THE soaring success of basketball’s Leedham sisters has taken yet another leap.
In the year when GB captain Jo hit the headlines for her exploits in the Olympics, older sister Jennifer continues to make her name in the high profile USA college scene where she has now been chosen to take charge of a top basketball programme, an honour almost unheard of for a Brit.
Jennifer, 26, a former player with Ellesmere Port Panthers, has been appointed head coach of NCAA Division Two’s Franklin Pierce University in New Hampshire, where she and Jo played and studied.
To be put in charge of a college programme in the States, where the athletic department is often a major source of revenue for schools, is a big responsibility rarely entrusted to a coach from the UK.
But the Leedhams from Little Sutton have made big waves in US women’s basketball, with Jennifer’s performances as a player paving the way for Jo to become a record-breaking star and Women’s NBA draft pick.
Now former Ellesmere Port Catholic High School pupil Jennifer has been charged with running the programme in which she played just four years ago.
“I was really honoured and felt a huge responsibility had been handed to me,” she said. “It was a big privilege. Athletic director Bruce Kirsh has given me an opportunity that a lot of people would love to have and I’m really excited.”
Plans were put in place as Jennifer graduated in 2008 with her in degree in sports and recreation management.
She was considering going on to try her hand in professional basketball when Franklin Pierce’s then head coach Steve Hancock offered her an assistant coaching role. He planned to mentor her for four years to take charge of the team, which she did at the end of last season.
“There is added responsibility because it was a four-year process,” said Jennifer. “But here at Franklin Pierce I am surrounded by great people and great players who work hard, buy into what I want to do and have respect for me.
“It was a big decision not to continue playing after college. There’s times I used to look back and think ‘did I make the right decision’ but I think long-term it was such a huge chance to get into something so young it was the right thing to do. It was probably one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made but I made the best decision.
“It helped that my family are so supportive. My parents have given up so much for me and my sisters to do what we want to do that makes it easy.
“I have good support here too. Coach Hancock is still my assistant, the great athletic director is really supportive and I even have my sister Jo around to bounce ideas off.”
Franklin Pierce kicked off their season by beating Nyack and USciences in the St Anselm Tournament in Manchester, New Hampshire. But in their first game of the NCAA Division Two Northeast-10 Conference they fell 63-60 at home to Merrimack and as the Pioneer went to press Leedham was preparing her side to go to Stonehill for Conference game two.
And she admits the job she loves is not something she would have the opportunity to do in the UK.
“I love coaching. Even at home when I played for Ellesmere Port Panthers under Jimmy McGinn, I always coached a boys team on a Monday night.
“I also coached at the Youth Games but never envisioned myself at 26 as head coach of a programme in America.
“There’s no way I could do this at home and make a living coaching a college basketball team. I come to work with a smile on my face. My life is being involved in basketball and I couldn’t ask for anything more.
“I can’t say that I never see myself coming back to live at home but right now I’m content with what I’m doing. Obviously I want to strive for bigger things but right now I’m making the most of where I am.”
