Rochelle Coleman

Early life

Rochelle 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, work in the Information Technology field. Throughout her childhood Rochelle was given liberty with how she managed her time. Rochelle's parents were always supportive with her decisions as long as she was passionate about the activity. Academics and the willingness to attempt new things were two highly prioritized topics in the Coleman household. Rochelle and her younger sister were expected to maintain high grades in school, as well as try out different clubs such as Band and the Science Club. Rochelle's parents frequently took the two sisters on road trips, museum outings, and weekly visits to the library. These excursions were how Rochelle was exposed to different cultures and ideas.

Middle school

Rochelle attended Benjamin Banneker Middle School in Burtonsville, MD. She was a member of the school band and girls basketball team, all meanwhile maintaining her position as an honor roll student. Rochelle's 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

Beyond middle school Rochelle attended Paint Branch High School, located in Burtonsville, MD, and was a member of the 2001 graduating class. She was a four year Girls Varsity Basketball starter and had an overall successful high school career. In her four years at Paint Branch, the Girls Varsity Basketball team made it to the state tournament three times. In her senior year, she led the team to a State Championship title while receiving numerous accolades. Rochelle 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 she was named as one of the top 15 players in Maryland by USA Today. In addition to these honors, Rochelle graduated as Paint Branch High School's girls all-time leading scorer. This record has only been surpassed by Tarik Hislop in 2009. To top it all off, Rochelle was an honor roll student, a member of both the Marching Band and the school's Orchestra, and she also helped with the Amnesty International Club. Due to her success, Rochelle received a collection of college attention. Syracuse University in particular showed interest by offering Rochelle a full athletic scholarship, which she accepted.

College

Rochelle joined Syracuse University as a member of the 2005 class and graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in History, and a focus on U.S. history. While at Syracuse University Rochelle set multiple records on the Women's Basketball team. Upon graduating, she was Syracuse University's third all-time three point scorer (152), and had the seventh all-time highest three point shooting percentage (32.5%). Rochelle's senior year was ranked third in the Big East during the league games, with 4.69 assists per game. Alongside her teammate Julie McBride, the two stars combined for the most three pointers by any Orangewomen in the school's history (141), and the third most in either the men's or women's basketball history. After graduating from Syracuse University, Rochelle decided to continue studying by attending graduate school at Slippery Rock University. While attending graduate school, Rochelle served as a Graduate Assistant Coach for Slippery Rock University's Women's Basketball team. She graduated in 2006 with a Master's Degree in Sports Management.

Professional Basketball

After graduating from Slippery Rock University, Rochelle also finished up her internship at Five-Star Basketball of Greater Washington, Inc. Upon her graduation the corporation hired her as a full time employee. While employed at Five-Star Basketball Rochelle began to search for possible professional basketball teams she could play on. Eight months went by without any results until a connection landed her with a semi-professional women's basketball team, the Delaware Lady Destroyers. Rochelle played one year on the Delaware Lady Destroyers until she was contracted to play the next season for Celertas-Donar in Groningen, Netherlands. She then played one season with Celertas-Donar.

Coaching career

Rochelle's first official coaching position was at Slippery Rock University, where she served as a Graduate Assistant Coach for the school's women's basketball team. After, 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 and served as the Assistant Coach of a team in the city of Haren. Rochelle's most successful coaching job belongs to the title, Head Coach of Paint Branch High School's Women's Basketball team. In her first year with the squad (2011-2012), Rochelle turned the team around from an unfavorable 7-16 season, to a prosperous 19-6 season. The following year (2012-2013), Rochelle led the team to a fruitful 21-4 season, as well as to receive the following accolades: 4A East Montgomery County Division Champions, and Winners of the Montgomery County Sportsmanship Award. In her third season coaching (2013-2014), Rochelle continued to improve the team's record to 23-3, along with capturing the 4A East Montgomery County Division Championship, 4A North Regional Championship, and Maryland State Semi-Finalists.

RAC Basketball

In May 2008, Rochelle officially started Rochelle Athletic Consulting, LLC: a fitness and basketball training company. In 2011, Rochelle made the decision to change the company's role into solely being a basketball training company. Along with this change came a new name, "RAC Basketball" and a new logo. The company began to focus on approaching 1 on 1 basketball training, camps, and clinics. In 2014, RAC Basketball started operating its first set of basketball clinics in Bethesda, MD.

Philanthropy

In 2012 and 2013, Rochelle and her friend David Lasday worked with the Netanya Hoops for Kids Program in Netanya, Israel, where they helped run and organize basketball clinics. Netanya Hoops for Kids coordinates educational basketball clinics for the Netanya youth. The organization utilizes basketball to teach children life skills such as proper communication, teamwork, and decision making.