Senior Spotlight: Cecilia Castelli, Women's Tennis
5/8/2020
Cecilia Castelli has been a four-year member of the Temple women's tennis team. She has collected 33 singles victories, including 21 coming in dual matches, during her time on Broad Street. Castelli will graduate in May with degrees in Marketing and International Business, as well as a minor in Sport Management.
Owlsports.com caught up with Castelli, as she finishes her final semester at Temple.
In the book of your life, what’s the title of the Temple chapter? Well, Temple has definitely been one of the best chapters of my life. Do you know when you read a book and you reach halfway through and you can’t stop reading it? Well, more or less, Temple had that effect on my life. When I came to Temple my freshman year, I didn’t know what to expect, but if today I have to summarize my experience I can just say: wow, it has been a blast.
What’s the best part about being a member of the tennis team at Temple/what will you miss the most? My tennis experience was great, I had the best two coaches I could ask for. Both Coach Steve and Freddy helped me from the first day, not just to become my best self in tennis, but also to reach and find my real identity outside the court. They often checked on me to make sure that I was okay; they always cared first about Cecilia as a human being rather than Cecilia as a tennis player and I appreciate that so much. I am very thankful for them and I am happy to consider them as not just coaches but also friends.
My team was great, too. Every year I changed teammates, and I had the opportunity to learn and discover twelve different cultures just in the women's team alone. And you know what? It was great! It has been an important life lesson to try to match all the cultures together and try to understand all the different behaviors. It was not easy at all, but I honestly loved it. We all tried to help and learn from each other, and we all grew up together. We gave 100% every day, sometimes with complaints, but this is more than normal and part of a college sport. Honestly, who doesn’t complain?
What is your favorite memory of being a student-athlete at Temple? There is not just one best memory I have with my team; every year was different, and every year I had unforgettable moments. I built trust and respect with all my teammates, and I always tried to help them outside of tennis and I believe that this made our relationship even better. It is when you go for coffee on an off day that you get to know and appreciate your team for real, not when you have a five-minute break between tennis and conditioning.
I will definitely miss being part of the team; I will miss helping them and being helped by them. I will miss complaining when we have to wake up at 5.30 A.M. for practice, or when we have conditioning but we don’t feel like it. I will miss our trips, and our matches, but honestly, I will just miss them in general and our laughs together.
If you could give advice to your freshman year self, what would it be? Being a student-athlete at Temple is way more than just sports. I got to know so many cool people, and I loved being a part of their lives, even if just for a short time. I enjoyed bringing breakfast to Teresa, Kristy, and Olivia, and just talking about life in general. I enjoyed stopping at Tim’s office just to check how he was doing or to the equipment room to check on Liz. I loved talking about restaurants with Justin, and all the advisers in the Resnik Center. I think that getting to know people for real was probably the best part of my journey. When you are a student-athlete, sometimes you forget that life is more than just sports, but as the saying goes, you are also a student. You are not a student just in the class, you are a student in every single moment of your day. You have to explore the world and get the best out of every second that you have. This was my goal when I came, and this is what I recommend to all the freshmen. Take advantage of this amazing opportunity, don’t limit yourself to your sport and your team. Go out and explore what Temple and Philadelphia can offer to you. Meet people, attend events, make friends that are not athletes, join organizations on campus, try restaurants in the city, and explore every corner of Philly. From your first day, think about your personal growth and use every moment to learn something new, because the time flies, and before you know it, tomorrow will already be time to graduate and move on to the next step of life. Don’t be shy, because there is no time for it, but learn to be an athlete outside the field.
Where do you see yourself in five years? I don’t know what is going to happen in my future, I am very scared and excited at the same time. I will graduate in May with a double bachelor’s degree in marketing and international business and a minor in sports management. I hope to be successful and reach some high level position in a good consulting firm, but honestly, I just hope to keep being as happy and energetic as I have been during my journey at Temple. I hope to find a job that I like and to be surrounded by people like the ones I met here, because I swear, I had a great time at Temple that I will never forget.
There is not a special person who I want to say thank you to; everyone taught me something and helped me to build my personality and become a better person. Today, I feel very confident in myself; I grew up and I changed a lot. I see things with a different perspective. I always see things in a positive way, even when there is not much to be positive about. I learned how important it is to appreciate the small things and to make other people feel important, because at the end of the day, we are all human beings and we all deserve to be treated like that. Everyone who I met here is special and I really appreciate every single person. Therefore, thank you so much Temple, and Temple Athletics, for the incredible experience you gave me. I will always be grateful for my time here and very happy to say that I am Temple made, Temple proud.Cecilia Castelli, Temple Women's Tennis Class of 2020
