Steve Sughrue Wins NEPSAC Spirit Award

Director of Athletics Kelly Walker P’12, ’13 shared outstanding news with Tabor at an All School Meeting on February 27, 2026. She announced that the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) had recognized Boys Varsity Tennis Head Coach and Mathematics and Computer Science Teacher Steve Sughrue P'16, '19 as one of the first winners of the NEPSAC Spirit Award. The award, established just this winter, honors coaches who demonstrate integrity, sportsmanship, dedication, and positive behavior that reflects the collective values of NEPSAC.

Sughrue has coached several different programs at Tabor. Most notably, he’s coached the boys varsity tennis team for 39 years. He also spent 15 years at the helm of the Tabor girls varsity soccer program—his first experience coaching female athletes, and coaching soccer at the varsity level. Under his tenure, the soccer team won the NEPSAC tournament twice, including an undefeated season in 2013. And, since Tabor joined the Independent School League (ISL) in 2017, Sughrue’s boys varsity tennis team has earned the ISL team sportsmanship award every year except one.

“He has always been the coach who makes sure that his teams strive to be their best selves, on and off the field or court,” Walker said at All School Meeting, reading from her nomination of Sughrue. “He ensures that his teams hold their heads up high, win or lose, look their opponents in the eye, and with a firm handshake say, ‘great game.’” Walker called Sughrue “sportsmanship personified, and a role model for all our students who have had the good fortune to play for him.”

Sughrue says that he wants his student-athletes “to have fun, enjoy the game, develop a love for the game, and enjoy the team experience.” Tennis is an individual sport, he points out, and he works hard to create an environment in which students can appreciate being part of a team. “I was lucky to play for some really good coaches,” says Sughrue, who attended and played tennis at Belmont Hill School and Bates College. “I think the people you work with when you’re a student can impact what you appreciate from an experience. When this award was announced, I thought back to how lucky I’ve been to work with so many great students and athletes here at Tabor who really try every day to do things the right way.”

The message Sughrue tries to give his teams is that “it’s great to win, but not at the expense of cutting corners or disrespecting your opponent or the game. When you have a community that buys into that, you can do really good things.” He also strives to make practice the best part of his athletes’ days. “I want them to look forward to practice every day and enjoy the time that they have together as a team,” he says. “Every afternoon I go out there and I look around, and I think ‘I’m so happy to be here.’” He recalls a year in which his soccer team made the postseason NEPSAC tournament: “I just remember thinking, when we had those extra days of practice, how lucky we were. When you look at it practically, you’re doing more work, but it never feels like work. I feel fortunate to be out there enjoying a sport and helping students develop passion for an activity that they’ll enjoy for the rest of their lives.”

Now that the spring season is beginning again, Sughrue says he recently held a meeting with the boys tennis team. “I looked around the room and it’s such a wonderful group,” he says, grinning. “I think everybody had the same feeling: We’re going to have a lot of fun together this spring. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that?”