Coach's Corner: Cecelia DeMarco

By Deirdre Brill

Even if the women's basketball team has not played well considering its depth and talent, DeMarco's enthusiasm about basketball and competition help her to remain optimistic about future success. Her energy and excitement at game time also inspires the players to compete 26 times a year without losing sight of their goal to consistently play at their potential level. But if it were not for the reciprocal influence of her players, DeMarco contends that she would not have this enthusiasm. She credits her players with helping her to maintain her enjoyment of athletics, declaring, "Young people keep you young."

Courtesy Sports Publicity Office

DeMarco does not think the team's inconsistent play renders them any less capable. "I continue to have high expectations," she explained. "When you take to the court, you're always in a position to win. We haven't stopped working."

"Our expectations are that we're capable of taking all eight [of the remaining games]," she said. Of the last eight games, six will be played in Payne Whitney Gym. Although Yale is only 2-3 at home, guard Kelly Denit, DC '00, affirmed that it is "really nice to be home...it's really nice to be back in the gym,"where the fans and familiar surroundings welcome them back.

For some players, the excitement of college athletics does not end with graduation. DeMarco is one of the fortunate former college athletes who has been able to make a career out of her sport and passion. Inspired by her own college basketball coach, DeMarco began coaching at the high school level after she graduated in 1973 from Bridgewater State College in Massachusetts. Her résumé includes four years as a high school coach, nine years as a coach at the University of New Hampshire (where her team won two ECAC titles), a stint as the director of athletics at Bridgewater, and eight years at Yale. Her career record of 219-185 demonstrates her success at each of these schools and, last year, she became Yale's all-time winningest women's basketball coach. Denit suggested that DeMarco's contributes to her team's success by "breaking things down so that we work on the basics we need for winning each game."

Many years of coaching success have allowed DeMarco to retain the competitive energy that she exerted as a college player. She remarked that her favorite part of coaching is game time. "I like the excitement of the game. I like the feeling of putting it all on the line. I like being on the edge." she said. "I like that for two hours you remove yourself from reality and do what you love."

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