Gary Trapani has been coaching in the Marlboro Central School District for about 20 years.
After spending a long time as a JV coach and as an assistant in the boys’ basketball program, Trapani made the switch before last season to the girls’ program, where he served as the JV coach.
He’s coached all levels and taught in the middle school for 20 years.
Now, if there’s a 2020-21 season, Trapani will serve his first season as a varsity coach when he leads the two-time defending Section 9 Class B champion Lady Dukes.

“If I was a first-year coach, it would be a much different situation,” Trapani said. “Teaching in the middle school and knowing the kids and having last year made the transition easier. They don’t have to figure out who I am. We all know each other.”
Trapani was approved as coach effective June 26. He replaced Marion Appler, who resigned effective June 3 for personal reasons. He said Appler and her players made him feel like he was part of the program and when she told him she wouldn’t be able to coach this season, he said it was an easy choice.
He described his year as JV coach as a wonderful experience.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” Trapani said. “It was a lot of fun. We had a lot of fun with those JV girls. Hopefully, some will be up with me this year and we keep looking toward the future.”
The winter season is expected to begin on Nov. 30, but basketball is considered a high-risk sport by the New York State Dept. of Health and has not been approved for games as of press time.
Still, he and his peers are hopeful there will be some kind of season this winter.
“We’re all optimistic,” Trapani said. “I’ve texted other coaches I know and hopefully we can imagine some part of a season, even if it’s just division games and we have an eight-game season.”
That hasn’t stopped Trapani from being able to work with the players in a limited fashion. The team is broken up into A and B cohorts as only athletes who were in school on a day can participate that day. They can only play two-to-a-hoop and must remain socially distant.
He hasn’t had more than five girls at a time due to the cohorts.
“They’re happy to be in the gym,” Trapani said. “They’re there and they can shoot around, but we can’t play defense. You can’t even scrimmage.”
Trapani was on the bench the last time the Lady Dukes played, at the very beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in an empty gymnasium, a loss to Putnam Valley in the New York State Class B regional semifinals. That and the boys’ game the same day were the last sporting events the school participated in.
“Even last year, being on the bench for that game, it didn’t seem quiet for that gym,” Trapani said.
So, with the limitations, Trapani is focusing on shooting, passing and ball handling. Some of the girls have done AAU and training, while others have not. They’re also doing a little bit of conditioning.
“We’re treating everyone like they haven’t been doing anything,” Trapani said.
And they’re working toward one goal at a time, a goal which is out of their reach.
Getting a season in.
For now, he’s going to take it one step at a time, the first of which is hopefully to get the entire team in the gym at some point.
“We’re at the point where if they tell us, we’ll go tomorrow, we can go tomorrow,” Trapani said.