A tough slog for USA college basketball star

Date Published: {J}

MANY would envy the life Tuam’s Dearbhna Coen had for those years bridging her late teens to her early 20s – that of a college basketball star in the United States – but Coen, herself, explains that it had its demands which, quite frankly, too often detracted from the enjoyment of the sport.

Back home in Tuam since May of this year, the 6 ft 1” athlete – who is to the fore in establishing a new women’s senior basketball ladies team in the town, alongside Galway ladies footballer Edel Concannon – says she is only now beginning to enjoy a sport she loved as a child once again.

Not that she has any regrets, but as the American playwright and actress Mae West once said: ‘Too much of a good thing can be taxing’. It is a sentiment, no doubt, shared by former collegian basketballer Coen.

“It [basketball] did have its demands,” says the 24-year-old. “It was like every day in America, Monday to Saturday. You would train for three hours every evening and during pre-season you would also train in the morning as well. That said, I have no regrets. I mean, it took up a lot of time, but it was still good craic and I make great friends.

“I suppose, you were with the team every day, so you just get so close. You literally eat and sleep and play basketball. It was a small family and, in fairness, all the girls’ families took me in at one time or another, be it at Christmas or what have you.

“I was never home for Christmas; in fact, last year, was my first Christmas home in five years. The basketball season always ran through Christmas and it was tough, initially, but you kind of got used to it and it didn’t bother me in the end.”

Coen began her basketball career in the Pres. Tuam, under the guidance of Mrs. Pat Jacobson, before moving to The Bower [boarding school] in Athlone after the Junior Cert. for the remaining two years of her secondary school education.

“I went there because I met this coach, Paddy Mullaly from Athlone and his daughter Laura played in America,” says Coen. “I met him one summer and he said I was an alright basketballer, so I decided to go to The Bower because it would have offered better training or whatever.

“So, I did my two years there until the Leaving Cert. Then I went to Boston for one year, to Worcester Academy, and I played with them. We actually won the championship there.”

Already, in the summer of her fifth year at secondary school, she had played with the Rhode Island Breakers in the All American Women’s Tournament and following her Leaving Cert. she was accepted to the renowned private college of Worcester Academy in Boston, Massachusetts.

In Worcester, she played at senior high school level and was to the fore, as noted, in leading an undefeated Worcester to the championship. “From there, I went to Dowling College in Long Island, New York, where I studied sports management,” continues Coen, who was on an athletic scholarship at Dowling. “I was there for four years and I loved it. Although it was basketball every day, I was captain during my senior year – my fourth year there [and fifth year in the States].”

The Tuam native – whose Claregalway cousin Hannah Coen also spent time on a basketball scholarship in the US – admits the whole experience opened up a new world to her and she is thankful to the support she got from both Coach Joe Pellicane and Assistant Coach Laura Mullaly, daughter of her former mentor in Athlone, Paddy.

“It was completely different. Basketball here compared to basketball over there is totally different. It is a lot faster and stronger over there. I got on alright, though. I had the height – I am over six foot – and I was one of the tallest on the team.”

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.