Leonard to coach Swampscott hoop

There?s no place like home.The Swampscott High girls basketball team has a new coach, but for anyone who followed the Big Blue back in the mid-1990s, the start of the season will probably seem more like a homecoming than the start of a new era.Katelyn Leonard, who led the Big Blue to the state semifinals against Foxborough her senior year (1997) and is a member of the school?s 1,000 career-point club, is back on the bench, only now it?s as the head coach.Swampscott High athletic director Jon Flanagan announced Monday that Leonard would be taking over the job held by Abrom Roberts the past two years. Leonard, who went on to play for the Stonehill College women?s basketball team, comes to Swampscott after having coached the Revere High girls basketball team the past three years. Prior to Revere, she coached at Mystic Valley Regional Charter School for three years.?We?re excited to have her back in Swampscott where she belongs,” Flanagan said.Flanagan was an assistant girls basketball coach at Swampscott High when Leonard was playing. He said there were several very good candidates for the job, but Leonard stood out.?The committee was so impressed by her as a player, an individual and as a coach,” Flanagan said.Flanagan said Leonard is a good role model for the girls in the program.?The expectation is she?s going to build the program from the bottom up,” he said.Leonard said she?s very excited to be back in Swampscott.?Just thinking back, knowing the Swampscott program is so near and dear to my heart, I feel energized by it,” Leonard said. “I?m glad to give back to a program that gave so much to me.”Leonard said she remembers when she was playing in the town programs as a sixth-grader.?I remember looking up to the high school players,” she said, adding she?s looking forward to building the program up from the youth to the high school level.?The support from the community has always been strong, when I was there and for all the Swampscott sports,” she said.Leonard said she always wanted to coach, but she went back and forth on whether to make it a career (coaching at the college level) or go with high school.?I love working with high school girls,” she said. “To be able to do it at Swampscott is a dream come true.”Julie Halloran, who was the Swampscott High varsity girls basketball coach when Leonard played, said it?s great to have Leonard back with the program.?Swampscott is lucky to have her. She was such a big part of the program (back in high school). She was one of the building blocks of the program that got to the FleetCenter,” Halloran said.Halloran said Leonard brings a little bit of everything to the table with her playing experience (high school and college) and coaching experience. Leonard also served as a second assistant coach for the Stonehill women?s team after she graduated.Leonard said having played at the college level, she knows what it takes to get to that level.?For any girls who aspire to do that (play in college), I?m excited to help,” she said. “If their goal is to play in college, I want to help them get there.”