By Jude Massimino-Vargha ‘28
With the winter sports season commencing, students have noticed new faces in the wrestling and swimming programs.
For the winter sports season, St. Andrew’s has brought in two new coaches to the pride to help lead the wrestling and swimming teams. The wrestling team welcomes Marcellus Fleming as their new coach, and the swimming team is excited to have Elizabeth Sudassy on board.
. Marcellus Fleming is the newest addition to the wrestling coaching staff. With six years of coaching experience at the high school level, this is no small pickup. Coach Fleming has been wrestling since the age of 4 and has a great grasp of the sport. Before coming to St. Andrew’s, Coach Fleming worked as a coach at Northeast High School in Pasadena, Maryland. Coach Fleming also had a wrestling career of his own – he attended Limestone College (now university) and was a state-qualifying wrestler in high school.
Coach Fleming’s amazing qualities come from his love for the sport and his genuine investment in his athletes’ development. His goal this season is to foster a great environment while making sure every athlete can grow as a wrestler.
“I enjoy seeing new kids that never wrestled before do their first penetration step to finally hitting their first double leg,” said Coach Fleming. “Or the wrestler who is not very confident, and he or she finds confidence and grit to come out with a victory: seeing that growth and maturity over time has been the most rewarding part of being a coach.”
Some fun facts about Coach Fleming are that his dad, Ted Fleming, ran a community wrestling program, and he is a certified official for volleyball, football, wrestling, and mens lacrosse.
Over in the Swim and Dive program, Elizabeth Sudassy is the newest addition to the coaching staff. Sudassy started coaching at the age of 15 for the Montgomery County Swim League (MCSL) before pursuing a career in business, and she later moved to the Maryland area to start coaching again in 2003.
She has 15 years of coaching experience in USA swimming for ages 6-18 and is now adding high school coaching to her resume.
She was also a strong swimmer herself; she commented, “I grew up in this area swimming for Connecticut Belair in the MCSL and swam all four years at Loyola University in Baltimore, MD.”
Inspired by her college coach, Coach Sudassy learned the value of building strong relationships with her swimmers.
“My college coach really showed me how to value each person and build a relationship,” said Sudassy. “As a coach, I’ve learned that building a relationship helps the swimmer trust their coach and try more challenging things.”
This season, Coach Sudassy is encouraging the varsity swimmers to try events that are challenging and uncomfortable, hoping to build character and resilience. A fun fact about Coach Sudassy is that she graduated from Frankfurt American High School, a Department of Defense School in Frankfurt, Germany.
Whether you’re cheering in the stands or giving a high-five in the halls, be sure to support our swimmers, wrestlers, and their new coaches!
