Seniors Jessica Cooley and Katie Brunck
Lady Seahawks Send Two To WBCA So You Want To Be A Coach Program
WEST PALM BEACH, FL--- The announcement was made over the weekend that Northwood University has been selected to send two of their senior student athletes, Jay Cooley and Katie Brunck, to the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association So You Want To Be A Coach program. The program is to be held during the NCAA Women’s Final Four.
Since 2003, the So You Want To Be A Coach program has been a building block for jump starting coaching careers for women athletes around the nation. The program looks to achieve an increase in the understanding and application of skills necessary to secure coaching positions in women’s basketball, increase the understanding and awareness of competencies necessary for success in coaching, introduce ethnic minority female basketball players to coaches and administrators and raise awareness of the existing talent pool of ethnic minority female basketball players who have a passion and interest in coaching the game of women’s basketball.
Being selected to attend this event is quite the prestigious achievement. To be selected for attendance, the student athletes must meet a number of credentials. All participants must have exhausted their four-year eligibility, be a women’s basketball player who wants to pursue a career in coaching, be nominated by her head coach and most importantly be a credit to the sport of women’s basketball both on and off the court.
Both Cooley and Brunck embody all of these characteristics. On the court, Cooley was third on her team with 9.8 points per game and led her team with 192 rebounds. Off the court, Cooley has participated in a number of community service projects such as Race for the Cure and Karma Castles. Fellow attendee Katie Brunck shot 32% from the floor during the past season and was involved in projects for the American Heart and Cancer Association.
Lady Seahawks Coach Amanda DeMartino participated in the WBCA So You Want To Be A Coach program after her final season at Brandeis in 2006. In her first year out of school, DeMartino was hired on as the first assistant coach for the Northwood University Women’s Basketball Team. Two years later she was promoted to the Head Coach and has now ascended to the position of Director of Intercollegiate Athletics at Northwood University.
“This program will provide them with a great opportunity to see another side of coaching that they haven’t really been exposed to as a player,” DeMartino said. “I’m proud of Jessica and Katie and excited for them to learn more about the coaching profession.”