Jennifer Keen has stepped down as head coach of the Lady Tiger volleyball team after five years on the job.
“I’m a single mother and my son just started playing tee-ball,” Keen said. “During volleyball season I was missing a lot of valuable time with my son and I knew I couldn’t get those memories back while trying to build our volleyball program.”
“I could either be a successful volleyball coach or a successful mom but not both,” she said.
Keen, a 1993 RHS graduate, came back to Rockdale 11 years ago after coaching at Laredo College and club volleyball to teach English.
“I originally came to Rockdale just to teach,” Keen said. “But about two years later they talked me back into coaching.”
She began as an assistant coach at her alma mater in 2011 and was named head coach in 2014 where she tasked herself with trying to revive the program she was a big part of.
“When I went to Rockdale the program was very dominant,” Keen said. “But when I came back here to coach it wasn’t the same and it’s been an eye-opening experience.”
“I had to teach girls fundamentals and really adapt to get to the point we’re at. This last season, we got to where we could run plays and make switches. I feel like they’re in a really good spot now,” she said. “I just felt like in order for me to really get our program growing I would have to spend a lot of time involved over at the junior high but I didn’t want to miss on raising my son.”
Rockdale made it to the bi-district of the playoffs in 2017 and made it to a play-in game for the final playoff spot this last season.
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