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Jen and JC Valore coach like their legendary father, John Valore

Neither sibling would say there is a particular "Valore" coaching style. Style, they said, is mostly on the surface anyway.

Neither sibling would say there is a particular "Valore" coaching style.

Style, they said, is mostly on the surface anyway.

"We have different ways of going about things," Jen Valore said.

And her brother, JC, agreed.

What links them - along with their father, John, one of South Jersey's truly legendary coaches - is something stronger.

It's their foundation. It's why they do what they do.

"It's the core reason as to why we coach and the type of coach that we want to be and the passion that all of us bring," Jen Valore said. "My dad has been coaching for so long because he loves to be able to make a positive impact in the lives of young adults. It's the same reason why my brother coaches, and it's the same reason why I coach."

It's why there is such enthusiasm in Jen Valore's voice when she talks about the upcoming lacrosse season, one that will mark her first year as the head coach of Our Lady of Mercy Academy - more commonly known as OLMA - a program that has won just two games over the last four seasons.

"It's exciting to me because there is so much potential for growth," she said. "It's an opportunity to share my passion for lacrosse and help these players find a love for the game."

In February it was announced that Jen Valore would join OLMA as the school's dean of academics and leadership and head coach of the girls' lacrosse program.

In an irony not lost on either, OLMA is the sister school of St. Augustine, which Valore's brother, JC Valore, has turned into a boys' lacrosse powerhouse since taking over in 2003.

In that sense, the move for Jen Valore is a natural fit - a perfect landing spot since she moved back to the area two years ago. But it's a far cry from her decorated past.

Jen Valore was instrumental in helping turn women's lacrosse at Michigan from a club sport to a sanctioned Division I team in 2011. She has also made coaching stops at Temple and Widener and, two years ago, helped start the girls' program for South Shore Lacrosse, a club program JC Valore founded and has since become a magnet for the area's top boys' lacrosse players.

All of that came after Jen Valore's decorated playing career at James Madison, where she captained a team that advanced to the NCAA Final Four in 2000. And prior to college, she played high school lacrosse for Moorestown, the most successful high school girls' lacrosse program in the nation that is coached by the most decorated high school girls' lacrosse coach in the nation, Deanna Knobloch.

In a sense she has seen almost everything the sport can offer but nothing quite like her current opportunity.

She stressed how close she is with her brother, how coaching has strengthened their bond and how she has leaned on some of his pointers in building a high school program from the ground up.

"If we don't talk every day, it's every other day," she said.

JC Valore said he's happy to both give and receive wisdom from his older sister.

"It's hard to put into words how proud we are as a family that Jen has taken this position," he said.

High-profile support

The two siblings both caught the coaching bug early on from their father, John, who spent 35 years coaching Cherry Hill East boys' basketball before taking the reigns at Camden where, at 72, he recently led the Panthers to their fifth straight South Jersey title.

"I think my sister and I grew up absolutely loving everything about what our father does," JC Valore said. "I remember both of us sitting up at night, waiting in the window for him to come home from games. And as we progressed through life, we both found a fondness for the occupation and for working with student athletes."

Both siblings said their father didn't push them into coaching and that they witnessed the positives and negatives, the long hours and the sacrifice that it takes to do it right.

"But watching my dad is where I picked up my love for sports," Jen Valore said. "It's where I picked up my competitive nature, and it's where I picked up my love for coaching."

Jen Valore said her father is yet another sounding board for her and that she will reach out to him for coaching advice as well.

She's grateful to have such high-profile support from her father to her brother to Knobloch to the other connections she has made across the country.

"Being surrounded by greatness," she said, "is what pushes you to become great."

She is inspired by what her brother has accomplished at St. Augustine. But talking to Jen Valore, there isn't a sense that she's putting the rest of South Jersey on notice, that she's bent on turning OLMA into the girls' version of St. Augustine.

But one thing she is doing - and something her brother did so well with the Hermits - is building a culture, setting that consistent Valore foundation.

"While we want to see more wins, we know if our focus is on creating a message, finding our identity, building a culture, wins will come," Jen Valore said. "It's about making these kids know what their potential is and helping bring out that potential."

cmelchiorre@phillynews.com