Liz Bona
Liz Bona came to Newark Academy in 2005 to serve as an assistant athletic director in conjunction with assisting with the varsity girls’ basketball, field hockey, and softball programs. In 2006, she was named varsity girls' basketball head coach. During her tenure as head coach at NA, the team has won the Prep Championship twice, been promoted and competed in the highest division in the county, along with sectional final appearances in the state tournament. In 2017, she received the Semper Fi Award from the Marine Corp at the Glazier Coaches Clinic. Coach Bona celebrated win number 250 at NA in 2023. In her time at NA, she has coached a New Jersey Gatorade Player of the Year that went on to be drafted tenth in the WNBA.
Prior to coming to Newark Academy, Coach Bona played professional basketball in Luxembourg and Germany for 16 years, where she was a player-coach for her final five years in Luxembourg. During that time, she also worked at the International School of Luxembourg, teaching math and physical education, as well as coaching their youth teams. Additionally, Coach Bona coached the Under-14 National team with the Federation of Luxembourg for four years while she was overseas.
Coach Bona holds a B.S. in Mathematics from Allegheny College, where she played collegiate basketball for four years, was the team’s Defensive Player of the Year her senior year, as well as competed on the Track & Field team for two.
Always on the move, Coach Bona also coaches middle school sports at NA. Outside of school she and her husband Mike Beach enjoy spending time with family, traveling, and working out.
