Last year saw the return of the Newfield Athletics Hall of Fame for the first time since 2010 as three athletes, two coaches, and one team were inducted. This time around, there was only one inductee, but it’s one who has made a massive impact as both a student-athlete and a coach.
On February 3, Michelle “Micki” Volpini became the latest person to earn a Hall of Fame plaque. The 2008 graduate was taken aback by the recognition and the number of people who reached out to congratulate her on a tremendous honor.
“You don’t realize how many people watched you or remembered you,” Volpini said. “There were people in the stands that I haven’t seen since high school, and they’re like, ‘I saw it on Facebook, and I wanted to come down.’ And I was like, ‘That’s really sweet.’ I guess I just never really take the time to think about what I really did in high school. That was high school, and it was great and I don’t spend time to reflect on it, so I think it made me reflect. That was a nice blast from the past.”
It’s only fitting that Volpini was inducted during halftime of a girls basketball game. Sue France Gymnasium was where she really shined, most notably scoring 1,000 career points and being named the Section IV Class C Player of the Year in 2008. Volpini credits that success to the sheer dedication to the sport, spending hours playing with her older brother in their driveway and at the YMCA on Saturday mornings.
“He was always Michael Jordan, I was always Scottie Pippen,” Volpini said. “We definitely always had a huge interest in playing basketball. I was always playing basketball… I loved it. It was so fun. My brother did it, and I think that’s what got me into it.”
Volpini continued her basketball career close by at SUNY Cortland, where she also reached 1,000 points and helped the Red Dragons make the NCAA Tournament twice and win the SUNYAC title in 2010. Not only did her strong passion for hoops translate over to college, her work ethic also made her stand out.
“No matter what I’m going to do, I’m going to do it to the fullest,” Volpini said. “I wasn’t getting the time I wanted as a freshman because they’re not looking at you that much. They’ve got other players. I was just too determined. I’m like, ‘I’m gonna get myself in the lineup. ‘No’ was never a thing for me. I’m like, ‘I’m gonna do it, whatever I have to do.’”
Volpini eventually found herself back in Newfield to give back to her own program. She was the JV/assistant coach for the girls basketball team from 2019 to 2022. The biggest highlight was undoubtedly the 2019-20 season, where the Trojans won their first IAC Championship in 40 years and made it to the Section IV Class C semifinals as the top seed. With so much talent littered throughout the team—twin duo Kelly and Katie Moravec, Jenna Goodwin, Maura Wood-Ellis—it came as no surprise to Volpini as to why they were so successful.
“They’re all they’ve been playing with each other since they were kids, so that chemistry that they built was just phenomenal,” Volpini said. “That was probably the best team to go through Newfield that you’ll have in a while, as far as talent goes because they played so much together, and so it was really nice to hop on and just maybe fine-tune some things.”
Basketball was one of three sports Volpini did in high school. She also excelled in outdoor track and field, holding school records in the pentathlon, 100-meter hurdles and the high jump. But it was actually the sport she played the least—soccer for two years—where she has her current coaching role. Volpini is an assistant coach for the Ithaca High School girls soccer team, a role she’s held for the last three years under head coach (and her partner) DJ Roberts. Under their tutelage, the Little Red has won three sectional titles and broke a 20-year-long STAC championship drought this fall.
Volpini never really put any thought into what sort of legacy she has left behind at her alma mater. But with a shiny new plaque featuring her picture and a long list of her accolades permanently etched into the annals of Trojan athletics, there’s no doubt that she will inspire the next generation of Newfield student-athletes.
“Newfield is a pretty cool place for community,” Volpini said. “You don’t appreciate that when you’re younger. You never really think about it until you’re older and you’re like, ‘Oh, wow. These people are still in your corner.’”
To make Volpini’s induction night even more special, the girls basketball team took down Tioga 43-27 to punch their ticket to sectionals for the first time since that special 2019-20 season.
