Email this page  Print this page  del.icio.us  digg

DADDY’S GIRLS

Paul Coro plays with daughters Maya (top) and Jasmine.

Paul Alvarado

Sportswriter Paul Coro says some people might think that because he’s a guy, he would prefer having boys as children.

But he’d be the first to blow the whistle on that assumption.

Coro, who has worked for The Arizona Republic for 10 years, has what fans would call a plum assignment: following the Phoenix Suns. That means he’s on the road for much of the season. Coro and wife Michelle, married for 13 years, have two daughters: Jasmine, 11, and Maya, 7.

“That’s the most difficult part of the job. Being away from my kids so much makes me feel like they grow up a year every week (I’m) away,” Coro says, adding, “I call every day.”

Post cards are sent home from wherever the Suns play. A special globe at home helps the girls locate the city their dad is calling from. Phone calls and e-mails may cover subjects from school to silliness, providing a crucial lifeline to his girls.

“I can’t look in their backpacks to see what they did that day, so I need to have them tell me.

“I talk a lot about helping Mommy,” he says, laughing. “They’re great about pitching in when dad’s gone. A lot of times they want to know where I am, what I’ve seen there, where I’m going next.”

He describes Jasmine as a girl with “a great heart, a very warm person with a sense of humor who really aims to please. She’s so special, (she) cares about other people and always tries to do the right thing.” Her sister Maya is “very much her own person. She can entertain herself. You can give her a ball of string and a piece of lint and they’d be talking to each other. She likes to entertain and she’s sensitive.”

Both, he says with a sigh, are “definitely Daddy’s girls.”

Coro says that as the girls get older, his relationship with them becomes closer, making it more difficult when he has to catch a flight. When he is back in the Valley for a home series, he’ll work from home: “I’m able to take them to school, be there when they get home, read to Maya’s class and I can volunteer on a field trip.”

Older daughter Jasmine plays basketball and Maya dabbles in soccer. He’s glad the two kids aren’t gung ho about sports, though.

“My life almost 24/7 revolves around the Suns and everything they do. It’s kind of nice to come home and not have family members that are super fans about it,” he says. “Coming home is a great escape, because it’s just our family world.”

– Anita Mabante Leach