STM's Jean makes most of attitude mulligan
By: Troy Hayes
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 03:25:40 PM CDT
RANTOUL – Without hesitation, St. Thomas More's Katie Jean will tell you that four years ago she was lousy to play with. Whether it be basketball, volleyball or golf, she not only wore her emo-tions on her sleeve, but then shared them with the closest person.
"I was not a good teammate, that's for sure," she said. "I'd be frustrated with teammates or with myself and I would ... I just had a very poor mental attitude. Finally, Coach (Chris) Mennig sat me down and just said, 'You look like a fool out there. This has to change.' "
Mennig, St. Thomas More's girls' basketball coach, had talked with girls' golf coach Pat Hettermann and decided the chat was necessary.
Photo by: Heather Coit/The News-Gazette
St. Thomas More senior Katie Jean, center, had a large audience when she signed her letter of intent to play golf at Illinois State. Seated at left is her father, Rick. At right is her mother, Sue. Standing, far left, is her twin sister Susie while her high school coach, Pat Hettermann, stands behind Katie and her mother. Among the other spectators are members of the Sabers' state runners-up.
"It wasn't so much the message that she was trying to convey that needed to change, it was the tone of the message," Mennig said. "When that changed, when her teammates saw that she was willing to do anything to help make them better, she was instantly respected.
"I knew she could be a special player for us if she could just harness that emotion. I remember talking with her dad and telling him 'she's a stallion, we just need to rein her in.' "
Not only did the change in attitude help Jean on the basketball court – she was just voted a captain by her teammates – it helped on the golf course, and, probably more importantly, in her everyday life.
"I just had to learn to be more of a selfless person," she said. "It's made a tremendous difference. I'm a better teammate and, I think, a better person because of it."
On the links, Jean has developed into one of the best high school golfers in the state. She showed it with Sangamon Valley Conference and regional titles and a runner-up finish at the IHSA girls' state golf finals, helping the Sabers to a second-place finish as a team and making her The News-Gazette's girls' Golfer of the Year.
Jean focuses on improving her game at every turn. She spends hours at the golf course and dedicated herself to practice in the summer before her senior year in an effort to squeeze everything out of her talent. It's an approach she uses in attacking everything she does.
"She doesn't cut herself any slack in anything she does. She's much more hard on herself than she needs to be," Hettermann said. "But that's what had helped make her such a great person. That's been a lot of fun to watch."
Hettermann, as proud as she is of Jean's accomplishments on the course, will talk all day about her growth as a person.
"Katie spends as much time at practice helping the other girls as she does working on her own game," Hettermann said. "If someone has a question or asks for help, she jumps at the chance to help.
"As a freshman, I could tell you how she was doing from two holes away from her body language. Now, she comes in and whatever her score is she wants to know how everyone else did."
Jean recently signed a letter of intent to play golf at Illinois State University, where she will study actuarial science. She chose the Bloomington-Normal school not because of a chance to play right away but because she likely won't play her freshman season.
"I had offers from Southern Illinois and Bradley and would have probably walked in and played," she said. "But I want to learn from the returning seniors that Illinois State has coming back. There are five of them and to be able to sit back and learn how they handle playing golf at the collegiate level is something I'm looking forward to."
The Katie Jean file
Favorite athlete: Susie Jean
Favorite movie: “Miss Congeniality”
Favorite TV show: “Law and Order: SVU”
Favorite musician: Hootie and the Blowfish
Favorite food: Pasta
Dream job: Actuary
Three people I’d like to have dinner with: my dad Rick Jean, my mom Sue Jean and my twin sister Susie Jean