OCEAN CITY – Reaction to the Ocean City High School girls basketball team’s appearance at last week’s Ocean City Board of Education meeting has been mixed, with some supporting the girls for speaking out and others, including former athletes, backing the head coach.
Comments came in after the Ocean City Sentinel published a story online Saturday at ocnjsentinel.com about the Feb. 23 school board meeting. About a dozen members of the team read a statement asking that coach Michael Cappelletti and assistant Tim Kelley not be reappointed to their positions because of the way they have treated players this season, saying they have been demeaning and disrespectful. (See related story, page A1.)
The comments in favor of the girls mostly spoke about the courage it took for them to speak up and bring the issue to the school board. There was talk about verbal abuse being commonplace in girls sports in general.
A number of former athletes, both in basketball and other sports, also weighed in, some talking about the difference in how players respond now to tough coaching meant to bring out the best in players. Others spoke directly about Cappelletti.
“Cap is the nicest guy I’ve ever met,” wrote Julia Duggan, who was on the school’s state championship team and went on to play professional basketball in Europe and now is an assistant college coach. She added if she knew about the school board meeting in advance, she would have sent something in “talking about the real Cap, not this character they’re trying to portray.” She said Cappelletti, who was an assistant to head coach Paul Baruffi during her tenure playing at OCHS, “would never do any of this.”
“I’m devastated to hear this has happened after he has dedicated so many years to that program including the championship we won my senior year that is still not properly displayed in the gym,” Duggan wrote. “He helped shape me and my sister into the players/people we are today and I can’t thank him and his family enough for that!” Duggan’s older sister also went on the play college basketball.
Reilly Larkin played under Baruffi and Cappelletti from 2008 to 2012, went on to play college ball at Neumann University and Immaculata University and also was an assistant coach for two years at Washington Township High School under coach Jen Natale. She believes there is a combination of factors leading to the criticism of Cappelletti.
Larkin, who grew up in Sea Isle City, said she started on varsity part-time as a freshman at OCHS, but mostly played junior varsity being coached by Cappelletti. She said he “was nothing short of amazing. He is the most passionate, kind and gentle coach that I’ve experienced both in high school and college.”
Larkin said he was the coach who helped pick up girls’ spirits when they got down on themselves in practice, telling them to get their heads up, get the ball back and “keep your foot on the pedal.”
“He was always there to support you emotionally and in the games,” she said. “You knew if you were having a bad day you could go to coach Cap and he would lift you up and get you ready for the game.”
She added “there were times he would get on you because he saw the potential you had inside of you, but that was to push you both in sports and in life.”
Larkin said one day Cappelletti and Baruffi pulled her aside and told her she wouldn’t play in that day’s game because she showed up late to school.
“To me, I was upset in the moment. I didn’t go back and cry to my mom …. It was my own fault. Those types of lessons prepare you for life, not just sports,” she said.
Larkin added the same type of situations are happening today, but parents are getting involved and telling coaches it isn’t fair. She puts blame for this situation on parents, putting their thoughts into young teenagers’ heads.
“I’ve been in the stands and heard what some of these parents had to say,” she said. “It’s truly outrageous.” Larkin said what she has heard parents say is “truly upsetting.”
She also believes part of what’s going on now – with students losing so much of their high school experience to the COVID-19 pandemic – has added to the sensitivity they’re feeling.
“It’s a sensitive time in this world in general,” she said. “People want their voice heard. If they don’t agree with something they’re going to stand up for it. That’s what we have going on. The saddest part of this whole thing is they’re talking about a coach who has tenure in the program in both football and basketball and built his reputation through that. His character is being skewed.
“We all know, all alumni, and players of the last two or three years that I’ve talked to … are truly in shock about what is being said about a coach who has done so much for the program and the players who came out of Ocean City High School.”
More support on the bleachers for coach Cappelletti
Supporters of the coach planned to be out in force on the bleachers at the girls basketball game Tuesday evening at the high school.
The supporters were to include former players and parents and others who believe in coach Cappelletti.
The game, the first round of the South Jersey Group III sectional tournament, was taking place after the Sentinel went to press.
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
I cannot attest to the how these past players were treated by an assistant coach. I am happy that they had a great experience. We all wish that for student athletes. What I can attest to is how this current team is and has been treated by him as a head coach coaching his child. The ENTIRE team came forward as a unit, to ask for help from the Board because they are being mistreated and nobody has helped them. Not one player, or 2 players or a few, every player except the Coach’s daughter stood together. That is a statement that needs to be heard. The AD and Interim Superintendent have not investigated this at all. It is unacceptable that these student athletes continue to have their story ignored or not believed or discounted in any way. This victim shaming has to stop. These girls deserve better.