Her dad can't see her play in person. His service means more to this Northeastern senior
Colleen Finnegan has a light-hearted joking side. It’s obvious when she gives “200 high-fives per game” as her personal goal for the softball season.
The Northeastern senior has a competitive side that comes out more on the basketball court than it does in softball, a sport she has played since she was 4 years old.
But it’s the serious side to Finnegan that really gets to the core of her. She relaxes as she talks about the dad she hasn’t seen in person since January and won’t see until he returns from deployment in August.
By then, he will have missed attending the ends of her high school basketball and softball careers, her graduation and the start to her career in the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.
And she’s OK with that.
“I just kind of think about the fact that what he’s doing, not that it’s bigger than what I’m going through, but what he’s doing means so much more to me than him seeing me at these little accomplishments,” Finnegan said Tuesday after going 3-for-4 with a home run in Northeastern’s 12-5 win over Kennard-Dale.
“Him serving, it just means a whole lot more, the sacrifices that he made. I can make sacrifices like him missing a few things, because I know what he’s doing, so many other people have to sacrifice the same thing.”
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James Finnegan began his military service in the Army in 1999, switched to the Navy reserves and recently became an officer. Colleen’s mom, Carol, said her daughter didn’t mention a possible military career until she was a sophomore.
Colleen told her parents she didn’t want them to pay for her college, but she didn’t want to pay for it either. She started to look at military options that would allow her to keep playing basketball.
She knew she didn’t want to be stuck in a land-locked office.
“I want to do search and rescue,” Colleen said, “and I want to be on the water. I know you can do that in the Navy and Air Force, but I think the Coast Guard is just a different atmosphere out there. You can be out there looking at icebergs, looking at the weather and putting it all together in order to save someone’s life.
“I think that is the coolest thing ever.”
While she trains to get on with that cool next chapter, Colleen will also play basketball. The 5-foot-11 guard/forward, a YAIAA Div. II first-team and GameTimePA honorable mention all-star, will join a Bears team coming off a 19-7 season in the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference.
Three senior guards will be graduating from the team that plays in NCAA Division III.
Carol Finnegan will miss watching her daughter play softball, and isn’t looking forward to Northeastern’s last game, but knows Colleen likes basketball better.
“I know she could try to play both at the Coast Guard Academy, but that would be a lot,” she said.
And she knows Colleen has already done a lot to get to this point.
She gets up at 4:30 a.m. twice a week to work out with a personal trainer before school. Then it’s a full day of classes to maintain her 4.00 GPA, basketball or softball practice after school and then another quick run before winding down her day with homework and family time. On weekends she stretches her runs to longer distances.
Colleen has three more months before she heads to New London, Conn., for Coast Guard Academy boot camp.
Until then she has a high school career to complete and a quick trip to Florida to see her sister, Erin, graduate from a local police academy. Her dad is watching it all through livestreams and recordings.
If everything goes according to plan, he’ll be back in time to see Colleen graduate from boot camp.
Ultimately, Colleen would love to work in the same part of the world as her dad.
“I want to be stationed with my dad,” she said. “Somewhere far away from North America. Somewhere with my dad would be awesome.”
Shelly Stallsmith covers York-Adams high school sports for GameTimePA and the USAToday Network. Connect with her by email mstallsmith@ydr.com or on X, formerly Twitter, @ShelStallsmith.