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Fay and Cresencia Named WBCA Thirty Under 30 Honorees
3/14/2022 4:30:00 PM | Women's Basketball
ATLANTA – Quinnipiac women's basketball assistant coaches Jen Fay and Kaitlyn Cresencia were recognized as WBCA Thirty Under 30 honorees, the organization announced Monday morning. With Fay and Cresencia earning the honors, Quinnipiac was the only Div. I institution to house more than one honoree.
The WBCA Thirty Under 30 program was created to recognize 30 up-and-coming women's basketball coaches age 30 and under at all levels of the game. Each honoree has exemplified their involvement in community service, mentorship and impact on others, professional manner, and attitude and professional association involvement.
During this time Fay organized Zoom calls with the players, where she focused on the individual development and film study with each player, maximizing the resources that they had access to at home. This allowed a bond to be formed between player and coach that only grew once the players arrived back on campus for the 2020-21 season. Since then, Fay has been responsible for the guard development, scouting, recruiting and equipment within the program.
In her eight years of being a member of the Quinnipiac community, Fay has maintained professional and personal connections with athletic administration, faculty and various coaches within and outside of the Quinnipiac circle.
Fay has prided herself on serving as a counselor and instructor at coach Fabbri's annual summer camp, where the relationships she has built are still evident around the Quinnipiac and Hamden community. These relationships have proven to be lasting, as the same campers have returned to support the Bobcats at contests year-in and year-out.
A native of Long Island, N.Y., Fay eagerly returned to her home area this past Fall to host a clinic for youth and high school coaches on skill development and finished with a panel discussion where she continued to be a resource for the coaches in attendance.
Even while in season, Fay continues to gain and share experiences with other coaches within the basketball realm through her podcast "Backyard Buckets Basketball". The podcast takes a look inside of the life of various coaches and players and their stories with the goal of helping current and future coaches as they journey through the profession.
A two-time WBCA Thirty Under 30 honoree, Cresencia is in her first season with the Bobcats. Since joining the Quinnipiac staff for the 2021-22 season, a point of emphasis for assistant coach Cresencia has been the development of Quinnipiac's players off the court.
In 2019, Cresencia created "Big Picture", a life skills curriculum to better prepare student-athletes for life beyond the court during her time at Mercer. When word spread amongst the women's basketball team to other athletes that they were engaging in this type of development, there became a desire for other athletes to gain access. That sparked her creation of "Let's C.H.A.T." (Change Happening, Athletes Talking). As a member of Mercer's DEI board (Mercer MADE) she was able to be a liaison between the athletes and the athletic department through these roles.
In the early stages of her time at QU, she met with the Quinnipiac coaches and players to kick off the curriculum with a discussion surrounding identity. The goal was to increase understanding of one another to further build chemistry and compassion amongst the group.
During these group conversations that began early in the year and will continue through the spring and summer, the group is encouraged to have brave conversations surrounding what might be considered an "uncomfortable" topic. They will discuss current events, diversity, the impact of social media and more. The student-athletes will also learn how to articulate the skills they have developed through sport in a way that will leverage their experiences in future interview opportunities.
Understanding that conversations surrounding diversity and equity can be sensitive topics, Cresencia sought out training to better prepare to lead these conversations. She completed the Inclusive Leader Certificate Training hosted by Return on Inclusion (ROI) in the winter of 2021.
A fierce competitor, Cresencia has been very successful since joining the coaching sidelines. She has achieved four regular season titles, five postseason appearances (three NCAA appearances & two WNIT appearances). Between her years at Mercer University and Princeton University, she has coached four Player of the Year selections, three WNBA draft picks and one Academic All-American.
In 2015 coach Cresencia was a selected participant in the WBCA's "So You Want to Be a Coach" program. Since then, she has attended every Final Four convention and after this upcoming April, she will have been a presenter at four conventions.
Professional development has played a critical role in her career, as she has sought out multiple opportunities to build her skillset as a coach. She has participated in the Key5 Coaching program (2019-2020), attended the A Step Up Assistant Coaches Symposium (2017, 2018, 2021) and the Head Coach Training Center (2021).
Her growth mindset began when she first entered the coaching ranks as a graduate assistant. From 2015 to 2018 she co-created and maintained a blog titled "The Coaching Assist". The website served as a platform to highlight interviews conducted with coaches across all levels of collegiate basketball and can be found HERE.
"Congratulations to these 30 coaches who have distinguished themselves so early in their careers," said WBCA Executive Director Danielle Donehew. "The WBCA is pleased to recognize this up-and-coming talent in our coaching family. We celebrate their effort on the basketball court as teachers and equally applaud the extensive role they play in impacting the lives of their student-athletes."
To stay up to date with all Quinnipiac women's basketball news, follow the program on Twitter/Instagram @QU_WBB or visit www.gobobcats.com/wbb.
The WBCA Thirty Under 30 program was created to recognize 30 up-and-coming women's basketball coaches age 30 and under at all levels of the game. Each honoree has exemplified their involvement in community service, mentorship and impact on others, professional manner, and attitude and professional association involvement.
"The future of our women's game is in incredibly capable hands," said head coach Tricia Fabbri. "Our program is extremely proud to have not one, but two coaches recognized for this distinguished honor. Both possess different strengths that make our program the best it can be on a daily basis but each share the common goal - to give their best to help our student athletes achieve at the highest level on and off the court."
As a former player of the Quinnipiac University women's basketball program, mentorship has been an easy transition for Coach Fay. After graduating as one of the most decorated players in program-history, Fay returned to the program as a graduate assistant coach for the 2019-20 season, while pursuing her Master's in Secondary Education. Upon graduation in May of 2020, Fay was promoted to assistant coach where she has continued to serve. In her role as an assistant coach, Fay immediately took it upon herself to become a reliable resource and outlet for her players during the Summer of 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic.During this time Fay organized Zoom calls with the players, where she focused on the individual development and film study with each player, maximizing the resources that they had access to at home. This allowed a bond to be formed between player and coach that only grew once the players arrived back on campus for the 2020-21 season. Since then, Fay has been responsible for the guard development, scouting, recruiting and equipment within the program.
In her eight years of being a member of the Quinnipiac community, Fay has maintained professional and personal connections with athletic administration, faculty and various coaches within and outside of the Quinnipiac circle.
Fay has prided herself on serving as a counselor and instructor at coach Fabbri's annual summer camp, where the relationships she has built are still evident around the Quinnipiac and Hamden community. These relationships have proven to be lasting, as the same campers have returned to support the Bobcats at contests year-in and year-out.
A native of Long Island, N.Y., Fay eagerly returned to her home area this past Fall to host a clinic for youth and high school coaches on skill development and finished with a panel discussion where she continued to be a resource for the coaches in attendance.
Even while in season, Fay continues to gain and share experiences with other coaches within the basketball realm through her podcast "Backyard Buckets Basketball". The podcast takes a look inside of the life of various coaches and players and their stories with the goal of helping current and future coaches as they journey through the profession.
A two-time WBCA Thirty Under 30 honoree, Cresencia is in her first season with the Bobcats. Since joining the Quinnipiac staff for the 2021-22 season, a point of emphasis for assistant coach Cresencia has been the development of Quinnipiac's players off the court.
In 2019, Cresencia created "Big Picture", a life skills curriculum to better prepare student-athletes for life beyond the court during her time at Mercer. When word spread amongst the women's basketball team to other athletes that they were engaging in this type of development, there became a desire for other athletes to gain access. That sparked her creation of "Let's C.H.A.T." (Change Happening, Athletes Talking). As a member of Mercer's DEI board (Mercer MADE) she was able to be a liaison between the athletes and the athletic department through these roles.
In the early stages of her time at QU, she met with the Quinnipiac coaches and players to kick off the curriculum with a discussion surrounding identity. The goal was to increase understanding of one another to further build chemistry and compassion amongst the group.
During these group conversations that began early in the year and will continue through the spring and summer, the group is encouraged to have brave conversations surrounding what might be considered an "uncomfortable" topic. They will discuss current events, diversity, the impact of social media and more. The student-athletes will also learn how to articulate the skills they have developed through sport in a way that will leverage their experiences in future interview opportunities.
Understanding that conversations surrounding diversity and equity can be sensitive topics, Cresencia sought out training to better prepare to lead these conversations. She completed the Inclusive Leader Certificate Training hosted by Return on Inclusion (ROI) in the winter of 2021.
A fierce competitor, Cresencia has been very successful since joining the coaching sidelines. She has achieved four regular season titles, five postseason appearances (three NCAA appearances & two WNIT appearances). Between her years at Mercer University and Princeton University, she has coached four Player of the Year selections, three WNBA draft picks and one Academic All-American.
In 2015 coach Cresencia was a selected participant in the WBCA's "So You Want to Be a Coach" program. Since then, she has attended every Final Four convention and after this upcoming April, she will have been a presenter at four conventions.
Professional development has played a critical role in her career, as she has sought out multiple opportunities to build her skillset as a coach. She has participated in the Key5 Coaching program (2019-2020), attended the A Step Up Assistant Coaches Symposium (2017, 2018, 2021) and the Head Coach Training Center (2021).
Her growth mindset began when she first entered the coaching ranks as a graduate assistant. From 2015 to 2018 she co-created and maintained a blog titled "The Coaching Assist". The website served as a platform to highlight interviews conducted with coaches across all levels of collegiate basketball and can be found HERE.
"Congratulations to these 30 coaches who have distinguished themselves so early in their careers," said WBCA Executive Director Danielle Donehew. "The WBCA is pleased to recognize this up-and-coming talent in our coaching family. We celebrate their effort on the basketball court as teachers and equally applaud the extensive role they play in impacting the lives of their student-athletes."
To stay up to date with all Quinnipiac women's basketball news, follow the program on Twitter/Instagram @QU_WBB or visit www.gobobcats.com/wbb.
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