Field Hockey, Diving/Swimming, Lacrosse
Favorite athlete: Suni Lee
Favorite team: The Dallas Cowboys
Favorite memory competing in sports: Winning my Senior Night field hockey game this season.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: Having to finish dressing the goalie on the field during a game.
Music on playlist: A little bit of everything
Future plans: Going to college on a pre-med track
Words to live by: “Give your heart, keep your head.”
One goal before turning 30: Completing medical school
One thing people don't know about me: I'm an early riser and don't like to sleep in.
By GORDON GLANTZ
A collegiate track and field athlete, Jahneya Mitchell was taking a figurative leap of faith by coming out of her comfort zone and accepting the challenge to coach field hockey, a sport she previously knew little to nothing about.
The team she took over at Cheltenham High School was led by a group of seniors, specifically midfielder Addison “Addie” Lee, who was eager to help make the transition a smooth one.
“This was my first year coaching this actual sport, and she was helping me out as a coach with rules and regulations and what and what not to do,” said Mitchell. “She was basically like an assistant coach. She had great spirit throughout the whole season.
“It really meant a lot to me. I know how I was an athlete, and I know that I had coaches that inspired me to want to do coaching and mentor girls and be there for them. She showed me a little bit of me in her, just wanting the best and having heart and courage.”
From Lee’s perspective, it was a now-or-never scenario, not only for herself but also for the other seniors.
“Throughout my years, we had three coaches,” she said. “There was a lot of transition, which is pretty tough. Our preseason is something that really matters. After that, we jump right in and have game after game. This year, we didn’t know what was happening until right before preseason.
“(Mitchell) was new. We didn’t really know what to expect. She was very open and eager to learn and to know things. As captains, me and my friends stepped up and said, ‘OK, we can help you out with these drills.’ She was a big part in making the season happen, and she was very open to drills we wanted to do that we thought might work. “
Different Vibe
While there was no worst-to-first Hollywood ending, the recently completed season saw the team turn a corner.
The Panthers were more competitive, and they even came out on the positive end of a few of those final tallies.
“We didn’t really have a great season, record-wise, but this year was the first year we won a game,” said Mitchell. “We were even on a winning streak for two games in a row, but we didn’t get that until maybe our eighth game. Having consecutive losses, we could have gotten discouraged, but she was definitely trying her best to keep everybody’s head high and to stay focused and to overcome that adversity on the field.”
This included a win on Senior Night against Interboro, which Lee will now tuck away in her memory banks.
“It was really great because our team worked so hard this year,” she said. “We put up a fight against a lot of the teams that we didn’t do well against in the past. I feel like we put a lot of hard work into this year, so winning that game, especially with the girls that I had been playing with since freshman year, just felt really good.
“We had a lot of supporters there. It was fun to see the whole crowd and all the people that I had been playing with enjoy what was a monumental moment.”
Also a member of the swimming and lacrosse teams, a victorious Senior Night in field hockey seemed unattainable.
“I had participated in many Senior Nights in for other sports,” said Lee. “It was almost surreal that it was our own special game and we were able to pull off the win.
“When I came into the season, I believed that could put up a fight against these teams this year. I believed we could have wins on our record. I really wanted it to be a good year for us.
Making a Splash
Lee, whose favorite all-time athlete is Olympic gymnast Suni Lee, parlayed her own background in gymnastics into diving for Cheltenham swim team as a freshman.
She holds a school record and is hoping making a bigger splash this year.
“I’ve placed in league championships and stuff, but I still haven’t gone to districts,” said Lee, who started diving for a club team before her freshman year. “My goal is districts. There is a qualifying score, which is different for different schools, depending on your size. Our qualifying score is slightly higher than what I have gotten before, but I hope I qualify this year.”
Lee credits diving coach Sam Henninger for helping her overcome her own worst enemy – herself.
“Diving is a very mental sport,” said Lee. “He has had to work with me through a lot of different struggles. He is very encouraging.
“This is my third diving coach throughout my years. He has really worked with me, and he has been able to help each one of us individually. He is very supportive.”
Henninger, who previously coached Lee at the club level, most admires her work ethic and determination.
“One thing that I work hard on developing with my divers is strong communication, and specifically with Addison and working with her in a high school setting, she is able to come to me,” he said. “Together, we are able to create different outcomes that allow her to maximize her potential, as well as trying not to let the little things be a distraction from her success.”
Considering that diving is an individual sport, Lee is still in team-first mode.
Said the coach: “Her being an upperclassman last year allowed her to showcase her leadership abilities. She helped create a supportive environment at Cheltenham for our divers to learn challenging and uncomfortable dives.”
As was the case with Mitchell on the field hockey team, Lee also helped serve as a go-between for Henninger in his first year coaching.
“She really helped me to gain confidence in my coaching ability and helped make my transition into high school diving a lot easier,” he said.
Meanwhile, Lee has also helped out with some events as a swimmer. This season, she hopes to make more of an impact in that area.
“I started with just diving, but I did do summer swim teams in the past when I was younger,” said Lee. “We also don’t have great numbers for swimming, my swim coach – not the diving coach – convinced me to do a couple of events. I agreed, so I did a couple of events. Last year, I was in every meet in the same two events. I practiced when I could, but because I was also doing diving, I didn’t have time to practice.”
Also a captain of the swim team, Lee knows it is a matter of putting in the extra work for the 100 breaststroke and free relay -- and maybe some others.
She said: “This year, though, I hope to practice more because I want to do better. When the season actually starts, I’ll probably dive and then swim more each day after diving practice.”
Family Business
Lee’s father, John, is a cardiologist. Her mother, Susie, is a nurse practitioner.
While she still is the process of making her college decision, Lee is also eyeing a career in medicine.
How long?
“Ever since I can remember,” said Lee, who also inherited her love of the Dallas Cowboys from her father, who grew up in the South. “Ever since I was little, that was kind of the thing.
“Since I’ve gone through my schooling, I think it really is my thing. I love biology and I love chemistry. It’s all just super interesting to me.
“I always looked up to my parents, so it was what I wanted to do, but now it is what I am interested in.”
Other than not wanting to stay local, Lee is really open to anywhere on the map.
“I am looking at a lot of schools and kind of all over the place,” she said. “I’m looking for places with good research programs. I like a lot of schools with lower faculty-to-student ratios, so I can build relationships with professors and get research opportunities.”
Early Riser
The middle of three children, Lee proudly labels herself as an early riser.
She has to be.
The truth of the matter is that there are barely enough hours in the day for a student-athlete with an AP/honors course load and a weighted GPA close to the 5.0 range.
She is in the National Honor Society and serves as president of the Spanish National Honor Society, and she also spends time tutoring other students.
Although academics always came first, Lee wanted to thank her parents for their support in her athletic endeavors.
“They make everything possible,” said Lee, whose older brother, Ben, played tennis and younger sister, Olivia, is a freshman at Cheltenham and is a serious gymnast.
“They were always supporting and encouraging me in every single sport. They came to almost every single one of my field hockey games. They genuinely enjoy watching me and cheering me on. I always hear my dad in the stands yelling, not only for me, but for all my teammates.
“It’s not even at games, but in my life in general. They are always there supporting me and encouraging me to do the best I can and to be the best person that I can. They are the best support system I can have.”
Lasting Impact
What may have been an experiment for Mitchell, who ran track at Purdue after attending junior college in New Mexico, could now turn in a long-term career in coaching field hockey.
“I’ve learned to love the sport,” said Mitchell, who also played basketball and ran cross-country at Germantown High School in Philadelphia. “It’s a different sport. I enjoy the teamwork on the field. I’m a field hockey fanatic myself.”
She has Lee to thank.
“Even though I only had a couple of months with her, I’m willing to coach for more years now at Cheltenham,” said Mitchell. “That’s all because of this young lady right here.
“She showed the team how to be one. She really showed a great work ethic. It trickled down and spread out throughout the whole team, whether it was varsity or junior varsity.”
Mitchell coached both varsity and JV, so Lee truly was a major source of support.
“She was just paving the way and showing us how it is supposed to be done, whether it was respect on the field or showing sportsmanship or how to do a certain skill set,” said Mitchell. “She wasn’t afraid to correct anybody. She just wanted everybody to give their best and to be at their best.”
And when Mitchell says Lee was almost like an unpaid assistant coach, it is not that far of a stretch.
“I couldn’t help myself,” said Lee. “It’s hard to come in and not know any of the girls. You’re a new coach, and it’s hard to not know the authority you have.
“I just tried to come to practice every day with things in the back of my mind that we could do, like different drills that I knew would work for our team in previous years. I did a lot of setting up drills and also just rallying the girls to stay focused.”
Lee found herself most vocal in the heat of battle.
“I think our team grows the most during games,” said Lee. “We can do drills and drills in practice, but the thing that helped the most was learning during games what worked and how we could correct ourselves against these teams that might have more history in field hockey from doing club (field hockey) their whole lives.
“So, when we play other teams in real games, and we are in those breaks, it is the best time to point out what we’re doing wrong – what’s working, what’s not working, plays we could try to turn the game around.”
The breaks in the action were also a time for Lee to get the team to refocus.
“I believe momentum is a big thing,” she said. “When we get down on ourselves, like when they score or something, it was a big problem for us. I tried, during the breaks, to hype everybody up and to make sure everybody is feeling good.
“Beyond what was working or not, it was about making sure the energy was good.”
As Lee turns her attention toward other sports and then college, where she is likely not to do much more than club sports, she is hoping she helped leave Mitchell and the Cheltenham field hockey program on the right path.
“I really hope so,” said Lee. “We have a lot of seniors leaving. In the beginning of the year, we were trying to create as much interest as possible and post on social media.
“I don’t know if we are leaving behind a lot of numbers, but I do think that the girls we have love the game. I really hope that this year had an effect on them, and that I had an effect on them. I really hope that I impacted them.”
