From the playground to college, Marcella Zalot always loved to play sports.

Her college years now over, Zalot is still involved with collegiate athletics.

But now she's putting pressure on the Harvard Athletic Department rather than on opposing teams.

Zalot, a Smith College graduate, is Harvard's new Assistant Director of Athletics for Compliance, charged with ensuring that coaches and athletes stick to a plethora rules.

"I had a great experience playing intercollegiate athletics at Smith," says Zalot, a two-year Captain of Smith's basketball squad and a goalie for the school's soccer team. "It was very rewarding, so I would hope the experience of the students here is rewarding too."

For Zelot, rewards mean having fun and winning while adhering to NCAA, Ivy League, and university regulations.

Zelot says she spends most of her time examining Harvard programs and looking for possible rule violations. She says the most common infractions concern recruitment, academic eligibility and amateur status.

"You definitely have to be organized, especially because of the [number] of athletes," she says. "Keeping track of numbers is the hardest part."

Zalot made the transition from athlete to administrator when she worked as an intern in the NCAA national office located in Kansas three years ago.

She was a member of the enforcement department, performing many of the same tasks that she does today. But she stresses that while her functions at both posts may appear similar, the atmosphere here at Harvard is markedly different.

"Here it's a whole different perspective," Zalot says. "The NCAA was like the government, but it's the everyday deal here...You have to be approachable because you're always interacting with coaches and athletes."

And why did Zalot choose Harvard?

"Some institutions' athletics have the tendency to overshadow academics. I wanted to find a place where academics are primary."

In addition to coaches and athletes, Zalot works closely with the Freshman Registrar, the Office of Admissions and Financial Aid, and the Faculty Standing Committee, which oversees the rules of the Athletic Department.

Athletic Director Bill Cleary stresses the importance of personality in fulfilling these functions.