyball team at Sacred Heart Universtiy where she remained for two seasons. Currently she is coaching at Coginchaug High School in Durham. She is assisting head volleyball coach Clare Matasavage and she has been the head softball coach for four years. Her softball teams have accrued an amazing 19-1 record in post season play, have advanced to the state finals all four years and have won the Class S championship three times.

In 2004, Amity Regional inducted Ann into the Spartan’s Hall of Fame and retired numbers 7 and 20 in her honor and in 2006 she was inducted into the Connecticut High School Softball Hall of Fame.

F. Tyson Krause

Posted on September 1, 2015November 22, 2016

Tyson has a volleyball career rich in every facet of the game. Beginning with his days as a collegiate all star player at Springfield College, to coaching Boston College, Albertus Magnus and San Diego State University, where his teams consistently ranked nationally in the Top Ten in Division I. he received the FIVB Level 2 International Coaching certification as well as the USA Volleyball CAP 2 Coaching Certification.

Tyson founded and directed Score Promotions volleyball schools. At present he is founder and president of the Connecticut Junior Volleyball Assoc. The CJVA is a statewide program which has provided off season training for over seven thousand girls of varying skill levels. He is also owner of the Connecticut Sports Center in Woodbridge. The CSC is a 44,000 square foot facility dedicated to volleyball.

Paul Thees

Posted on September 1, 2014November 22, 2016

Photo by Peter Casolino/Register
Paul Thees is back as the head coach of the Amity volleyball team. Thees coached Amity for 16 seasons before resigning in 2007.

Paul played in the recreation /club volleyball program back in the late 70s at SCSU, and from his love for the game of volleyball. A few years later after graduating, he pursued his first head coaching job in 1982 at North Branford High School. He applied and was asked to meet Athletic Director Don Knickerbocker, who has since passed. Don started his career, and taught him the ropes as a beginner. Paul coached at North Bradford until 1985. His last three years at North Branford, his team 13 conference titles, played once in the quarterfinals of the state tournament and twice in the semifinals. That was just the beginning.

From 1989 through 1991 toll coached Platt High School in Meriden where his teams played once in the quarterfinals, wants in the state finals and won the state championship. Then in 1992, Paul was hired to coach at Amity Regional High School. For the next 15 years, his teams won 11 conference titles, played in the quarterfinals of the state tournament six times, the semifinals three times, the finals twice and won three state championships. After after two years coaching of trouble high school, Paul return to an 80 and 11 more conference title and played in the quarterfinals wants more.

In total, falls high school coaching record stands at 512 wins and 157 losses and 31 years. In five different schools, Paul Stevens won 15 of the titles, qualified for the state tournament 29 out of 31 seasons, played in the quarterfinals nine times, the semifinals five times, the final seven times and won four state championships. He is the only high school coach to win state championships at two different schools. He had multiple Allstate players and two Gatorade Players of the Year.

The Orange Times: A Coaching Legend Retires After 31 Years

Mia Malafronte

Posted on September 1, 2011November 22, 2016

Until her freshman year at Amity High School in 1987, Mia Malafronte played basketball and softball and in the fall was a field hockey player. Her parents wanted her to try volleyball so she made a deal with them. She would attend a two week summer camp with CT Volleyball Hall of Fame member Kathy Symonds with the understanding that if she did not like volleyball, she would to not have to play. She fell in love with volleyball and the rest, as they say, is history.

Mia was a varsity outside hitter her sophomore year. That year her team was undefeated going into the State Championship Finals but lost a heart breaker to Maloney – 3 games to 2. The underclassmen vowed to never lose a match again. Her junior year, they defeated Maloney in the State Final and completed an undefeated season. In her senior year, they lost only two games the entire season and both were in the same match to Fitch High School. They met Fitch again, this time in the State Championship match, and won three games to none. They honored their vow and during her three year varsity career, her team was 65 and 1. Mia then played intercollegiate volley-ball for Albertus Magnus.

Mia’s awards and honors are too numerous to mention but include being a member of the 1989-90 Jr. Olympic Team Champions in the Nutmeg State Games. She was named to both the 1st Team All-Housatonic and 1st Team All-State Volleyball teams and was inducted into the Amity Athletic Hall of Fame. She was the Head Coach of the French American School of New York and presently is both the Assistant Head Coach and Junior Varsity Coach at Amity High School.