Country Day School point guard commits to U of T

By Robert Belardi 

It's been heralded before and it isn't a cliché, but when one grows up in a sports family, it's pretty likely the child will follow in the same footsteps. 

When Carly Magarelli was growing up, her mother had played basketball with the Carleton University Ravens. Her two cousins and her younger sister loved to play the sport and Magarelli began to get into it too. 

After signing her letter of intent to play basketball with the U of T Varsity Blues just a month ago, she recalled how it all began. 

“It was something we can do together,” she said. “It was really fun for us. We all just fell in love with it. From there, I began playing ever since.” 

All four girls were enrolled in the house league program in Vaughan simultaneously. 

She began watching basketball more and idolized Chris Paul. She watched Paul's ball distribution, athleticism attacking the basket and high-arching shots when he was the Los Angeles Clippers floor general.  

“He's definitely my idol and I've modelled my style of play after him.” 

After one season, Magarelli made the move to rep. She joined the Caledon Cougars program competing there for four years and then moved up to the JUEL league, joining the Mississauga Monarchs. 

“The JUEL league is an only girls league for Grade 9 to Grade 12. It's a higher-level league for girls to enter but not as high as the OSBA's (Ontario Scholastic Basketball Association),” Magarelli explained. 

“OSBA is a league run through the schools, during the school year, like prep schools.” 

At first, it was quite difficult to balance between schoolwork and playing at The Country Day School. After a month of playing at school and in the evenings in Mississauga, Magarelli learned more how to manage her time. She also vastly improved on her game and in particular her shot – she looked to Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry for that one. 

But, in her final year at CDS, Magarelli unexpectedly injured the ligaments in her ankle during a game in 2019. It was the final time she donned the Cyclones jersey. 

Fortunately, her impact and playstyle in the league was rhapsodized by many scouts. In particular, it garnered the attention of two-time Canadian Olympian, and former pro player in Europe, Tamara Tatham. 

Tatham joined the Varsity Blues bench as assistant coach in 2017. Following numerous phone calls and the exchanges of text messages, Tatham offered a letter of intent to Magarelli. 

“My older sister was a past OUA (Ontario University Athletics) athlete. For her, that was really exciting because she was passing the torch along. She's done her fifth year and it's poetic in that way,” Magarelli said. 

“My parents were really proud of me and really happy because it's something they wanted for me. We've all been excited for it.” 

She will be entering the Engineering Science program with an interest to enter the Biomedical science field.

Currently Magarelli has an interest in entering prosthetic design. 

And as for basketball, she is unsure where the path will lead. For now, she has one focus and that is to win an OUA title. 

She is in her final year at CDS earning the last of her credits online. She will await in the coming months, a phone call to report to training camp. That is of course, depending on Toronto's lockdown measures.