For the Dullea’s, coaching is a family business

The next time you catch a basketball game at St. John?s Prep or a girls? hoops game at Bishop Fenwick, you will notice two familiar faces in the gym: brother and sister Jon and Bridget Dullea of Peabody. Jon Dullea is the head coach at the Prep, while Bridget is in her first season as varsity assistant under Adam DeBaggis at Fenwick, and they never miss one another?s games.
Despite a 10-year gap in age, Jon and Bridget have always been extremely close.
?My older sister, Loren, was more of a ?girly? girl,” said Jon. “But Bridget was a tomboy, and we were best friends growing up. We?d do everything together, and most of it revolved around sports.”
Jon, now 33, and Bridget ? who is 23 and graduated with a degree in physical education from Salem State University this past spring ? both vividly remember playing against each other in football, basketball and especially wiffle ball.
?We?d play wiffle ball together every day out in the yard,” said Bridget. “I loved playing with him. One of us would hit and one of us would pitch, but I never could hit any home runs off him.”
Bridget did not realize it at the time, but her older brother was grooming her for a life of success in and out of sports.
?I wasn?t taking it easy on her,” said Jon. “I was trying to strike her out and I was trying to hit home runs. But I was also trying to make her better and show her the reality that you?re not always going to win. She learned at a young age you have to work hard to win.
?My mother and father wondered why I would do it, but really, I was just trying to make her better.”
Jon attended Peabody High for three years, but transferred to play basketball at Notre Dame Prep in Fitchburg. He still attributes a great deal of his coaching philosophy to the lessons he learned in his two years in Fitchburg.
?I always wanted to teach my sister what I learned in prep school,” he said. “I was the only kid on the team from Massachusetts, and we had kids from all across the world from Serbia, Croatia, and Africa. I worked every day at basketball, but these kids did, too. That?s when I really started to really see differences in the mental toughness part of life.
?I wanted to teach Bridget that mental toughness, which is something I try to teach every day at the Prep. When you get down to the state tournament, the skill level evens itself out. It?s the team who is mentally tough that wins.”
Bridget grew to love the grind her brother put her through, embracing the notion that no skill replaces hard work.
?Sometimes basketball isn?t always fun,” she said. “It?s not always fun to work at practice, or working out on your own, but it pays off.”
True greatness is found in the sweat of everyday work. For the Dullea siblings, this mentality paid dividends on the hardwood, as both played on the collegiate level ? Jon at the University of New Hampshire and Bridget at Salem State. It?s also worked out from the sidelines, as both the Prep and Fenwick have jumped out to winning records. “Jon is extremely passionate and cares about his kids,” said Bridget. “He wants his kids to be better people and better players, and they?ll eventually turn themselves into winners. Hopefully I can help instill that in the girls here at Fenwick.”