GA is so lucky to have Mrs. Angela Passafiume as our Athletic Director this year! Mrs. Passafiume is coming from Louisville, Kentucky where she was the AD at Walden School, Assumption High School and Mercy Academy. She has two daughters in their 20s, four grandchildren, and two stepsons, all of whom live in Louisville. In her early days as an athletic director she was a coach as well. At Walden, she coached volleyball, basketball, and track and field, and at Assumption she coached softball. In 2020 Mrs. Passafiume was awarded Kentucky’s Athletic Director of the Year. She attended the University of Louisville and in high school she played basketball and softball.
This interview was edited for clarity and length.
What is your favorite music to exercise to?
PINK is my favorite workout playlist! Her current tour setlist is on repeat when I’m working out. There is a concert on October 3 at MetLife so I’m looking for faculty or staff who might be interested!
What is key to finding the balance between academics and sports?
Time management and, in my experience, find that thing that doesn’t have to do with either, that time for yourself. So balance, not just between sports and academics, but manage your time so you can have downtime. Whether it’s putting on your headphones and listening to PINK, doing yoga on your mat, or a walk in the park, make sure that you’re finding time for yourself. That will help that mental health piece for sure. When you start to get out of balance don’t let it get so far that it is difficult to recover. Recognize your needs for each of those things and communicate with the adults in your life who are helping you stay on track and providing you with tools to succeed.
Who is your favorite female athlete, college or professional, in either the sports that you have played or in general?
I remember my favorite probably as a young person was pro tennis player Chrissy Evert Lloyd. I had a Chris Evert Lloyd racquet and just watching her play on TV was amazing. As I got older I loved Mary Lou Retton because in middle school I did gymnastics and cheerleading. These days everyone loves Angel Reese, Caitlin Clark, and Simone Biles, and they are amazing. And I just love the recognition that women’s sports are getting these days. I have my own personal idols from Kentucky as well—Joyce Seymour was the true icon in the Title IX era in my town. I still have contact with her and thank her often for what she’s done for women’s sports. I am very grateful that she paved the way for me and other girls.
What is your biggest success that isn’t publicly recognized?
In my younger years I was always a pretty intense person, a very ‘GO-GO’, high intensity person. Seven or eight years ago my daughter took me to a hot yoga class. I did not think I was gonna make it through! I thought I was in decent shape, but this was bad. When it was over, she asked what I thought and I said, “That was the greatest experience I have ever had!” What I found is that yoga is, as I affectionately call it, my “church on a mat.” It’s a very small space where I can only focus on and calm myself, and I found that in stillnes, a lot of great things that are really important in life float up to the surface. So much so that about a year later I decided to take my yoga instructor training and become a 200-hour certified yoga instructor. I wanted it for myself but even more importantly the value I found in yoga, having been a high school athlete and then the mental health aspect of everything that has gone on in this crazy world in the last five years, I wanted to bring this to my students.
What is your advice/tips for athletes to recover from an injury, mentally and physically?
Still come and be a part of the team. I’ve seen some of the girls in the weight room with Alli [Czescik, GA trainer] recovering. Use that time for recovery and know that it happens to the best of us. Full recovery is the most important piece. It is tough but you have to let your mind and body get right and heal so that you can be the best when you are back. Do exactly as the doctors and coaches say for rehab so that full recovery happens because recurring injuries is when it becomes really tough. The feeling of wanting to go back to your sport can definitely take over but you really have to be in tune with your body and be able to speak up about what doesn’t feel right.
What do you think makes a great coach? What qualities and strategies can help take athletes to the next level?
One of things that I am constantly talking about with coaches is all of the things that are important to the student, parents, and administration. It’s like a juggling act: Raising skill level is a very heavy ball, difficult to keep in the air but also most likely the main focus. But there are other elements as well—making sure the girls are taken care of, schedules are put out, communication, etc. You can’t let any of those balls drop. All great coaches see their students as whole people and connect with them so motivation comes a lot easier. When the student-athlete knows the coach cares about them as a whole person, the athlete will perform at a higher level; they will have a greater level of commitment to the coach and the team. The organizational piece and connection with their athletes are what makes a great coach.
Is there a specific quote that has stuck with you?
As a high school student I remember my basketball coach, on the first or second practice of my senior year, walked into the gymnasium with a banner on the stage and it read Average is as close to the bottom as it is to the top. I still communicate with her quite often and I told her that that day, that quote, changed my life. I thought, you know, being average is fine but I wanna be great. I wanna be great at everything I do: I wanna be the best mom, grandma, athletic director, friend, partner. I just want to be really good at what I do and put all of my energy into being above average. That is definitely one of my favorite quotes and it changed my life.
How do you think athletics contribute to enforcing our motto, Towards the Building of Character, and how can we build a stronger community through sports?
I think the Captains’ Council is a great way to make sure that the girls who are able and willing to lead on each team are a part of that process. I have heard so much about the older girls taking care of the younger girls and making sure that everyone feels valued and that everyone is treated equally; that goes a long way.‘It’s not about the situation you are put in—whether that be good or bad—it’s about how you react to it that shows your character. The building of character is a beautiful piece of athletics at GA because that’s what sports do: They teach you how to lead, how to follow, how to be a graceful winner, and to be graceful when you lose.
What do you think goes into creating an environment where athletes feel comfortable talking about their mental health and how can we be even better about that at GA?
Growing up we just called everything “stressed out.” Now everything is so much better identified. I think that having mental health be a main focus at GA is amazing. Being able to talk about it and being able to help girls find tools to deal with anxiety and the stresses that they are going through in daily life and being open to that is going to make all of us a better community and better citizens. Mental health is definitely an important topic and I am so glad people are talking about it.
What advice would you give your high school athlete self now, given the knowledge you have?
A few things: Do the work in practice. I know that it is cliche that practice makes perfect, but perfect practice makes better games. The work behind the scenes, what you see with all the great athletes, female and male alike, is the hours that they put into their craft and that’s how they become great. So if there’s something that you love, do it well; be great at it, and always continue to find joy in your experience. Advice for girls especially, yes be great be a great athlete, but the joy in athletics to me was always the most important. I talk about senior nights, when you ask the girls, “tell us your favorite memory,” nine times out of 10 that memory has nothing to do with with what happened during a game; it was never “oh when I scored my thousandth point” or anything like that. It’s always something that happened during a team bonding event, during the sleepover or a travel experience or just something funny that happened at practice, that’s really what sports is all about. So yes, be great and if you want to go on and be a really competitive college athlete or just enjoy the experience, just make sure you find the joy. I’ve known a few people who go to college and after one year they don’t want to play anymore and at this point they’ve spent all this time and energy toward playing in college. The advice to go with that: Pick a place and a coach that fits you, that will help you find that joy. Find that coach who helps you develop as a whole person. Often we are so focused on that Division I experience that we are not considering other factors. You are interviewing them for your life. Find the program that fits you. It is not all about Division 1. Make the college experience the best for you—it is all about YOU.
What are your ideas and goals for GA?
What drew me here was definitely the experience. GA has an unbelievable history and reputation so that definitely was a draw. I got on the website and saw the faces of all the student and student athletes athletes and it’s an all girls private school, which is kinda my jam. As far as ideas for GA, I just want to be supportive to help grow the already great programs here. I want to help GA continue to be a destination for great coaches. I think when you have a great athletic staff it’s kind of a “build it and they will come” kind of thing. So you have a great coach who builds a great staff which builds a great program and then student-athletes want to play for them. I know that there is already a great staff here and I would like to build on that. I just want to be a part of something that has such great tradition and I am really excited to be here.
