Venturelli coaching at just the age of 16

The basketball coach watched her player turn and head back to defend a fast break, then turned to her assistant and said incredulously, "She was jogging back. Jogging back!"

Typical coach.

Except this head coach isn't exactly typical.

Jessica Venturelli is 16 and starts on the girls basketball team at Bridgewater-Raritan High School. She also coaches the Bridgewater Swish, an eighth-grade team in the Flemington-Raritan Youth Basketball League.

By all accounts, she is doing a very good job. On this day her team won 54-21. Their record is 10-1.

There were far more moments of encouragement by the coach, a girl who seems to know what's she's doing and where she is heading. She wants to play basketball in college and will likely major in psychology. More than anything she wants to be a basketball coach.

Not long after playing CYO in Bridgewater, Venturelli's passion for the game led to her joining the Swish, and then AAU ball, all of which led to her starting varsity her freshman year.

Then disaster struck.

At a college showcase in Philadelphia in October of 2008, she tore her ACL.

"I was devastated," she said.

Said her mother Donna, "She was inconsolable."

The kid sat out her sophomore season, but the experience strengthened her physically, emotionally, and provided a clarity that solidified her love of the game.

"I got to see the game from a completely new perspective being on the bench," she said. "I handle things a lot more mature, and my passion for basketball has just grown from this. I couldn't believe what I was missing out on. I just love basketball so much."

The opportunity to coach came because she would miss her high school season, plus the decision by former Swish coach Bill Brophy to give up the position.

He is now her statistician -- his daughter Sarah plays on the team -- and the assistant coach is her AAU coach Ryan Shellhammer, who, for the past three years has also been an assistant coach at Rutgers Prep.

The Swish play every Sunday into March, and since the season started last month, now practice only once a week.

"I see her growing as a player and a coach," the 23-year-old Shellhammer said. "Her mental toughness on the court is the equivalent to her on the sidelines. She's focused and is like a sponge. Now she's reiterating stuff she's been told her whole life."

Now coach Venturelli is doing the telling.

"When she was asked to coach this team she was thrilled," her mother said. "She's a really hard worker (National Honor Society student as well), and I think she really inspires the kids. She relates to them and I think they all look up her. They all want to play varsity some day."

That includes Sarah Brophy, who up until now has played for nothing but male coaches.

"She's definitely a lot closer to us that all my other coaches. And she's a girl. She gets us," the eighth-grader said. "She knows how close we are and how we can be, so she deals with it better than some of the other coaches when we fool around.

"Previous coaches have taught me simple things, and Jess goes to a more advanced level. She makes it more complicated so we're ready for high school."

Her father laughed when recalling his days coaching Jessica, who, he said, didn't always display the qualities of a team player when she came out for his CYO team.

"She didn't like me and I didn't like her. She didn't play defense and she hogged the ball," he quipped.

If her players do that now, they definitely hear about it. With an incredulous look from their coach.

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