Dec. 10, 2007

GALLERY

QUEENS, N.Y. - On Monday, Dec. 10, fans, faculty, staff and members of the St. John's Athletics Department were invited to dine in Carnesecca Arena's President's Room and talk winter sports with Red Storm coaches at the inaugural Winter Coaches Luncheon.

The luncheon featured speeches by the three head coaches of the winter sports: head fencing coach Yury Gelman, head women's basketball coach Kim Barnes Arico and head men's basketball coach Norm Roberts.

Director of Athletics Chris Monasch made the opening remarks, introduced the coaches and discussed program highlights at this inaugural event.

"Today was a great opportunity for our winter coaches to discuss the terrific successes their programs are having," said Monasch. "It was an excellent forum to share those successes with the greater University Community."

In addition to brief previews of their upcoming contests and key match-ups, the coaches had gracious words for the encouragement they receive from fans and support staff.

"I thought the luncheon was a great experience for us to get in front of the fans and the support staff and get a chance to talk about our programs," said Barnes Arico. "It was also a good opportunity for them to meet our student-athletes, which is always really nice. I think we have tremendous support here at St. John's. It was nice to see the number of people come out here and support us and it was a great opportunity for us to connect with the fans."

Each coach brought selected players to attend the luncheon. Representing the fencing team were Luther Clement, Stan Vaksman and Monika Golebiewski. Tiina Sten and Monique McLean were in attendance for the women's basketball team, while Paris Horne and Dele Coker represented the men's basketball team.

The Athletics Department plans to host another luncheon for the spring coaches and fans with a date to be announced at a later time.