By BRIAN TORTELLA
Correspondent
On X @tortreports
South Jersey field hockey and Donna O’Leary are like peanut butter and jelly.
It’s rare to have one without the other.
After 34 years as the head field hockey coach at Salem High from 1988 to 2022, O’Leary is officially back on the sidelines.
A recent inductee of the Salem County Sports Hall of Fame, O’Leary started her 35th season coaching field hockey in South Jersey as the assistant at Gloucester County Institute of Technology.
O’Leary’s landing spot brings more than just a change in scenery — it also offers her a special opportunity: coaching her granddaughter, Sophia Luedtke, a junior forward for the Cheetahs.
“(Sophia) was really the reason that I left Salem because I knew she was entering high school, and I wanted to watch her play,” said O’Leary, a 1975 graduate of Paulsboro High. “That’s how I’m here. I watched her. I volunteered last year. There was an opening that came up, and I applied for it. Before I applied for it, I asked her, ‘do you want me there?’ Because I didn’t want to cause any conflicts.
“I know she’s happy that I’m here now, but at first she was a little hesitant because sometimes I can be overwhelming.”
Luedtke is the lone kin of O’Leary to play field hockey. She said that she was hopeful her daughter (Sophia’s mother, Nicole) would take the sport on but it never came to fruition.
“I always thought (Nicole) was going to play hockey,” said O’Leary, who recorded 315 career wins at Salem after getting her bachelors in Health and Physical Education from then- Glassboro State (now Rowan University) in 1979. “And I’m just so happy that I finally got a granddaughter that liked the sport and wanted to stick with it. I’m very happy about it. It’s been very enjoyable, getting to know these girls and having her on this team.”
Under the leadership of head coach Cherise Hasko and O’Leary, GCIT is 2-0 after a 7-4 victory over Cherry Hill East on Sept. 3 and a 4-0 shutout over Williamstown today. Luedtke is having her best season to date, with five goals through her first two games, passing her career high of four from last year.
“She’s a really good coach, and I’m glad to have her as my coach now,” she said of having her grandmother on the sidelines. “I saw her coaching growing up and she’s been a big role model to me. I’m glad to have her as my coach now.
“It brings a lot of leadership from her. She teaches a lot to stay aggressive and hustle, and she shows what it means to be a team and use everyone on the field, not just a star player. She gives everyone a chance to show themselves, and everyone is lucky to have her as a coach. Everyone’s grateful for that.”
O’Leary is right back where she belongs. And for the time being, she’s not going anywhere.
“She missed it a lot, she missed coaching,” Luedtke said. “She wanted to be out here and she saw that we could have her as a great leader. She took that and wanted to come help her team out.
“I don’t see her retiring anytime soon. She loves it.”
When asked what her future holds after Luedtke graduates, the 68 year-old didn’t rule out continuing her half-of-fame career: “If you ask me today, I would say yes,” when asked if she would continue to coach field hockey after her granddaughter graduates. “But where I’m going to be in two years, I don’t know. I’m physically good, mentally good. I’m planning for a two-year stint, but if it goes on, it goes on.”
