Motherhood wins out over basketball for Capozzi
Note: Due to computer error, the following story was not available in its entirety when it first appeared on the Internet on Monday. This is the complete version: There were no baby showers, birthing classes or late-night pickle runs.
No labor pains either.
Just a frantic trip through Wal Mart that was soon followed by a pair of wobbly legs when Ann Capozzi first saw two-week-old Catie Jacqueline.
“Oh my God, my knees were weak,” said Capozzi, fondly remembering the moment she and husband Vince first saw their adopted daughter nine months ago. “It was the most beautiful baby we’ve ever seen, and we couldn’t believe how blessed we were.”
The Capozzi’s new beginning with Catie has led to an ending of sorts, if only for the time being. In an effort to spend more time with her daughter, who turned nine months old Saturday, Capozzi has resigned her position as head girls basketball coach at Albert Gallatin.
It was a tough decision for Capozzi, but one she knew she would have to make.
“It was really hard telling the girls,” Capozzi said. “I did it after an undergrad game. It was very tough, because the girls are really important to me, but right now, I just want to concentrate on being a mother.
“We didn’t know what we were going to do. That’s why we came back one more year. We’ve put a lot of ourselves into the team. We wanted to see if we could do this, but it’s not fair to the team or to Catie to split the time. Neither one of us really wanted to miss out on anything with Catie.”
Capozzi’s five years at Albert Gallatin produced three of the school’s four playoff seasons, including an all-time best 23-4 mark during the 1999-2000 campaign. Capozzi’s tenure also saw two of the best players in recent years in the WPIAL don Lady Colonial uniforms in Katie Kelly and Loui Hall.
Kelly was the star of the 23-4 team and wound up being named to the Associated Press Big-School All-State fourth team her senior season. She then signed with Eastern Kentucky University, where she recently completed her sophomore season.
Hall, a junior, averaged 26.4 points, including 32 over her last eight games and was named to the Big-School All-State second team last week. Hall was one of the main reasons Albert Gallatin was able to overcome a 3-7 start to finish the regular season 11-2 and qualify for the WPIAL playoffs.
In the past three seasons, all of which ended in the playoffs, Albert Gallatin won two section titles and posted a 56-22 overall mark. The Lady Colonials have enjoyed four straight winning seasons and posted a .677 winning percentage over Capozzi’s five seasons (90-43).
“It was a tough decision to leave,” Capozzi said. “But I wanted to do it early enough so they could have someone for the offseason and summer leagues. Basketball is no longer a November to February sport. You’re talking two summer leagues, camps, and so on. The kids deserve someone who can devote themselves to it full time.”
Because they were not able to have children, Ann and Vince Capozzi decided five years into their marriage to adopt. Vince Capozzi works for the Greensburg Diocese, and this is where he and Ann were introduced to Catholic Charities, an organization that aims to reduce poverty, improve the lives of children and families and strengthen communities.
Each year, Catholic Charities’ adoption services place infants, children and youth with families who provide safe, permanent homes. The service specializes in adoption of children and youth with special needs.
Children with special needs are those who are part of a sibling group, who are minority or older, school-aged children, or who have particular physical, emotional or educational needs.
Through reading, talking with others and the Internet, they learned as much as they could about the adoption process before deciding to start the procedure through Catholic Charities.
Then, Ann and Vince did a lot of praying.
“They don’t guarantee anything,” Ann Capozzi said. “They tell you it’s going to take four or five years if it’s going to happen. Then Catholic Charities will ask you where in the process do you want to be notified. We told them that it was enough of a roller coaster ride as it was, that we just wanted to be notified when there was an actual baby.
“We knew it would be out of the blue.”
Summer was giving way to fall last year when the Capozzi’s phone rang early one morning, around 9 a.m.
Chaos, exhilaration and a frantic run through Wal Mart later that night soon followed.
“We had the room prepared, nothing else,” Ann Capozzi said. “We didn’t know if it was going to be a boy or girl. We wanted an infant, but we could have got a three-month old. We ran around Wal Mart just throwing everything into a buggy.
“We received a phone call on a Monday morning and we got Catie the next day. You’re an instant parent. Even though you wait for four years, it still comes as quite a shock.”
The Capozzis know nothing pertaining to Catie’s birth mother, but they are indeed grateful to her.
“Some people don’t look at it this way, but it takes a tremendous act of love to give your child up. It’s really an unselfish act. We’ll be forever grateful to both parents and that’s the way we’re going to explain it to Catie.”
The past nine months have been a blur to the Capozzis, one of the reasons Ann has decided to step away from coaching for the time being.
Friends and relatives have helped with Catie, receiving a copy of a schedule the Capozzis would make up each month and then filling in times when they could baby-sit.
The past nine months have also saw social workers check in with Capozzis, while friends and family were still getting used to the idea of having a little one around.
“The only people we had told we were going to adopt were my dad and my sister,” Ann Capozzi said. “We wanted to surprise everyone. We just kind of showed up at Vince’s parents, and they kept screaming and crying.
“The outpouring has just been overwhelming. Everyone knows how special Catie is to us and their support has been incredible.”
Catie was named after Vince’s favorite aunt, who lives in Italy, and she received her middle name to honor Ann’s mother, Jacqueline. And even though she’s adopted, a mother-daughter bond is without a doubt evident.
“It took us about three seconds to bond with her,” Vince said.
“She’s given our life a whole new meaning,” said Ann. “This Christmas was so special, but our Christmas came last year when we got Catie.
“She’s the best gift we’ve ever been blessed with.”
Herald-Standard sports writer Dave Stofcheck can be reached at davestofchek@hotmail.com.