_ Article written by Rachel Evensen Photos by Bradley Slade Tags Summer 2017 Leading Alumni Business Management Alumni Magazine Leading Alumni It was coached by a former player, Rockwood, and had seen some promising results. God has sent each of us here with a purpose, a plan, and a specific life to live. I saw the potential.. There are so many times throughout our lives when we have experiences that shake our commitments and cause us to doubt our abilities. An excerpt from this week's episode of True Blue, Dave McCann talks to Jennifer Rockwood and Erica Owens about the expectations coming into next season, and . Soon after, our van was starting to get ready for our second leg of runs when my friend Greg mentioned that maybe I should run a shorter leg that was half the length of what I was supposed to run. Check it out online at speeches.byu.edu. Years ago President JamesE. Faust gave a talk titled The Light in Their Eyes. He recalled a historic meeting in Jerusalem about the new lease for the land on which the BYU Jerusalem Center would be built. National champion I will choose His way The run to Friday's Final Four didn't just start in the NCAA Tournament, or in the 4-1 win over South Carolina in a national quarterfinal. Be honest and frank anyway. In whatever we are involved with here at BYU, we can make a difference. I had to intently search for the light of others to help me find the way and point me in the right direction. Which voices do we let in? The Lake Oswego, Oregon, native was a four-sport athlete in high school playing soccer, softball, basketball and track. U 1995-yilda klub NCAA musobaqasiga qoshilganidan beri maktab tan olgan yagona murabbiy[1]. Structural Info Known for movies Jennifer Welsh Rockwood, 62 Resides in Orem, UT Lived In Provo UT, Pleasant Grove UT, Enumclaw WA, Auburn WA Related To Thomas Rockwood, Stephanie Rockwood, Perry Rockwood, Chase Rockwood Also known as Rockwood Jennifer Includes Address (8) Phone (2) Email (2) See Results Jennifer Jeanne Rockwood, 49 Resides in Dickinson, TX She is the only coach the school recognizes since the club joined NCAA competition in 1995. After Olivia Wade found the back of the net to tie the shootout at 3-3, FSUs Yujie Zhao stood at the line with a simple conclusion: make it and become a national champion, or miss and give the Cougars a chance. As part of my job, I have the opportunity almost every week to tell young people, their coaches, and their parents what an amazing place this is: a university where students can reach their highest potential athletically, academically, socially, and spiritually and where everyone understands that they are not perfect but where they are committed to being their best. Brigham Young University. Even then you can sit on the wall on a warm summer day and think of the things you are still learning in light of the great experience you had. She was also someone who was so good that she had never really been held accountable to some of our athletic standards, such as fitness tests, work rate, and being on timeor even things such as what to wear to soccer clinics and service projects. Which voices can drown out the darkness and fill our minds and souls with the light? All I can do is try and pass on what I have learned.. [The BYU Experience, BYU devotional address, 4November 1997]. [Kent M. Keith, The Paradoxical Commandments (1968), kentmkeith.com/commandments.html; see also Kent M. Keith, The Mother Teresa Connection, kentmkeith.com/mother_teresa.html; Kent M. Keith, The Silent Revolution in the Seventies: Dynamic Leadership in the Student Council (Washington, DC: National Association of Secondary School Principals, 1972), 8]. Conference tournament champion. BYU and Florida State traded goals back and forth, with a few occasional misses sprinkled in. I used to panic in my finance classes when they would be looking to call on someone to do a presentation or share a thought. One summer several years ago we had a young girl attend who was shy but also uncooperative, and she didnt want to participate in the drills or games with her group. Kayla and Cameron have the reins to do a lot of things. And we must be willing to do all the little things in order to reap the bigger rewards. I know that I will not necessarily tell you anything you havent heard before, but I hope that I might remind you of what you have always known and of what can so easily be forgotten in our demanding lives. Obviously, this is one reason why she had gotten off to a rough start. I used to drive the team around in a fifteen-passenger vanjust me and fourteen high school boys. Always give everything your best effort. Succeed anyway. He wants us to feel as if there are different paths. This was her program now. Ive always had a work ethic, and I was always very competitive, she says. I am fifty-four years old, and in all my life I never was interested in watching any sports on TV. I loved it, Bertoch said. 4) and its first-ever No. It was 1995, and Rockwood had just signed a contract to become the inaugural head coach of the newly sanctioned NCAA Division I BYU Womens Soccer programat the highest level of intercollegiate athleticsdespite having no prior Division I experience. But I think for me personally, I was like maybe this is what I am supposed to be doing because it doesnt make sense that we are having all of this success.. This was such a kind gift and note that touched our team and reminded us that we are capable of reaching individuals who we would never have thought of. He hired me as a sixteen-year-old to help work his youth soccer camps throughout the summer, and that opportunity gave me the knowledge and experience I needed to direct the camps here at BYU with the more than 2,500 kids who attend each year. I am sure that we all have worked extremely hard and sacrificed much to be a part of this BYU community. Certain she still wouldnt be able to make the basketball team, she instead took a spot on the club soccer team, which at the time felt to her like a bit of a concession. I was super excited that we could get to do this. But if anyone is up to the challenge, it's Rockwood. As it says in the thirteenth article of faith, If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things (Articles of Faith 1:13). Her dream was to play on the womens basketball team, but she knew reality was unlikely to cooperate. 1 seed in 2012, Advanced to the Sweet 16 sixtimes (1998, 2000, 2003, 2012,2016 and 2019), Advanced to the Elite 8 three times(2003,2012 and 2019), Led BYU to 13regular season and eighttournament conference championships and won conference championships in 16of her 25seasons, Led team to four-straight regular season conference titles twice, once in the MWC from 1999-2002 and in the WCC from 2012-2015, Finished with a winning record in 24of 26seasons, Reached highest national ranking of No. Not only can we choose to surround ourselves with good people, but we are also blessed to have a God who intentionally places certain individuals in our path to provide opportunities and open doors to the future. Some of our competitions were hours away. Prior to becoming head coach at BYU, Rockwood led BYU's highly successful club soccer team for seven years. You can mark this day We must always stay on the lighted path and search for those things that we know to be true. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. View the profiles of people named Jennifer Hill. The girls did a great job, and toward the end of the week she was much more engaged in the training and seemed to be having a lot of fun with her team. [9] In 2021 Rockwood led the Cougars to their first ever College Cup. As members of the Church trying to build the kingdom, we can be assured that we are prime targets. If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies. If we dont continuously search for the light and stayon the path, we can just as easily be led into darkness and off the course. Uh, so how do we do that?. archived form does not constitute a republication of the story. "I have worked pretty much my whole career to get to this point and I am just going to try to enjoy it," she said. After my first run of nearly six miles, I was okay, but it had been really hard and I had gone pretty slow. The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Another important step for Rockwood was surrounding herself with mentors who inspired and believed in her, including womens tennis coach Ann Valentine, who was her supervisor for a time, and womens volleyball coach and womens athletic director Elaine Michaelis. We want to walk in the light. Both a mission and an MBA crossed her mind, but then she was offered a position as a coach and PE teacher for a local college-prep academy called the Waterford School. There is nowhere I can go where the quality of the kids that I work with would be better.. Throughout junior high and high school Rockwood acted as a four-sport athlete, in soccer, basketball, softball, and track. People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs. Rockwood has always had a passion for athletics, but soccer wasnt necessarily her sport of choice growing up. I would like each of you to think about some of the individuals who have helped you get to where you are today. 14 BYU at 4-2 on the season, and 400-116-44 under the long-time head coach. At first I thought, Oh, thats thoughtful of himhes concerned about my foot. But I soon realized that he just didnt want me to slow down the team. Everybody knows more than you do about your job. The three-time West Coast Conference Offensive Player of the Year has plenty of help, though, including ace scorer Cameron Tucker, who's 16 goals and five game-winning goals on the year led to her own first-team All-America nod; and sophomore midfielder Jamie Shepherd, the two-time All-West Regional honoree. Going into a PK is tough because you cant practice those, I mean you can, but you really cant, Rockwood said. After the lease was signed, someone remarked, Oh, we know that you are not going to proselyte, but what are you going to do about the light that is in their eyes? He was referring to the BYU students who would be studying in Israel. Others may have had their radios cranked up, listening to Kiss from a Rose by Seal or Only Wanna Be With You by Hootie and the Blowfish. Our profession is out there for everybody to critique, she says. As the only head coach in program history, Jennifer Rockwood has taken the BYU women's soccer team to national prominence and established herself as one of the premier coaches in Division I soccer today. To many outside of the program, this immediate success may have come as a surprise. During her junior and senior years, she assisted the club soccer team behind the scenes in areas such as scheduling and budgeting, gaining a preliminary sense of the ins and outs of BYU sports administration. It actually came to a point at which I had to make the decision to ask her to leave the team. (Courtesy BYU Photo) President Monson stated: We become examples of the believers by living the gospel of Jesus Christ in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, and in purity. Something most of you know and something I have come to learn over the years is that your mother and father are always your biggest fans. Check it out online at speeches.byu.edu. Would someone who doesnt know you know that you have the light within you? Conference regular season and conference tournament champion [7] Rockwood began to have immediate success. But at the head of it all was coach Rockwood. Love yourself so that you can love others. And they needed one kick to seal it. supports HTML5 video, Estimated read time: 7-8 Yes, life is hard and we are all challenged, and at certain times we are challenged more than at other times. Studied Marriott School of Business at Brigham Young University. Although the initial group of players, coaches, trainers and managers in comparison to todays staff and roster were small to start, the voices that this small group carried were loud and supportive. Jennifer Rockwood is BYU women's soccer, they say. A week or so after the camp, I received a thank-you note from her mom, explaining that this young girl had not wanted to come to camp. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. I didnt necessarily get the best grades, Rockwood says of those tough upper-level classes, but I took pride in working as hard as I possibly could and making it through.. Besides, she points out, despite everything she and her teams have accomplished over the yearsconference championships, tournament appearances, and top-tier rankingssome goals remain unmet. But through the struggles, the fight, the dedication, and the choices, she was able to develop, mature, and grow. Jennifer Rockwood delivered a BYU devotional address titled Drawn to the Light on 15 March 2016. I have a lot of support around me and an amazing staff that has helped me in my job.". We get scared of failure, we fear the unknown, and we are burdened with losses, sickness, and pain. I was young, I was cheap, and I had been here, so I knew a little bit about the soccer community.. Does your life seem too busy at times? He challenged me in every way toget better and always expected success. Head coach Jennifer Rockwood, known for her focused determination on the sideline and for being emotionally defensive of her players, leaned in to anticipate the shot. Drawing a deep breath, the fledgling head coach set to work. BYU head coach Jennifer Rockwood celebrates after the 4-1 Cougar win over South Carolina in the NCAA quarterfinal match at South Field in Provo on Saturday, Nov. 27, 2021. Like Burleigh, Rockwood started the women's soccer program at BYU and is the 11th active Division I coach in wins. Rockwood was offered a basketball scholarship at Ricks College, which she accepted in the fall of 1984, but her one true desire was soccer. Unlike basketball and football, soccer doesnt adhere to a recruiting calendar; Rockwood may be traveling any given weekend to watch prospective athletes. People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. We have more and more forces working against us, and Satan will always give us his best shot. What an amazing opportunity it is to stand before you today. I thought it was unusual, but I opened the package. But noneof these meant anything at the moment. Division regular season champion American Fork's Ellie Walbruch, who helped UCLA win a Women's College Cup national championship last year, joins the show to talk about her decision to transfer home and play for BYU women's soccer, her relationship with longtime head coach Jennifer Rockwood, and the Cougars' first season in the Big 12 Conference. The Cougars have a challenge against Santa Clara, their WCC rivals with a 15-5-2 overall record and the reigning national champions. Each team member runs three different routes, and the whole team runs a total of more than 180 miles. In their winningest season in program history, the Cougars steadily climbed to no. Rockwood started the women's soccer program at BYU and recently picked up her 400th college soccer win as a coach. 2021 Women's College Cup preview, ahead of semifinals, Marriott Center She is the only coach the school recognizes since the club joined NCAA competition in 1995. I was a finance major, and I had no teaching credentials, no education classes, and no real experience. It is even becoming apparent that those who choose to follow the light are often mocked, ridiculed, and looked down upon. And although Iwasnt even aware of it at the time, I was actually a light for others. These were great womenincluding Lu Wallace, Elaine Michealis, and Ann Valentinewho in 1995 took a chance on a young coach who had no real NCAA coaching, recruiting, or managerial experience but who had a dream and a vision of what BYU soccer could someday be. We are in a battle between the light and the darkness each and every day. He wants so badly to help us reach our potential, and He will, if only we will let Him. It's a sport of people, and that's something I always took from her. overrideButtonText= BYU regularly maintains a consistent Top 25 ranking. Point at which I had been here, so how do we do that? olgan yagona [... 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