Words from the Coach
10 Questions with Coach Jess
1. What’s your story? Think of personal stories from your early years as an athlete.
I grew up in the suburbs of St. Louis and attended Catholic grade school and high school. Sports were a prevalent part of my youth from the beginning and were always a topic of conversation in our young lives. Getting good grades in school was important, but athletics mattered in a way that shaped you and identified you as an individual in your own right. Athleticism was in our DNA and everyone in the family was involved with sports. My parents loved being active and viewed sports as a way to keep us healthy, busy and engaged with like-minded kids and parents and they were always supportive of my schedule and the financial fees that came along with progressing into more competitive play.
2. Your grandfather Dominic had a huge influence in your life. Can you tell us more about grandpa?
Yes! It was my grandfather, Dominic, who laid out the groundwork for who I would become as an athlete and later on, as a coach. He was a motivator and a disciplinarian. He constantly coached me and shared his ideas with me. He had many words of advice and as I got older the words were a bit more direct: “If you don’t want to work hard, get the hell off the field and don’t waste anyone’s time” or sometimes he would be completely silent and I knew he was disappointed in my performance. The thing with my grandfather was this: as long as you tried, as long as you left everything on the field, he was good with whatever happened. But if he felt you were being lazy and didn’t try, then he had no time for it. As strict as my grandpa was and as harsh as his words could sometimes be, I always loved the fact that my grandpa gave it to me straight…no BS, no sugar coating anything and no praise for the sake of praise. If I played a bad game, he told me straight up. If I played well, he bragged to me and was very proud of my work ethic.
My grandpa was my biggest raving fan and he came to every single practice and game no matter the sport, no matter the location and no matter the weather. As I got older and soccer became my sport of choice, my grandpa would travel all over the city and county to watch me play soccer on hot summer days and freezing winter evenings. He would travel to out-of-town tournaments that lasted for days! He was always there on the sidelines watching my every move and ready to critique my play on the way home. As I got older, we had great conversations about strategy on the field and things I needed to work on when I was off the field. He would call me on the phone to discuss soccer news he read in the paper and get updates from me on practices and rescheduled games. We’d talk about upcoming games and how the teams were ranked and who was their best player.
My grandfather loved sports and everyone knew it. When he got out of high school, he enlisted in the Navy at seventeen years old and after returning to civilian life, he was recruited to play minor league (first base) baseball for the Cardinals. Everyone was involved with sports from my uncles who played professional soccer to my mother who was recruited at the age of twelve to train to swim in the Olympics. My father was a competitive weight lifter, winning numerous medals in his weight category. My sister and brother also excelled in sports, playing into college. When my grandpa wasn’t watching me play sports, he was watching it on television from boxing, golf and baseball to football, soccer and basketball. It was in his blood and he shared his love of sports with his family.
In fact, when my grandfather was raising their five children, he coached Little League baseball and soccer for many, many years and when he passed away, hundreds of men my grandpa coached came to the wake to pay their respects to a man they said loved them and taught them the greatest lessons in life: teamwork, confidence, fair play and believing in yourself.
3. Grandpa Dominic sounds like an amazing role figure. What about the rest of your family?
My family memories include daily visits to my grandparent’s house since they lived just a few miles away. They always had large gatherings at their home for birthdays, holidays and bar-b-ques, but often on a Friday or Saturday evening, it seemed everyone would congregate there for beer, pizza and small talk. When there was a get together, there was always a friendly game of soccer or whiffle ball or running races against my cousins to see who was the fastest. There was always a sense of competitiveness, but it was good fun and made you want to excel and be the best.
The entire family was involved in my athletic progress and it was common to talk about my teams, our wins and losses, traveling to tournaments, my coaches and what position I played or dealing with injuries and rehab. My family was my fan club and I didn’t want to disappoint them. Everyone was invested in my progress and my performance and they cheered me on. When I had a break in summer ball and returned home for a few weeks, it would be too hot to do my college pre-season training during the day so my mom would drive my Jeep and keep pace with me, following my path and blasting music as I ran through the subdivision at 11 o’clock at night to stay in shape. Yes, it was that important and everyone bought into it.
4. What would you describe as the key to your success?
The support of my family on and off the field and the LOVE of the game. I became even more disciplined, confident and committed to being my best. The fact that my family was behind me was a great feeling of being loved and feeling I was capable of doing anything.
5. You are a sports coach, an athlete, a mother. How is your day?
My family is my top priority and I have young children who demand quite a bit of care at their ages, however, as a former student athlete and now as a coach, I understand how important time management is and I make setting priorities a daily ritual so I can accomplish the things I need to do with the right attitude. I understand things don’t always go according to plan, so I have to build in some flexibility and humor to roll with changes that may occur. I also have a supportive husband who believes in my work and understands the joy it brings me. Every day is non-stop busy and hectic, but with all the hats I wear, I am focused on the business because this is something I feel passionate about and I know I can make a difference.
6. When did you decide to become a coach? What are the things in your daily routines that make you love what you do?
After finishing my time as a soccer player, it was a natural progression to become a coach since I love the game so much. I couldn’t sit on the sidelines watching; I knew I had to do something more. I have been fortunate enough to have been coached by some of the best soccer coaches in the world and this experience has led me to want to coach. I have seen bad coaches and how their poor coaching skills negatively impact a child’s performance or confidence to excel. I also didn’t see many female soccer coaches and I knew I could make an impact in the area of performance, mentoring and community. Plus, I had a great experience playing soccer and it opened up many doors for me as far as traveling abroad, meeting great people, achieving goals I set and a five-year full ride to college. More than anything, I want to help kids believe in themselves and use sports performance as the bridge to help them gain confidence, motivation and inspiration to do whatever they dream.
7. What made you realize there was an opportunity for you in sports performance coaching? Did you see a gap in other trainers?
First, I saw a need for a female sports performance coach in my area. My unique and broad soccer experience runs the spectrum from early youth training to playing high school soccer and every level from there…Division 1, semi-pro, and training with several youth national teams. I knew my background could make a huge impact, especially for young girls.
8. What's your vision for XPONENT Sports Performance?
First and foremost is my vision to train athletes so they’re dynamically empowered to make an impact in the world. With mentoring and inspiration provided through my sports performance training, I will challenge these athletes to work hard to be their best selves, be connected to the team and connected to the larger community in the form of service to others. Giving back is an important lesson because no one achieves success on their own.
From the business perspective, I would love to be known on the international stage through Xponent’s worldwide sponsorships/fundraising efforts and community service to give back so every child has the opportunity to grow, play sports and achieve their dreams.
9. Let's think about the benefits for the athlete. What does a young athlete get from Xponent? What does a parent get?
Initially, I meet young athletes where they are in their performance level and we create a solid plan to go forward. Each player is a unique individual and I treat them as such which means I take into account their current level of play, their age, their ambition, their skill level, their goals and desire to improve their performance. The athlete must have a sincere desire to do the work and cannot be doing it because their parents want them to. The foundation of the performance training will be commitment to self, commitment to teamwork, and commitment to community.
Also, the parents will benefit from having a strong, successful female role model who shares the same positive goals for the athlete. The exposure to an excellent coach will positively impact the athlete. The relationship with the parent and the coach is a two-way street of mutual high expectations to set a good example on and off the field by being on time for practices and games, being respectful of coaches, referees, players and other parents, by providing a healthy standard of living, meaning good nutrition and rest, finding balance in work and play, properly managing injuries and rehab, promoting leadership and kindness and managing expectations to avoid burnout or the risk of being overly competitive.
10. What are your dreams for this brand you are creating?
Xponent is more than your ordinary business. This is a vision with the purpose of using sports to create an environment for young athletes that promotes excellence, integrity and community. And the manner in which we support the pillars of excellence, integrity and community will be through mentoring, leadership and service. This vision is about changing lives through sports performance and mentoring for the betterment of the person and the community. When we do well, things change in a positive direction and you create a rhythm or cycle that continues doing good.
