UNCG’s Janelle Breneman Continues to Raise the Standard

When UNC Greensboro (UNCG) head coach Janelle Breneman looked out on the field during the Spartans NCAA Regional game against Clemson last year she didn’t recognize her team.

It wasn’t the team who captured the Southern Conference regular season and tournament titles, it wasn’t the team that won the SoCon Tournament title by posting three one-run wins, it wasn’t the team that overcame a four-run deficit against Samford in the SoCon title-clinching game and it wasn’t the team that hit back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to claim the conference tournament title.

“The kids were in a good headspace, and they were prepared. We knew the environment was going to be tough. We even went to Clemson during the regular season to play in a tournament, so we knew the field and we knew the environment,” said Breneman. “I was so stoked about going to Clemson because it wasn’t going to be new for us and I felt like we were in a good place.”

Instead, the Spartans fell behind early against Clemson in a loss and then dropped the second game of the regional to Cal State Fullerton.

“I thought, we are going to get our first regional win. We’re going to do it. Like the stars are lined up,” Breneman said. “But then we just got overwhelmed. Now, giving up six, seven runs in the first inning does not help the mentality, but I want us to fight better if that does happen.”

The team left Clemson, S.C. disappointed, but Breneman left with a burning desire to help her team take the next step in their development.

Breneman took over the reigns in Greensboro in 2013 and has transformed the Spartans into the premiere program in the SoCon. UNCG has reeled off six consecutive regular season titles and made NCAA Tournament appearances in 2018, 2021 and last season.

But one thing has eluded Breneman and UNCG. The program’s first-ever NCAA Tournament victory.

When Breneman returned to campus she developed a plan with two goals. Most importantly, enhance the lives of her players and prepare them for careers after softball and secondly prepare them mentally to not only win an NCAA Tournament game but win a regional.

“I went into my athletic director’s (Brian Mackin) office, and I said, I want to increase my players confidence and their leadership development. And I want them to just be better young ladies. I have some amazing young ladies with incredible potential to succeed in corporate America. We have strong, high-achieving and highly motivated kids I want to meet them where they’re at and then raise them higher through softball and working together, so they are more prepared for life after UNCG.”

She identified three areas of focus for the team – self-confidence, toughness and leadership.

“Don’t get me wrong, we did a lot of great things last season. But a lot of the players were disappointed, and we have higher expectations of ourselves from regionals. But ultimately, I want to develop that young lady.”

“If she’s taking a biology exam, going on a job interview or having an at-bat with the game on the line, I want them to have the capacity to really use as much of their skill set as they can. And I think that is totally through confidence, believing in each other and everybody being in it for each other.”

Breneman needed someone to execute her plan and athletic department sports psychologist Jennifer Farrell made the perfect connection for UNCG softball. The result is the Spartans are working with a mental performance coach this season.

His first meeting with the team took place in August and was met with enthusiasm amongst the players and coaching staff.

“The team was excited. I told them that I have really felt the need to better prepare us and to give us stronger tools in our tool belt,” Breneman said. “With your cooperation, we can really get some things accomplished and talk through some things that are going to make us better people.”

Senior outfielder Jaden Cheek is inspired regarding the potential benefit both individually and as a team.

“For me individually, I think it is very important because I tend to put a lot of unneeded pressure on myself to perform,” she said. “And I think working with him one-on-one, or in a group setting, will help me because I’ve already identified areas that could be contributing to this extra pressure I put on myself.

“And then as a team, it’s beneficial because we all struggle with things individually, but we also know what we struggle with mentally as a team. And being able to identify those areas is huge and being able to work on them with a mental performance coach is even better.”

Student-athletes at every level are under pressure to perform athletically and academically and achieving the balance between the two is crucial for success.

“We have to balance practice and school and find time to study and find time to have a social life. We talked about understanding time management and I think that that’s huge. Thinking about what you put your time into the most. Where are you putting all your time and how do we do this efficiently and try to keep it balanced.”

Cheek sees an already strong team culture at UNCG improving.

“Our team takes pride in our culture, and we have great culture, but being around women all the time is hard. But over the summer I missed every single one of my teammates and was super excited to get the freshmen in here and help them become better players and people.

“Coming to UNCG and learning that you can be on a team where you love every single one of your teammates and you want to play with them and for them. That’s huge. But I really pride ourselves in saying that we have really good team culture.”

Enhancing the lives of the players remains the focus of the UNCG program, but the Spartans also have an eye on the postseason in 2024.

“I want the next step to be we are going to go to regionals to win. And we are going to get wins at a regional. We’re not going to stop at a SoCon championship,” Breneman said. “And we can’t just say anymore that we want to go to postseason. No, we are going to win a regional.”