New coach Plummer hopes to return Highlands girls soccer to playoffs

By: HSSN Staff
Sunday, July 1, 2018 | 11:03 PM

Jenna Plummer's first foray into coaching came before she hoped, when a broken ankle sidelined her for her senior soccer season at Penn Hills.

The midfielder found it difficult at times to watch her teammates without contributing on the field, but the experience ultimately provided a future path.

Highlands tabbed Plummer last week as its new girls soccer coach, the Golden Rams' third in the past three seasons after a one-win finish in 2017 followed a WPIAL semifinal appearance in 2016.

“I think it's something that, as a player, is always in the back of your mind,” said Plummer, a 2010 Penn Hills graduate who went on to play soccer at West Virginia Wesleyan. “I feel like coaches are always pretty important in players' lives, especially the relationship that you have with your coach and the impact that coach has had on you. I've been lucky enough to have some pretty memorable coaches and some coaches I've stayed in touch with.”

Plummer said her ankle injury forced her to “open my eyes” and see the game from a different angle, literally. Because she couldn't play, she “turned on the coaching hat” and found a new way to appreciate the game.

After graduating from Wesleyan in 2014, she worked as an assistant at Penn Hills, then at a high school in Indiana after moving there for work. She took some time off from the game when she returned to Pennsylvania to work in the Pirates marketing department, but a new job as the business development and marketing coordinator at Pittsburgh Indoor Sports Arena gave her the opportunity to get back into soccer.

“I think being a player, it's a lot easier to relate to the girls and to kind of maybe explain something,” said Plummer, who fulfilled her dream of playing in college for two seasons before her lingering ankle injury caused her to stop. “I'm a very visual person, so sometimes it's easier to show them than to just tell them. Also, I think being able to be in the drills … I think that's something I take a lot of pride in is being able to connect with them on that level, too.”

Plum girls soccer coach Caitlin Schuchert, who was Plummer's coach at Penn Hills, described her former player as someone with a “really good soccer sense.”

“She saw the game pretty well and knew what to do with the ball before she got it and worked her tail off,” Schuchert said of Plummer, who played defensive midfield for Penn Hills. “She was just a leader and brought everybody together. I think she's going to do the exact same thing as a coach. She's going to bring those girls together.

“She loves the game, and those girls are going to be very lucky to have a coach that's passionate. It's not only going to teach them the game better but foster the love for the game.”

After getting hired in late June, with the start of the season about two months away, Plummer said she planned to meet with the players and their families as soon as possible and set up a conditioning workout schedule.

Also, Plummer said, the preseason is a crucial time for team bonding.

“First and foremost, (it's about) meeting the girls, meeting their families and getting everyone on the same page,” she said. “I know it's not always the easiest thing, having a new coach come, but I definitely want to make the transition as easy as possible.”

After making the WPIAL Class AA semifinals in 2016, Highlands absorbed heavy graduation losses and slipped to 1-13-2 overall and last place in its section last season. Plummer, who replaces Rick Tamburri, hopes to get Highlands back into the postseason chase.

“I think, as a coach, that's always the goal, to make your team as sucessful as possible,” Plummer said. “But also, I think this being an experience and this being fun for the girls is important, too. But me being a competitor and being an athlete, of course I want to see these girls have success like previous seasons.

“… This is a new season, so any success they've had, I'd love to build on that, and anything that people didn't really see as successful, that's in the past to me.”

Doug Gulasy is a Tribune-Review staff writer.

Tags: Highlands