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Tracey DiSerafino
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Tracey DiSerafino – Neumann’s first women’s golf coach is ready to tee it up.
Women’s golf has officially come to Neumann University and Tracey DiSerafino has been named the team’s first coach. It is not only a dream come true for DiSerafino, but she hopes it will elicit the same excitement in her future players.
“I was thrilled when they asked me to be the coach. We are starting with a club team this year and we hope to roll it to a varsity sport next year,” DiSerafino explained.
The team will be practicing at Rock Manor Golf Club in Wilmington, Delaware.
DiSerafino plans on combining time at the golf range with actual play to improve her players’ skills. The team’s season will be in the fall but the girls will also compete in tournaments in the spring. Karen Thomas, communications and media arts instructor, will serve as the women’s golf team chaplain.
DiSerafino already had her first player. Junior Lauren Cusack had been playing with the Neumann University men’s golf team. Word is spreading quickly and now the new coach has three committed golfers.
“I think it will grow quickly. Golf is such a great sport. You can play it for the rest of your life. I think there will be quite a few girls coming out,” said DiSerafino.
DiSerafino is no stranger to the links. She started playing at the age of nine, tagging along with her three older brothers and father.
“My brother Paul would take me to Clayton Park (golf course in Glen Mills) and I worked at Porky Oliver’s (Ed Oliver Golf Club in Wilmington) through college (University of Delaware),” she said.
Her love for the game is contagious and DiSerafino’s excitement for her Neumann team is inspiring. She knows the challenges that her players will face and she plans on supporting them in every way.
“My story is the same as Lauren’s. University of Delaware didn’t have a women’s golf team. My dad told me to play for the men’s golf team, but I didn’t. That was one of my biggest regrets,” she recalled.
Fast forward a few years and now DiSerafino has the opportunity to change the course of golf at Neumann University.
“Our goal is to be a winning team in the NCAA Division III. I hope to put Neumann University on the map as a (women’s) golf team,” DiSerafino said.