The ‘we not me’ coach

Marc Zaretsky is standing in the Forest Hills hallway just outside the gymnasium answering questions about win No. 300. From the outset, he’s antsy. Every 30 seconds or so, he angles himself to look through the miniscule window above the double doors to glance at the action on the court. Finally he says, “Can we finish this inside?”
Inside the darkened gym, he has one eye on the reporter and the other on the court where his girls are warming up. This is where he has taught the game of basketball for over two decades.
Zaretsky, in his 22nd year as the girls basketball coach at Forest Hills, recently earned his 300th career victory. Asked to single out his best team, he pointed to the 2000 squad that reached the PSAL “B” semifinals, finished 22-2, and fell a game short of playing at Madison Square Garden. But when asked if that was his most enjoyable season, he says,
“That’s like asking a parent if they have a favorite child.”
You can’t get the Bayside native to utter a single glowing word about himself, even after the milestone win.
“It’s a testament to the dedication and hard-working girls I’ve gotten here,” he says of the achievement. “It makes me realize how privileged I’ve been. … I haven’t scored a basket in 21 1/2 years.”
Still, Zaretsky has made quite a difference in the lives of many. “He’s very caring and is one of the smartest people I’ve ever met,” said senior Christine Lacey. “He teaches us about life and manners and how to get along with each other.”
On the court, Zaretsky has instilled unselfishness in every one of his teams. He has passionately preached, “we not me,” a slogan inspiring a team-first mindset.
At 5-foot-5, Zaretsky, born in Brooklyn and raised in Flushing, looks more like an accountant than a basketball coach. However, “when you see him play, you know he’s a basketball player,” senior Martaisha Buford said.
A point guard, Zaretsky played two seasons on the Flushing varsity, then one for the Stony Brook jayvee. Upon graduation from Queens College in 1976, he continued playing in countless CYO and recreation leagues, teaming with the Cluess brothers, Tim and Kevin, each who played for St. John’s, and Luther Green, an All-American at Long Island University who went on to play professionally with the New York Nets and Philadelphia 76ers.
So when Zaretsky was hired as a special education teacher at Forest Hills in 1980, he saw himself as a basketball player, not a coach. Eventually, at the urging of a former teammate at Flushing, Michael Wildman, he began his coaching career at Bayside in 1983. He took over the following season at Forest Hills, and the rest is history.
Now a college guidance counselor, Zaretsky understands the significance sports can play in a young person’s development. “Sports is a vehicle that you can use to test your character and help you to develop a winning attitude in life with,” he says.
“He really teaches us to become better people,” says Buford, who knows first-hand. When she entered the gym as a freshman, the Richmond Hill native had somewhat of an attitude problem. When Buford was substituted for, she left the court disappointed.
“He wasn’t concerned about my basketball ability but my attitude,” she says. “Three things he says are attitude, attitude, attitude. He’s dedicated and is always there to help with the little things.”