To kick off the winter sports season, 4 athletes have been selected to speak about their winter sport and the “behind the scenes” work that goes into each game. 

Soccer: Brooke Dalton

Brooke Dalton ‘24 started playing soccer when she was five years old. She plays as a left winger for Marymount Varsity Soccer. Her pre-game ritual consists of putting on a pre-wrap before each game. Brooke says that the soccer team has its pre-game rituals as well, that consist of the infamous cheer, and spitting on the field, before each game. Brooke gets in the right mindset for each game by focusing during warmups and playing music, specifically her hype song, “I just wanna rock.” Brooke is excited about team bonding, beating NDHS, and having a great last season. She says that the team prepares for games before they even get to the field, “We evaluate all we know about the other team, come up with a plan to play against these specific players, and hype each other up.”

Our next athlete is Ashley Simonian, representing Basketball. 

Basketball: Ashley Simonian

Ashley Simonian ‘26 has been playing basketball since she was three years old. She is currently a starter on Marymount’s Varsity Team, in the position of point guard. Ashley is super excited for this season, as she says, “We have a ton of new great players and I think that we can go pretty far with this team.” When asked about her coaches, Ashley says, “Yes! I love my coaches! I’ve known Coach E. for around 4 years. Both the JV and Varsity coaches are great. They always have smiles on their faces, and they both make an effort to get to know each of us. Coach E. and Coach S. are always prepared and super dedicated to the program. To prepare the team for tough opponents, they always give us in-depth scouting reports on all the teams we are going to play. We go over a lot of our plays, get a ton of reps in, and then scrimmage to put it all together.” 

Our next athlete is Leila Landay, representing Water Polo. 

Waterpolo: Leila Landay

Leila Landay 25’ started playing Water Polo her freshman year, but has been swimming for as long as she can remember. She is on the Varsity Water Polo Team and plays as an attacker/utility. Her pre-game ritual is to blast her “pregame” playlist in her AirPods, as loud as possible before the game with Kate Simmons to get hyped before game-time! Leila says her hype song is more like a hype playlist, but right now her favorites are “Flood in the Face” by Lil Uzi Vert and “Humble” by Kendrick Lamar. Leila is excited about their new coaches this season, coming together as a more solid team, and winning even more games than last year. When asked about her coaches, she says, “Our amazing Coaches, James and Izzy, prepare us for tougher opponents by having us swim a lot in practices, practice pressure passing so we don’t feel overwhelmed during the games, and stay optimistic without setting unrealistic expectations. They teach us that at the end of the day, it is not about winning or losing, but more about how we worked together as a team and our own team goals versus how we match up against our opponents.”

Our next athlete is Jocelyn Demorest, representing Rowing.

Rowing: Jocelyn Demorest 

Jocelyn Demorest ‘26 started rowing when she was in 6th grade but not competitively, she was just learning. She officially joined a competitive team during the winter of her freshman year. Jocelyn rows for the Varsity team here at Marymount and she is row 5 seat in their U17 8+, 2 seat in her U17 4x, and she is a stroke seat in her double. Before each race, Jocelyn has a pep talk with her dad, where they go over the race plan and he gives her little tips before she launches for her race. Before she launches in her quad or her double she makes sure she has her lucky speed coach, which was used during her races at Nationals 2023. To get in the right mindset before races, she sits with her team and they do breathing work to slow their nervous systems and to calm themselves.  Jocelyn’s hype song is “Getaway Car,” by Taylor Swift. Jocelyn is excited for this season to race with her teammates, progress, and hopefully make it to Nationals 2024. When asked about her coaches, Jocelyn says, “I have two coaches, Melanie and Zohar. I spend a lot of time with Melanie in my sculling boats such as the quad and double. Melanie is a coach who holds my boats to high standards that she knows we can achieve by pushing us in practice to be better. I spend a lot of time in sweep boats such as my U17 8+ with Zohar. He is a technique-oriented coach who will make sure my boats have the best technique we can. How do they prepare the team for tougher opponents? Zohar and Melanie will have us step away for a meeting about 10 minutes before we launch our races. They make sure to give us all the information about other boats or teams that we will need for the race. They believe that if we race and not focus on other boats we will succeed.”