LINDA CIMINO

WEST WARWICK — One March evening in 1997, Linda Cimino sat among the crowd at the West Valley Inn for her final high school girls’ basketball banquet.

As she listened to guest speaker Beth Connealy — a former All-Stater at Ponaganset, who went on to enjoy a stellar collegiate career at Bryant — talk about life and basketball, Cimino said to herself, “I want to be up there someday.”

Sure enough, that day came a few weeks ago when Cimino returned to her home state to speak at this year’s girls’ basketball postseason awards banquet, representing yet another great success story to come out of Rhode Island high school sports.

“I’m very honored that I can come back here and give back because I will never forget my Rhode Island roots,” said Cimino, who had flown up that morning from Florida, where she was accompanying Caldwell College’s women’s softball team as assistant athletic director.

Looking at the audience filled with the state’s crop of talented female basketball players as she stood at the podium that March evening, Cimino says she could remember how it felt to be in their shoes.

But now armed with 10 more years of life lessons, she had so much she wanted to tell the young women who are about to embark upon the same journey she once did.

An All-State basketball and softball player at North Smithfield High School, Cimino helped the Northmen capture their first division titles in both sports in the mid-1990s. North Smithfield’s all-time leading scorer with 1,224 points, she guided the girls basketball team to the 1997 Class B state finals at the Civic Center, where the Northmen ultimately fell to Johnston.

Cimino received a full scholarship to Adelphi University in Garden City, N.Y., where she enjoyed a successful basketball career from 1997-2000 and earned a few entries in the school record books, including most 3-pointers in a game, with six.

Graduating cum laude from Adelphi with a bachelor’s degree in health and physical education and a master’s degree in health education, and later earning her master’s in administration from Touro College, Cimino began her coaching career in 2001, serving a brief stint as head women’s basketball coach at Queensborough Community College.

She then served as girls’ volleyball coach for four years and girls’ basketball coach for three at Calhoun High School in Merrick, N.Y., where she taught health and adaptive physical education.

After returning to Adelphi to work as an assistant women’s basketball coach for the 2005-06 season, Cimino accepted the positions of head women’s basketball coach and assistant athletic director last year at Caldwell College, a Division II school in New Jersey.

Among the many motivational phrases Cimino has posted in her locker room at Caldwell is one big sign that asks: “Is your attitude worth catching?”

If it isn’t, Cimino said in her address to the crowd of more than 450 players, coaches and parents at last month’s dinner, here are some things to consider that might help put you on the right track:

•“Set yourself up for success,” she said. “Find something in your life that you can be passionate about.” Then establish some goals, develop a strong work ethic and be prepared to make sacrifices along the way to achieve those goals.

•Be willing to accept constructive criticism from your coaches and understand that they are offering that advice because they are trying to help you become the best player you can be.

•Appreciate the sacrifices that your parents are making to ensure you have all the best opportunities available.

“So many people were there for me, my support network,” Cimino said. “But I was also receptive to it. So many of these kids have it, but they don’t care.”

•Don’t use setbacks as an excuse to give up.

“Don’t get down on yourself and feel sorry for yourself because something’s not going your way,” said Cimino, whose father, a Boston police officer, was killed in the line of duty when she was 6. “Everybody is dealt a different hand, and it’s what you do with that hand that’s going to make the difference. Just be grateful to wake up each day and take advantage of every opportunity given to you.”

cthorn@projo.com