Director of Athletics Sherren Granese sees a direct connection between the skills student athletes develop on the fields and courts and their success in the classroom and beyond. As an administrator and coach, she aims to help students learn to develop those mutually beneficial competencies early in their academic careers. A multi-sport athlete herself as a student, Sherren developed a love for teamwork as a young person. She played field hockey, basketball, and lacrosse, and ran track. She most loved getting to know and work with teammates, and saw how the time management, risk-taking, and collaboration necessary to elevate successful players and teams translated readily to skills well beyond game play.

Sherren’s career began in higher education at the University of New Hampshire and Boston College. A highly decorated field hockey and lacrosse coach, she earned 1998 Big East Coach of the Year and 1994 Northeast Regional Coach of the Year. During her 18 years as assistant athletic director at B.C., she led the team to three Big East Tournament titles, as well as five NCAA Tournament bids before landing at Simmons as an assistant athletic director. Her proximity to Winsor while at Simmons reminded her how much she missed working with younger students, whose energy and enthusiasm provide perfect building blocks for developing the skills and passion to learn that will serve them so well in the future. In 2008, she joined Winsor as athletic director; she still coaches middle school field hockey, and loves every minute of it.

Sherren makes sure to spend time with all of Winsor’s athletic teams, whether at practices or games, knowing it’s the best way to get to know the kids and parents. As she says, “It’s all about community.” She aims to help student athletes “see Winsor as a place to feel comfortable, cared for, challenged, and pushed to become the best student athlete they can before they leave, feeling they were part of something special, with teammates who’ll be their best friends for life.”