Jessica Singewald was living with her parents and coaching club volleyball when she learned that the Fighting Indians were interested in her to lead the girls’ volleyball program.
“I received a couple of calls from St. Lucie County but they just didn’t feel right,” Singewald said. “Then I received a call from Vero Beach High School Athletic Director Lenny Jankowski and he said they had a head coaching position for volleyball open and he wanted to interview me. Everything just kind of happened all at once. I packed up my car with the necessities, interviewed the next morning and I took it.”
Singewald started playing volleyball at Port St. Lucie Middle School and then played all four years at Centennial High School. She graduated and accepted an offer to play for South Florida State College and after two years transferred to Division 2 Lees-McRae College in North Carolina and went to the NCAA playoffs. “I moved to Kentucky after college and took over the middle school team in South Oldham.” Singewald said. “Then I started coaching the Kentucky Stars club team and doing private individual lessons for girls who were trying to get recruited by colleges.”
This is Singewald’s first high school head coaching position and she feels that she can relate to what the players require because of her age and experience. “I am very close in their age and I was just playing in college and I’m fresh from that,” Singewald said. “I know what to expect and I know how they are feeling when times are tough and I feel like I know what worked for me and my teammates.” So far it seems to working, witness the team’s 5-1 record at the start of the season.
Coming into a program as the new head coach presents some challenges with the players and parents but she feels the easiest way to make the transition is to start with a clean slate and be fair. “When I came in I assessed them on their tryouts and I placed them just solely on their playing ability, not yet having relationships with their parents or knowing them. “There was no knowledge of who these girls were and it was completely fair.”
The ultimate goal for high school coaches is to win a state championship. Singewald would like to win that, but more importantly, if her girls want to play volleyball at the next level she hopes she can help make that dream come true. “We have so many strong independent players and we are starting to come together as a team and a family,” Singewald said. “Some of my seniors have heard from colleges and I want to be that coach that can give them everything they need if they want to go on and play in college.”
