Mandy Ronay

Growing up in the Northern VA area, sports became my passion at a very young age.  The opportunities were endless and having an older brother that played numerous sports was also helpful.  I actually started playing soccer first at age 5, and then picked up the basketball around age 7.  As far as I can remember, I was always playing one or the other….most of the time both in the same day! 

My high school years proved to be quite busy being a two sport athlete and trying to excel at them both.  I was grateful to my coaches in both basketball and soccer who believed in me and took a risk on me at a very young age!  After winning the state championship in soccer my sophomore year, I knew that it was time to consider focusing on one sport.  My AAU and high school basketball coaches, as well as my parents,  encouraged me to pick which sport I wanted to play in college…. it wasn't until then I realized the awful reality of having to choose one sport over the other.  Although I was better at soccer, I chose basketball because that was my true passion. 

The two years that followed provided some of the best sports memories I have to date.  Our high school basketball team won two consecutive state championships my junior and senior years and I began the process of being recruited as a Division 1 collegiate athlete.  That was an endless learning and growing experience in figuring out what I wanted to do at the next level.  I was extremely blessed with gifted coaches and wonderful mentors that helped me through this process of choosing where to go to college.  I had played for the Vogues since age nine and I owe an incredible amount to the coaches that volunteered their time to help me become a better basketball player and person during those years.  In fact, it was during those years that I knew someday I would coach, that someday I would make a difference in a young athlete’s life for the better as so many coaches had done for me.

I chose to attend West Virginia University and earned a full scholarship to play basketball in the Big East Conference!  Wow, what an eye opener that was!  I chose WVU because of the coaches, not something I would advise young people to do today.  The coaching staff ended up leaving after my first year to take a job at South Carolina.  That had been the biggest blow since I started playing sports.  It felt like I had to start all over again in a new system with new people, not something I had anticipated going into my playing career at WVU.  Needless to say, those four years presented many challenges both mentally and physically, including playing many of the top ranked teams in the nation in front of sold out crowds night in and night out….but what an incredible experience as a young person! 

Upon graduation, I knew I wanted to get into coaching.  I was fortunate enough to get hired by one of my former coaches from West Virginia.  I began working for her at The College of William and Mary.  I got into college coaching because I had a passion for teaching young kids at a high level that really wanted to get better.  I began recruiting and teaching some of the top athletes in the country and was incredibly lucky to meet some of the most driven, dedicated and genuine young women in the world.  William and Mary was a great experience for me and I learned a lot in a short time.  After three years at W&M, I decided to take a leap back into the Big East and became an assistant coach at Syracuse University.  After two years at Syracuse, I realized that I really wanted to make more of an impact on young players.  I wanted to reach them at a younger age and positively influence them as so many coaches had done for me.  I felt like I now had the experience and knowledge that could help them in many different ways to prepare them for high school as well as college.  It was a no brainer to come back to the Northern Virginia area to give back to the community that gave so much to me.  It is a pleasure to go “work” every day… sometimes it feels like a dream, but it’s always a pleasure.

                                            Mandy