Julie Bisci has had a busy spring and summer.

She has been planning her September wedding, looking into buying a house, and extending her teaching duties with students who have behavior issues. It can be a full plate for anyone.

But Bisci under took another endeavor, one that has been close to her heart since age 11.

In May, Bisci was named the new head field hockey coach at Catasauqua. She replaced her former boss, Carrie Saul, who left to take the same position at Northampton High School.

With the season around the corner, Bisci soon plans to shift her latest project into high gear.

“I have been playing since I was 11,” said Bisci, who was a standout at Phillipsburg High school and then at Moravian College. “I wanted to play as long as I could with teams and then get into coaching.

“Coaching has been something that I have thought about for a long time. I want to be able to coach for a long time as I really want to stay linked to the game.”

After her graduation from Phillipsburg, Bisci had a strong, four-year career at Moravian as a midfielder. She scored a career 10 goals and had seven assists as well as being named to the Landmark Conference All-Star teams before she graduated in 2010.

Moravian head coach Amy Ender then asked her to stay on as an assistant coach. One year later, she accepted an assistant coaching position at Catty and reunited with Saul, her high school coach for four years at Phillipsburg.

Bisci hopes to continue the upward assault of the program, which has qualified for the district playoffs the past four seasons. She also is aware of some of the potential pitfalls.

“We have worked hard to get to districts,” she stated. “But the biggest concern I have is the numbers at a small school. We’ll have nine seniors on the team this fall, and we will need to replace them.

“One of my main goals is to replenish the middle school program. We need them to get experience there that can carry them through. We need to have a strong feeder program.”

Bisci will rely on her nine seniors to help guide the program.

“I see the motivation in them,” said Bisci. “They have really all pulled together to do what they can. They have been talking to girls to help increase our numbers. They want to get back to districts and also get back into the league playoffs.

“I believe that I gained their confidence when I was an assistant coach. I used to play the ‘good cop’ role, but now I am going to play the ‘bad cop.’

“I enjoyed coaching in college and maybe I’ll get back there someday. But right now, I have here to help build a foundation and also take this team to the next level.”