When he was in middle school, Jack Gallucci, who begins his first season as an assistant coach with the Fairfield University field hockey team in 2023, would navigate his way to the field hockey pitch at Trumbull High School to spend time with his mother Cindy who was coaching the sport at the high school. At first, he wasn't quite sure what to make of the sport but field hockey quickly drew his interest and put him on a journey that would send him around the world.

 "I was in middle school when my mother became the head coach at Trumbull High School," Gallucci said. "I would go to the field after school when she was holding practice and hang out on the sidelines."

Watching and doing are two different things and Gallucci was not one to watch. Instead, he decided to come off the sidelines and become active in a sport for which he did not have a great deal of knowledge.

"I thought the sport was a little weird until I picked up the stick and starting knocking the ball around the field," Gallucci said. "I didn't understand it but it was fun to play. So, I started playing at practices and began to pick up the game."

With a desire to excel, Gallucci realized he needed more time to reach the level of play he wanted to achieve on the pitch. He became involved with the East Coast High Performance team, a program which included players from Maine to Florida. Besides teaching the skills necessary to become an elite player, East Coast High Performance also served as a feeder system to the U.S. Junior National Team.

"I started to take the sport a little more seriously and became involved with the East Coast High Performance Center," Gallucci said. "They train at regional sites including Pennsylvania, Virginia Beach, and Boston. The training sites included those who were currently on the national team or former players who retired but wanted to remain active. It was also a training bed for those who wanted to make the national team."

His play elevated as he gained more experience, so much so that he received that coveted invitation to tryout for the U.S. Junior National Team in 2017, his junior year of high school. He went to the Olympic Training Center in California and did well enough to make the U-19 team. As a team member, he toured overseas by playing against the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and Chile. He went onto make the U-21 team and traveled to Malaysia to play in the Sultan of Johor Cup against Japan, India, Australia, and Great Britain.

He was also part of the junior national team that was selected for the Pan American Qualifier two years ago. The United States team would earn the bronze medal and qualify for the Junior World Cup by finishing third in the 2021 qualifier. The result was only the first time that the U.S. Junior National Team achieved that level of success since 2008 and the second time in tournament history since 1978.

"Winning the bronze medal in a shootout against Canada was exciting," Gallucci said. "The fact that we ended up doing that well and achieving something for the first time since 2008 was an accomplishment."

Gallucci aged out from the U-21 team after that qualifier so he did not have a chance to play in the Junior World Cup. But he remains active in the sport as a member of the U.S. Developmental Team which is a feeder to the Men's National Senior Team. Although he likes to stay active as a player, he now finds his interests changing more toward coaching.

"My goals have shifted to coaching," Gallucci said "My aspiration is to coach women's field hockey with the hopes of experiencing a national championship. I enjoy seeing the growth and development of student-athletes while in school and the amazing things they do after they graduate. That aspect has been incredibly rewarding and has given me a passion that playing never did or could."

He continues to cultivate his desire to coach as the director for the Competitive Edge Field Hockey Club, a role which caters to all level of field hockey. The club includes players throughout Fairfield County and reaches down to Westchester County as well. Many of the young women hope to play field hockey with a Division I program, a level of which he is well aware.

Although this is his first season as an assistant coach, Gallucci has been with the program since he arrived on the Fairfield University campus as a student. He served as a practice player and a student volunteer coach throughout his time as an undergraduate and saw the progression of the field hockey program under Head Coach Jackie Kane, a stretch that has led to four conference championships and four NCAA appearances over the last eight seasons.

"Working with Jackie has been amazing," Gallucci said. "She has so much experience and can give me insight on coaching. She is able to coach me through every situation. And with the support that the field hockey program receives from administration here at Fairfield, I can gain insight on how to build a program that succeeds on the field but also provides the tools that will sustain student-athletes not only at Fairfield but also when they move out into the world."

Success in the world is certainly something of which Jack Gallucci has first-hand knowledge.