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Burlington tabs Real as new head coach

While Jenna Real was shattering records as a Burlington Central girls basketball player in the early 2000s, she never really thought about becoming the Rockets’ head coach one day.

But that day is here for Real, who was announced Monday as the program’s new head coach. She takes over for Stephanie Smith, who stepped down after two seasons to become a graduate assistant at Northern Illinois.

“I’m excited for this opportunity,” said Real, who has spent the last two seasons as Burlington Central’s sophomore coach. “I have a special place in my heart for Burlington Central and I was fortunate to be able to come back as a teacher, but I never thought I’d be able to come back to my school and be the head coach.”

Real graduated from Central in 2003 and set 10 school records before going on to play four years at Loyola University, where she earned a degree in visual communications. The honorary co-captain of the Daily Herald’s 2002-03 all-area team, she scored a school record (boys and girls) 1,647 points, averaging 15.5 points per game in her high school career. She scored a school-record 35 points in a game against Seneca her sophomore year.

“Coach Real brings a lot of playing experience and Rocket Pride to our program,” said BC athletic director Steve Gertz. “She brings a tremendous amount of excitement, motivation and credibility needed to create a winning program. She has been very active in the community working with our summer camps and coaching AAU basketball for Illinois Crossover Basketball Academy.

“Coach Real has been part of great programs and has a plan to bring a winning program to CHS. Central High School is very excited and honored to have such a strong leader as our new head girls basketball coach.”

Real, whose early athletic pursuit was actually in soccer — a sport she was also an all-area player in — said she knew while playing at Loyola she wanted to become a basketball coach.

“When I got into college and saw the way the game develops, it became something I wanted to aspire to,” said Real, the daughter of Ted and Pam Real of Elgin. “Then, as sophomore coach here at Central, I think I realized what I was capable of.”

Real, who teaches art at Central, said Rockets’ fans can expect a high energy game from her teams, one built around basics and fundamentals.

“We’ll push the ball and it will be a team effort,” Real said. “Defensively we’ll understand the basics and stress the fundamentals. We have a lot of returning players and we’ve got some good looking underclassmen coming up and some good talent coming in the next few years.”

The Rockets were 28-28 the past two years under Smith, including 11-17 in 2010-11.