EMAIL THIS PAGE

Jennings Returns to U.S Women's National Team as Coach
AU coach will again serve as an assistant with squad

November 18, 2002

AU Field Hockey coach Steve Jennings will serve as an assistant coach with the U.S. Women's Field Hockey National Team in Perth, Australia as it takes on the best in the World Cup.

WASHINGTON – American University Head Coach Steve Jennings will once again have the opportunity to coach the finest female field hockey players in the nation since being named an assistant coach of the U.S. Women’s National Team that’s heading to Perth, Australia for the 10th Federation Internationale de Hockey (FIH) World Cup.

Jennings, whose AU squad qualified for the Patriot League Tournament for the second year in a row in 2002, will help coach the U.S. squad that earned a spot among the top 16 programs in the world with a win over India in England in June of 2002. The tournament, which runs from Nov. 24 through Dec. 9, will send the top six teams to next year’s Champions Trophy.

Joining head coach Tracey Belbin, a 1988 Australian gold medalist, and assistant coach Tess Ellis, Jennings will primarily focus on practice prepping, video analysis, substitution management and lineup decisions.

“It’s an opportunity to work with the best players that we have,” said Jennings. “Our team will play in front of packed stands in the second biggest tournament. It’s a really big honor.”

The U.S. earned a bronze medal in 1994 - its highest finish - and took eighth in 1998. The No. 11 seeded Americans are in Pool B and will face two-time defending champion Australia in their first match on Nov. 24.

Jennings was named to the U.S. Women's National Team coaching staff a year ago September after traveling to Germany with the team in July 2001 as an assistant coach. He was with the National Team in January when it competed in the Champions Challenge in South Africa.

A Bethesda, Md. native, Jennings first began playing field hockey in an area league while in high school. No stranger to international competition, Jennings represented his country as a member of U.S. Men's Field Hockey National Team at the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta where he served as vice-captain and logged the most playing time on the team.

He was a member of the U.S. Men’s National Team from 1991 to 1999, and participated in 91 international test matches. A bronze medalist in the 1995 and 1999 Pan-American Games, he also participated in eight U.S. Olympic Festivals and won three gold and two silver medals. Jennings later moved to Europe to play in the Dutch First Division Field Hockey League as the first U.S. athlete to compete in the highest Dutch division.

After the stint in Europe, Jennings returned to the U.S. and began his coaching career at American University in 1993. He acted as assistant coach for the Eagles until 1996 when he took an assistant coaching position at the Ohio State University.

He returned to American in 1999 as head coach and currently holds a 34-34 career record. Under Jennings, the Eagles have earned two straight berths into the Patriot League Championships.

American University, which fields a 19-sport NCAA Division I athletics program featuring 10 women’s sports and nine for men, recently completed its inaugural year of membership in the Patriot League. The University had an extremely successful year to date on respective fields of play, capturing league championships in men's cross country, women's cross country, men’s soccer, women's soccer, women’s volleyball, men’s tennis and women’s tennis, and regular-season titles in men’s basketball and women’s lacrosse.

Chartered by an Act of Congress in 1893, American University features students from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and more than 160 nations worldwide.