Rochelle Coleman
Rochelle Coleman (born May 13, 1983 in Washington D.C.) is an Entrepreneur, Basketball Coach, and a retired member of Celertas Donar Women's Basketball Team. She is currently the owner of the growing basketball company RAC Basketball "Rochelle Athletic Consulting, LLC" and is the Head Coach of Paint Branch High School's Girl's Varsity Basketball Team.
Early life
Coleman was born in Washington, D.C. but moved to Montgomery County, Maryland at the early age of three. Her parents, both from the D.C. district, worked in the Information Technology field. Coleman also has a younger sister. Throughout her childhood she was given freedom in regards to what she did with her time. Her parents supported her decisions, as long as she was passionate AbOUT what she was doing. Academics and trying new things were highly prioritized topics in the household. Coleman and her sister were expected to maintain A's and B's in school, as well as try out different groups and clubs, such as Band and the Science Club. Her parents frequently took her on road trips, museum visits, and weekly trips to the library, which exposed her to different cultures and IDeaS.
Middle school
Coleman attended Benjamin Banneker Middle School in Burtonsville, MD. She was a member of the school band and girls basketball team, all while maintaining her position as an honor roll student. Her athletic career began to blossom while she was in the 8th grade, where she led her school basketball team, coached by Steve Pisarski, to an undefeated season.
High school
Coleman attended Paint Branch High School, located in Burtonsville, MD, and was a member of the 2001 graduating class. She was a four year Varsity starter and had a very successful high school career. In her time at Paint Branch, the Girls Basketball team made it to the State tournament three out of her four years. In her senior year, she led the team to a State Championship title while receiving numerous accolades. She was placed into the First Team All-County for the Montgomery Journal, she was named Player of the Year in the Gazette, she was selected to the Washington Post All-Metropolitan First Team, and was named as one of the top 15 players in Maryland by USA today. On top of that, she graduated as the Paint Branch's girls all-time leading scorer. This record has only been surpassed by Tarik Hislop in 2009. To top it all off Coleman was also an honor roll student, a member of the Marching Band, a member of Orchestra, and she also helped with the Amnesty International Club. Due to her success, she received a lot of college attention. Syracuse University in particular showed interest by offering Coleman a full athletic scholarship, which she accepted.
College
She was a member of the 2005 class at Syracuse University, where she received a Bachelor's Degree in History with The Primary focus on US history. While at Syracuse she continued to set records on the Women's Basketball Team. After graduation she was Syracuse's third all-time three pointer scorer (152) and had the seventh all-time highest three point shooting percentage (32.5%). Her senior year was also ranked third in the Big East during the league games, with 4.69 assists per game. With her teammate Julie McBride by her side, they combined for the most three pointers by any Orangewoman in school history (141), and third most in either the Men's or Women's basketball history. After graduating from Syracuse, Coleman decided to continue studying by attending graduate school at Slippery Rock University. In her time at Slippery Rock she was a graduate assistant coach for the Women's Basketball Team. She graduated in 2006 with a Masters Degree in Sports Management.
Professional career
Professional Basketball
When Coleman graduated from Slippery Rock, she also finished up her internship at Five-Star Basketball of Greater Washington, Inc. After her graduation the company hired her as a full time employee. While employed at Five-Star Basketball she began to search for possible teams to play on. Eight months went by without any results until a connection took her to a semi-professional women's basketball team named the Delaware Lady Destroyers. Coleman played one year on the team. Coleman was then contracted to play the next season for Celertas-Donar in Groningen, Netherlands. She played one season with Celertas-Donar.
Coaching career
Coleman's first official coaching position was at Slippery Rock University where she served as a graduate assistant coach for the women's basketball team. After that she worked for Five-Star Basketball of Greater Washington, Inc. and the Five Star Foundation for a year. The following year, while overseas in Netherlands, she coached a U-12 girls team in the Celertas-Donar organization as well as being the assistant coach of a team in the city of Haren. Her most successful coaching job was being the head coach of Paint Branch High School's Women's Basketball Team. In her first year there (2011-2012), she turned the team around from a 7-16 season, to having a 19-6. The following year (2012-2013) she led the team to a 21-4 season, as well as being the 4A East Montgomery County Division Champions and Winners of the Montgomery County Sportsmanship Award. In her third season coaching (2013-2014), she improved the team to a 23-3 record along with becoming the 4A East Montgomery County Division Champions, 4A North Regional Champions, and Maryland State Semi-Finalists.
RAC Basketball
In May 2008 she officially started Rochelle Athletic Consulting, LLC: a fitness training and basketball training company. In 2011 Coleman made the decision to change the company's role into only a basketball training company. With the name changed to RAC Basketball, as well as a new logo, the company began to focus on one on one basketball training through camps and clinics. In 2014 RAC Basketball started operating its first set of basketball clinics in Bethesda, MD.
Philanthropy
In 2012 and 2013, Coleman and her friend David Lasday worked with the Netanya Hoops for Kids Program in Netanya, Israel, where they helped with the basketball clinics that were being held. Netanya Hoops for Kids runs Educational Basketball clinics for Netanya youth that utilize basketball to teach life skills such as communication, teamwork, and decision making.