{"id":78237,"date":"2025-12-22T18:49:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T18:49:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/78237\/"},"modified":"2025-12-22T18:49:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T18:49:14","slug":"staten-island-hs-girls-hoops-surprise-longtime-msit-head-coach-peter-lamarca-receives-early-retirement-present","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/78237\/","title":{"rendered":"Staten Island HS girls\u2019 hoops: Surprise! Longtime MSIT head coach Peter LaMarca receives early retirement present"},"content":{"rendered":"

STATEN ISLAND. N.Y. \u2014 Peter LaMarca\u2019s first inkling that something was going on is when Brenna DeRosa walked into the McKee\/Staten Island Tech office just outside the school\u2019s gymnasium.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey, Brenna,\u2019\u2019 said LaMarca to his former player \u2014 a 2012 Tech graduate \u2014 approximately an hour before the Seagulls\u2019 home game against visiting CSIM\/McCown last Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cHi,\u2019’ DeRosa said back.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are you doing here?\u201d LaMarca said with a smile. <\/p>\n

\u201cJust came to watch a game,\u2019’ DeRosa shot back. <\/p>\n

\"TheLongtime McKee\/Staten Island Tech girls’ varsity basketball head coach Peter LaMarca is joined, left to right, by daughters Olivia and Ava; wife Donna and son James during a surprise get-together in his honor on Friday, Dec. 19, 2025.(Advance\/SILive.com | Charlie De Biase Jr.)<\/p>\n

Then wheels started turning.<\/p>\n

Now, mind you, it\u2019s not a stretch to say a fair amount of LaMarca\u2019s former players make it back to MSIT\u2019s New Dorp gym to see the \u2018old\u2019 coach and his newest team.<\/p>\n

But LaMarca had a suspicion something was different this time. And he was right. LaMarca, who was attempting to watch his current team warm up, couldn\u2019t help but notice the growing number of young women who were filing into the gym wearing black T-shirts that read, \u2018LaMarca 4 Life.”<\/p>\n

Kelly Amberger. Brittany Baudanza. Christina Gargiso. Gabby Marinaccio. Kristen Markoe. Stephanie Sabido and so on and so on and so on. <\/p>\n

\"SupportingPeter LaMarca, standing left, coaches McKee\/Staten Island Tech’s girls’ varsity basketball team while several former players playfully hold up signs with some of the famous coaching lines through the years inscribed on them.(Advance\/SILive.com | Charlie De Biase Jr.)<\/p>\n

The jig was up. And Great Kills. resident, who is planning to retire after 20 years at MSIT at the conclusion of this season, was in shock, yet pleasantly surprised at the same time.<\/p>\n

Approximately 25 former players decided to make their way home to pay homage to the coach who not only taught them the finer points of the game, but played a role into developing them into the successful young women they are today as well.<\/p>\n

The get-together was the brainchild of Amberger, a 2016 graduate who, like many of her fellow MSIT alums, felt the coach needed to bask in the spotlight. And, yes, he\u2019s still has more than half the season to go, but there was no better time than last Friday when some of the girls were home for the holidays.<\/p>\n

\"AMcKee\/Staten Island Tech girls’ varsity basketball coach Peter LaMarca has a quick word with some of his former players during last Friday’s PSAL encounter against CSI\/McCown. Dozens of ex-players returned to MSIT’s New Dorp gym to pay homage to the 20-year coach, who is retiring at the end of this season.(Advance\/SILive.com | Charlie De Biase Jr.)<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter I bumped into Brenna, I was like, \u2018what\u2019s going on?\u2019 LaMarca said with a laugh. \u201dThen it was one after the other and I had to hide my emotions. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt really means the world to me,\u2019’ said the 56-year-old LaMarca, who brought MSIT\u2019s program to heights it had never experienced before, including a trip to the top-tier PSAL city championship game during the 2011-12 season. \u201dI\u2019ve always had a great relationship with all the girls at MSIT.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know they love me,\u2019’ he admitted. \u201dBut they\u2019re all adults now. Who\u2019s pregnant? Who has little kids? Who\u2019s a doctor? And they came here for this \u2014 it just really means a lot to me.\u2019’<\/p>\n

In addition to his ex-players, LaMarca\u2019s entire family, including wife Donna and children James, Olivia and Ava, were in attendance, along with former assistant coaches John Calhoun, John Boyle and Erin Boyle.<\/p>\n

\"Together!\"McKee\/Staten Island Tech girls’ varsity basketball coach Peter LaMarca, center right, leads a huddle of former players before breaking under the word ‘together’\u00a0 at a special get-together for the 20-year coach last Friday. The Great Kills resident is retiring at the conclusion of this season.(Advance\/SILive.com | Charlie De Biase Jr.)<\/p>\n

MSIT athletic director Jim McCarthy, who hired the Brooklyn native two decades ago, was thrilled to see such a nice response to the gathering.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going beyond just mentioning the girls\u2019 basketball program and saying that he brought an energy that rubbed off on to the entire MSIT girls\u2019 sports program,\u2019’ praised the longtime AD. \u201dYou throw in a Dave Mahon (former MSIT girls\u2019 volleyball coach) and a Charlie Donohue (MSIT varsity softball coach; boys\u2019 varsity basketball coach) \u2014 they\u2019re sharing kids \u2014 and I think everybody from the kids, coaches, the school and community has benefitted from Pete. \u201cI\u2019m happy we were able to do this for him and I\u2019m glad the current girls are able to put names with faces and now will hopefully the next (coach) will be able to carry this on and get something out of it.\u2019’<\/p>\n

\"AKelly Amberger, left, presents longtime McKee\/Staten Island Tech girls’ varsity basketball coach Peter LaMarca with a gift during a ceremony paying homage to the soon-to-be-retired mentor. Amberger, a 2016 MSIT alum, played for LaMarca and was the driving force behind last week’s gathering.(Advance\/SILive.com | Charlie De Biase Jr.)<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s ceremony included catered food and several gifts for LaMarca. <\/p>\n

Amberger then said a few words about her former coach before presenting him with one of his gifts. She said she received a great response of interest after reaching out to various alumni dating back to his first season in 2005-06.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to do this for coach because he\u2019s been so amazing,\u2019’ said Amberger, noting it wasn\u2019t too difficult to get in touch with everyone because MSIT girls\u2019 basketball alums are close. \u201dIt was clear from the start, as soon as he told me this was his last season, that we all had to go back.<\/p>\n

\"SayingMcKee\/Staten Island Tech girls’ varsity basketball coach Peter LaMarca was overcome with emotion during a special get-together in his honor last Friday. The longtime mentor said a few words to more than two dozen former players, assistant coaches, family and friends during the ceremony.(Advance\/SILive.com | Charlie De Biase Jr.)<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody I reached out to said, \u2018I\u2019m going to take off\u2019, and \u2018I\u2019m going to do whatever I can to make it back here\u2019 and that\u2019s because he\u2019s had an amazing impact on all of us. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe love and appreciation (to coach and the program) is timeless and that\u2019s why we received such a great response today.\u2019’<\/p>\n

Brittany Baudanza, a 2009 MSIT alum, echoed Amberger\u2019s thoughts.<\/p>\n

\"ThroughMcKee\/Staten Island Tech girls’ varsity basketball coach Peter LaMarca, kneeling center, is joined by his current team (white uniforms) and a host of former players during a get-together in his honor on Friday, Dec. 19, 2025.(Advance\/SILive.com | Charlie De Biase Jr.)<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was more of a turnout than I would have ever thought,\u2019’ said Baudanza, who was a freshman during LaMarca\u2019s first season at MSIT in 2005-06. \u201dHe\u2019s like family. He\u2019s had such an effect on my entire life. In fact, he\u2019s had an effect and reach that goes way beyond my four years and I\u2019m sure all of these girls feel the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe coached at a level that people don\u2019t even realize,\u2019’ Baudanza added. \u201dYou really don\u2019t realize how good he is because you don\u2019t think, at the moment when you\u2019re 14-15-years-old, that the guy making you run your legs off the night before you play Curtis is trying to make you better. And we all very much appreciate that.\u2019’<\/p>\n

\"LongtimeMcKee\/Staten Island Tech girls’ varsity basketball coach Peter LaMarca is coaching in his 20th and final season.(Advance\/SILive.com | Charlie De Biase Jr.)<\/p>\n

LaMarca takes pride in knowing many of his teams experienced a lot of success, including the squad that advanced to the PSAL city title game 13 years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know why we were successful? These girls truly believed in what I was trying to preach and that it\u2019s the name on the front of your jersey, (not the one on the back)\u201a\u2019\u2019 he said. \u201dIt wasn\u2019t about how many points you scored. It was about how many points we scored. They all bought into it and it showed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think today it\u2019s more important to some on who the top scorer is on Staten Island, but we never believed in that. They bought in and it didn\u2019t happen every single year, but we were successful more than not and it\u2019s all because they bought in.\u2019’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND. N.Y. \u2014 Peter LaMarca\u2019s first inkling that something was going on is when Brenna DeRosa walked…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-78237","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}