Kate DiMarini
Kate DiMarini is professional soccer manager and former assistant coach currently in charge of the Zwangzug national football team; previously she was the manager of 1./ League side Trebuchet Cham. She became the first manager from Baker Park to lead a team to the World Cup title, defeating her mentor Pam Scott's Banija in the Final of World Cup 92.
Early Life
DiMarini was born at the University of Baker Park Medical Center in Belle Haven, the last of four children to her parents Kenneth and Denise (Edgar) DiMarini; along with siblings Julia, Bradley and Steven, the family lived in suburban Far Hills Borough, on the southern bank of the Belle Haven River approximately 12 miles south of downtown.
At age 12 she broke her left wrist, requiring 3 pins and 4 screws to repair and needed a second surgery there as an adult. She was the only one of her siblings to take up soccer, also playing basketball and tennis growing up; she was part of several youth choirs as well, which carried over to high school. (One Baker Park National Team member remarked she “could sing like an angel, and screech at you like a banshee.”)
Playing Career
DiMarini spent her 8th grade year as a part time trainee with Far Hills Ladies SC Under-13 side but wasn't offered a contract to join their academy, leaving her free to play at Far Hills High School, where she scored 11 goals in 65 varsity appearances; as a senior she was named 2nd Team All Metro Belle Haven for the Southern section. She had offers to play in college from Belle Haven State and Marshallton University, but a late offer from Northern Baker Park won out; she played in 13 matches off the bench as a freshman as the Lady Lions slumped to a fourth straight losing season that led to the replacement of coach Hannah Frears.
Pam Scott became coach and immediately began to frustrate DiMarini, first telling her she would have to switch from central midfield to fullback in order to find playing time then judging her defensive ability harshly. “I really wondered if I was going to be able to stick it out through the whole season, because Pam was really brutal during summer training”, she recalled later. “The rest of the team sort of rallied around me in a way and that built a really strong spirit among us.”
DiMarini made marked improvement over her sophomore season as the team finished 3rd in the conference, earning Scott UAC National Coach of Year; as a junior DiMarini won All-WAC 1st All Star Team honors and then was a co-captain as a senior, earning a second All Star berth to go along the school's first National Championship, with the winning goal in the final coming off a pass she directed into the box.
By that time she and Scott had completely changed the tenor of their relationship. “Pam really began to trust me by the end of that first year; she called me into her office after the season and said she was going to give me the award for most improved player, which really hit me hard. I started to tear up and she came around the desk. put her hand on my shoulder. 'I was never trying to break you, I just needed for you to realize how strong you could be. Now you need to build on that for next season.'”
Post-College
DiMarini wasn't offered a pro club contract after the college season concluded in December so she finished off her degree studies in Human Resources Management, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Business and headed home to Belle Haven where she landed a job working in the district HR office of BP Consolidated Gas Company (CONAGCO) in nearby Broadmoor Borough. She and Scott crossed paths when Di Marini attended a match at Far Hills Ladies against Westwood Sprites Ladies, where Scott was in her first season and leading the club to their first ever championship; when her former coach mentioned that she might have an opening on her staff the following season and would Di Marini be interested, she initially thought that it wasn't something worth pursuing but Scott told her to think it over for awhile and get back in touch.
Coaching career
DiMarini was still living with her parents at the time as it was more economical than renting her own apartment or being a roommate in the city's expensive housing market; she mentioned the conversation with Scott to her parents and asked their opinion, with both saying it was really a question of her own motivation to go in a different direction in life. She made a list of the pros and cons of both her current job and the opportunity to get into a different field—one she'd not ever considered previously, but knew that if there was one person you'd want to learn from, it was Scott—that probably paid better than her current wage scale.
Before making her final decision, she wanted some more input about the job specifics and wrote Scott an email outlining her state of mind, which was answered by an invitation to the final match of the season where the club would be awarded the trophy and the two could discuss things in person.
When she arrived home on Sunday evening, DiMarini had just about convinced herself that at 24 it wasn't a huge risk to try something different, as she could always fall back on her degree if it didn't work out.
Westwood Sprites Ladies
Di Marini was hired on June 1, the first day of the “league year”, signing a two-year contract at $42,000 annually. “I'd offered Kate 40 thousand, and she said, can we make it 42?”, Scott recalled later. “I knew pretty well what she was earning (at CONAGCO) and it wasn't anywhere close to 40. But I liked the moxie she showed by not jumping at the first offer.” She'd told Scott that she didn't know how good she'd be in training teaching technique and skills, but began to get the feel for it early on; she concentrated on video breakdown, set pieces and some of the administrative work that was part of Scott's role in addition to working with the midfielders. As the 'number 3' assistant, she worked with the reserves more than the first team, building up a good rapport as she was nearly the same age as many of them (a couple of players at Sprites had also faced DiMarini in college) and also kept in close contact with the academy staff about the progress of youth players.
Di Marini's second year at Sprites saw the club win a second title in three seasons, earning her a winners medal and the agreement for another contract at a 15% increase; she'd gained more of Scott's trust in the same way she had as a player and with that more responsibility.
Women's National Team
On a Thursday early evening, a few hours after training in the leadup to the penultimate league fixture, DiMarini had returned to the training building after running out to pick up something to eat before settling in for a final video review; she encountered Scott finishing up a meeting with a man she'd not seen before, and the boss introduced the guest to her.
“Oh, here's my left hand, Kate. Kate DiMarini, meet Dave Carlson.” (Scott occasionally referenced DiMarini's wrist injury in subtle ways, sometimes calling her 'Lefty' or 'Kat Sinestra' to reflect her Italian heritage; almost always this was just between them or among other coaches and became more common during the NT years.)
Within six weeks from that encounter, Carlson—as the newly hired Executive Director of the FAC--would be Scott & DiMarini's employer.
Picking up the pieces
The BPWNT were in the midst of a 16 match run that saw only a single win against nine defeats and six draws over a 3 ½ year period. Scott agreed to fulfill a scheduled home fixture in the early autumn but wanted a moratorium on international friendlies until the end of the WNL season the following spring.
Di Marini's energy was directed along two separate paths to cover her dual role; reviewing all video of the WNT's matches over the previous three years and visiting the academies of clubs—without warning—with men's and women's senior squads to observe training regimens and note how much emphasis was placed on technical development at various age group levels.
She wrote a memo to Scott and Carlson based upon her observations that eventually became part of the draft language for the FAC Development Charter; 'Kick, Pass, Share' as the introductory principle for 5-10 year-olds remains DiMarini's legacy to the growth of the sport within the Commonwealth.
Scott, DiMarini, Lena Schreuder--a holdover from the previous staff who had been Under 21 manager as well as NT Assistant Manager—and Jennifer Prescott, who'd risen from roving youth instructor to an assistant to Schreuder made up the coaching team that set to work identifying the players currently in the WNL that would form the basis of the National Team. Schreuder left in December to accept the job as head coach at University of Ezra and attempted to lure Prescott as her assistant, but the latter turned the offer down and succeeded to the Under-21 post.
Mixed Gender
DiMarini served as one of three assistants to Scott on the staff for the Baptism of Fire 67 squad, along with Darren Kirby and Michael Haddad; she was widely credited with being the key to the integration of the men & women into a close knit group, which had been seen as possibly being more difficult to achieve than what had taken place with Under-18 team previously as the first mixed gender entry into competition.
Management
During the period following AOCAF 58, DiMarini went on maternity leave ahead of the birth of her son Will; she kept in touch with many of her colleagues and players during this time, Scott in particular continuing their near daily communication. One of the areas she gave a lot of thought to was her position within the FAC, being the only senior team staff member that wasn't involved in either the Technical or Player Development leadership; she discussed her thinking with Scott, Richmond, Carlson, Allison LeFleur, Prescott and George Alverrez, who was #2 in the Technical Development office and one of the longest tenured members of the coaching/backroom staff. All of them told her that there was no reason why she couldn't assume responsibility for an area, that she was in the same situation that Shane Newman had been prior to his departure (and that both were paid on level commensurate with the other staff that did have dual roles); privately Scott told her that she was in line for a promotion, as Richmond would be stepping aside with Scott taking over as NT manager, naturally with DiMarini as her #2.
She'd taken the step of hiring an agent—something that was rare for even the top domestic club managers, let alone the national team staff—to inquire about opportunities at club level abroad; her total experience at club level was the two seasons at Sprites, where Scott had delegated a lot of the business and player recruitment work to the club's Sporting Department, which oversaw both the men and women's squads.
No fewer than fourteen clubs made exploratory contact with the new mother in the weeks leading up to & following the birth of her first child; in addition to the well wishes and congratulatory messages from across the soccer community in Baker Park, no fewer than 25 players in the NT pool sent gifts of varying significance.
DiMarini and her husband sorted through the eight contacts that were more than lukewarm feelers, narrowing down the list to four—two concrete interview offers for the manager's role along with two other proposals for assistant manager slots.
Move to Zwangzug
Less than a week later, DiMarini had an interview via video link with the Board of Directors of Trebuchet Cham Football Club in Zwangzug. Cham was a member of the nation's 1./ League and in search of new direction which they thought might warrant an outside influence to take the lead; DiMarini went out of her way to point out her strengths as a coach versus her weaknesses as a club manager, but had done enough prep ahead of time to address the various scenarios, questions and explanations asked of her. At the end of the nearly 4 hour session she closed by saying she looked forward to any future discussion being face to face in the same room.
The three other potential job interviews came afterwards, over the course of about 9 days with DiMarini believing they went well, although she had a bit of hindsight remorse comparing them to the initial outing.
Her husband woke her from a nap at the insistence of the agent on a Tuesday afternoon, 20 days following the first interview with the Cham board. “Pack your bags and get ready to fly. They want to meet Friday. To discuss a contract.” It took an intervention—the FAC via a request from the Chairman to the Ministry of State for Foreign Affairs--to get temporary clearance for the baby to travel on his mom's passport, but the three adults and one infant arrived in Zwangzug 36 hours later.
Kate DiMarini was the Manager of Trebuchet Cham when she arrived back in Belle Haven the following Monday.