Croton-Harmon’s Tuman Multi-Talented

If recent Croton-Harmon graduate, student-athlete Aly Tuman, got lost in a foreign country, she probably could handle herself better than most.

That’s because Tuman studied three foreign languages while in high school.

That interest in learning different cultures led Tuman to choose to attend McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada this fall. “I really wanted to be in a city,” Tuman said. “That was what first attracted me to McGill and the fact that I love foreign languages. I took French, Spanish and Mandarin. I love traveling too.”

Tuman is also diverse when it comes to what she does in the athletic arena as she played four years of varsity girls soccer, girls basketball and track. The soccer coach at McGill University at first asked Tuman to try out then invited her to play on the team but she turned the offer down so she could concentrate on her studies.

As for high-school, Tuman had a career at Croton-Harmon to remember and to top it all off she was named the school’s best senior female athlete. “I was really honored,” Tuman said. “We had a lot of athletes in our grade, some of them are going to play in college and because of that it meant a lot to me to be recognized for the hard work I put in, in all the sports I have played.”

Tuman was recognized heavily in her two main sports, soccer and basketball. This past year, her senior campaign, she was named all-section honorable mention in soccer after earning all-league honors in her junior season.

As for basketball, Tuman was named to the all-league team three times in addition to making the all-section academic team her junior and senior years.

She didn’t play as prominent a role on the track squad but still earned all-league honorable mention honors her junior year, competing mainly in field events, the discus and shot put.

As a member of track, she was also on a squad that won a league championship in all four years she participated on the team.  Overall, Croton-Harmon has won six straight league titles in girls track.

Tuman said what stands out for her in soccer, where she played forward, were two games her senior year.

They were a 4-1 triumph against Sleepy Hollow where the tall and quick forward scored four goals and a competitive loss to three-time state champion Briarcliff. “That was my favorite game, my four-goal game,” Tuman said. “Another was we lost to Briarcliff 4-2 but I scored two goals within the first 10 minutes of the game so we were up 2-0. That was awesome because they beat or they at least seem to beat everyone 6-0.”

On the basketball court, Tuman was proud to be part of a squad that went from three wins her sophomore year to eight her senior season.

She credits a lot of the program’s turnaround and her personal success to coach Ben Martucci, who has coached the Tigers on the hardwood for the last two seasons. “He is one of the best basketball coaches I have ever had,” Tuman said. “He wasn’t going to let us have another 3-17 record. He really wanted to push us as much as he could. He did that really well, especially with me. He made me work even harder. That really helped overall. He really helped me become a better leader on the team.”

Besides being a scoring threat, as her team high 14.1 points per game can attest too, what made her dangerous on the court was of course her versatility. “I really didn’t have a position,” Tuman said. “Whatever position my coach needed me to play, I played. I played point guard, I played down low, I played shooting guard, I basically played everything.”