Aug. 14, 2009

Contact: Martin Rickman

Jess McCloy is getting used to the idea of being a leader, and why blame her; she has had a lot of practice lately.

The senior soccer captain from Mother of Mercy High School in Cincinnati, Ohio recently attended the Horizon League Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) Leadership Conference, as well as the NCAA Student-Athlete Development Conference May 24-27 at the Walt Disney World Coronado Spring Resort in Orlando, Fla.

At the conferences, she was able to network and talk to SAAC members from all over the country, an experience that she will never forget.

"I knew I wanted to take on a bigger role and that's why I wanted to become SAAC president," McCloy said, "and when I was nominated for the national leadership conference I thought that would be an amazing way to further my leadership and learn more about myself."

"I thought that it would benefit not only my team, but Cleveland State in general. The conference was amazing and something I wish every leader could be a part of."

Leadership is just a part of who McCloy is. Admittedly outspoken, she was a captain on her high school teams and used her personality and her penchant for being vocal to help make her teammates better.

She was selected as the women's soccer SAAC representative and head coach Derrek Falor felt that she was a natural fit to step in as the SAAC president. Her role on that team has definitely had an impact on how McCloy sees the soccer team and on how she perceives leadership in general.

"When you have 600 student-athletes and they're all leaders, you learn so much about different types of leadership and the more quiet leaders," McCloy said. "It was very eye-opening to know where you stand on a team and that there are other leaders on the team who are not as vocal or outgoing and it was nice to be able to learn about different leadership styles and be able to utilize that."

McCloy had an interesting road leading her to Cleveland State. She started her collegiate career at Eastern Kentucky after playing both softball and soccer in high school. After being cut as a walk-on from the Hilltoppers' soccer team, McCloy tore her ACL the next summer. She knew she was going to transfer out of Eastern Kentucky in hopes of playing somewhere else, but she decided to wait--opting to finish rehabbing and start in the spring.

Luckily these things tend to work out. McCloy's brother's wife signed with the Cleveland State softball team two years ago and McCloy looked at the program and thought that maybe she had a shot with the team.

McCloy's high school coach knew Falor. The team was in its infancy and Falor admitted he needed bodies, so taking McCloy off of her coach's recommendation was a no-brainer.

"When she got here mid-year, that particular spring, it wasn't smooth and she hadn't played in awhile," Falor said, "but you could see immediately there was a commitment to this kid; her work ethic was amazing."

"Her desire to leave a lasting impact on every single training session is obvious. We looked and saw she wasn't polished yet, but you could already see she's the type of person you'd take 25 of in a heartbeat."

Her time at Eastern Kentucky strengthened her resolve and gave her motivation to be the best player she could be. Always humble, McCloy realized she was given the opportunity to live her dream of playing Division I soccer and leave a lasting impact on a growing program.

"From the middle to the end of last year, you could see an improvement and definitely this year--she's such a fierce competitor that she won't let this team falter," Falor said. "She's one of those in that she's such a strong leader that everyone pays attention. She gets through to them all.

"That's the kind of leadership we didn't have in the previous five years. She's at a point now, the zenith of her college career, where it is all coming together. I think the thing she'll help us do now is be able to put teams away quickly, at least the ones we are supposed to. She's going to demand excellence from her own teammates to go out and play our game and make that work."

Just as she continued to progress and come into her own, the team did as well. The Vikings have improved year after year and finished last season with an 8-10-1 record, a school record for wins.

The team feels comfortable within their system and they have a drive to succeed, especially coming off the news that they were picked to finish eighth in the Horizon League Preseason Poll.

"At the end of every practice we come in and huddle and the thing we say is `champions.' Success breeds success, so for basketball, men's tennis, swimming and diving, volleyball and softball...there are so many teams that are already doing it at Cleveland State, so why can't we? That's the thing: we can."

McCloy's commitment to success shows in practice, and as the leader of the defense, she has to be as vocal as possible as she seeks to keep the team focused.

But leading by example is just as important as leading vocally, another thing that McCloy learned at the SAAC conferences. That is no problem for a player who blew out a shoe recently in practice and taped it up with electrical tape before running back onto the field.

"One of her best skill sets for us is she is amazing in the air, she's so good with her head," Falor said. "I don't know how she has a brain cell left in her head--but she's good at it and she loves practicing it.

"She'll sit after training and take cross after cross, banging balls off her head. She's the only person I can see doing that repeatedly and isn't dumber for it. That's the way she is."

The team has out of conference games against Marshall, Kent State, Eastern Illinois, Ohio, Niagra, Robert Morris, Miami (Ohio) and IUPUI, as well as a game against McCloy's former school Eastern Kentucky.

All of those games will prepare them for conference play as they hope to better the sixth-place Horizon League finish from last year. McCloy hopes that the team can shoot for double-digit wins.

As is the case with a lot of the Cleveland State teams this season, this year is the year that everything could come together. That is because the programs are led by special players like McCloy who will always pick up their teammates.

"Every day there is a spark here or a nudge there and you couldn't ask for anything more in a leader," Falor said. "I've had a couple in the course of my career like that, but there aren't many, and none of them are like Jess."