FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Friday, June 29, 2001)

JENNIFER SHEA HIRED AS SOFTBALL COACH, DAVID CUKIERMAN TO COACH SQUASH

The Wesleyan University athletics department completed its full-time faculty coaching staff with the hiring of Jennifer Shea as head softball coach and David Cukierman as head coach of men's and women's squash, Athletics Director John Biddiscombe announced. Shea also will be an assistant field hockey coach while Cukierman will assist with the men's and women's tennis programs.

A 1998 graduate of Amherst College where she was a standout softball pitcher and defender in field hockey, Shea went on to earn her Master's degree in exercise and sports studies at Smith College this past May. Serving as co-head coach of Amherst's softball team for the 2000 and 2001 seasons and an assistant coach in 1999, Shea also was a field hockey assistant for the Lady Jeffs in 1998 and 1999. This past fall she was a field hockey coach at the Williston-Northampton School. "We are very pleased to have Jennifer as a member of our faculty coaching staff," stated Biddiscombe. "She was an outstanding player in the NESCAC at Amherst and is a proven young coach."

Cukierman will be coaching in the United States for the first time starting with the 2001-02 year. A native of Australia, he began playing squash at the collegiate level while at Monash University in Melbourne, graduating in 1995. Continuing to play at the professional tournament level, Cukierman won the Tasmanian Open in 1997 and achieved a world ranking as high as 213th. For the last three years, he has been playing and coaching squash in Southern Bavaria, Germany, holding the number one position in the Bayern League while working with national league and junior level players at the Squash Club Neugablonz, Kaufbeuren ; the Konigsbrunner Squash Club ; and the Squash Insel, Taufkirchen. Cukierman has a level three coaching certificate from the SRA and represented Australia in squash at the Maccabiah Games in both 1997 and 2001. "Wesleyan is very fortunate to have David join our racquets sports coaching staff," said Biddiscombe. "He has extensive international playing experience and superb coaching skills."

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