Jenna Ries – Club Founder, Director of Recruiting, Club Director

Founder of Champions of Tomorrow, played field hockey for the University of Maryland and pursued her passion for field hockey and lacrosse after college through coaching. She has tenured success in both the Montgomery County Public School system and the Washington Catholic Area Conference. Ries, recognized three times as a Washington Post All-Met selection, is the first person to be named All-Met as both a player (1988) and a coach (2001, 2012). Ries led her teams to 14 division titles, eight Regional Championships, two State Championship Titles and four WCAC Championships. Ries was also an All-County Coach’s Selection for the 2012, 2006, 2001, 1999, 1998 seasons. She also coached Jackals field hockey to their first appearances in the A, B, C and D National Tournament Pools.

Katie Smith

Katie currently coaches JV field hockey and lacrosse at BCC High School. She teaches special education at Bethesda Elementary School and holds an MA in Education. Smith has been a member of the Jackals coaching staff since 2016. Katie played at Catholic University from 2011-2014. During her career at Catholic, Katie was a three-time Landmark Conference Champion, went to the NCAA all four years, and had an elite 8 appearance in 2013. 

She was a four-year varsity starter for the Clarksburg Coyotes. During her time there, she broke the goals (30) and assists (31) records. Smith was a two-year captain and three-time team MVP, also receiving All-County First Team honors and All-Met HM honors in 2010. She was also a member of the Varsity Lacrosse team for the Coyotes.

Katie played for Jackals FH Club from 2005-2011 and yielded multiple National Indoor Tournament (NIT) appearances.

Beira Ho

Beira is currently the assistant field hockey and jv lacrosse coach at St. John’s College High School in DC. She has also been coaching for MC Elite Lacrosse since 2021. Ho served as the assistant varsity field hockey and lacrosse coach at Connelly School of the Holy Child for two seasons.

A four-year starter and three-year captain for the Towson Tigers, Ho picked up CAA All-Conference second team honors in 2019 and CAA all-rookie team honors in 2017. She was also selected to compete in the Young Women’s National Championship in 2019 and finished second in the tournament. Upon graduating with a BS in Psychology with minors in Health Sciences and Business Administration, Beira is pursuing her MS in Integrative Nutrition.

Ho was a four-year starter and three-year captain for Springbrook High School. She picked up First Team All-Met honors junior and senior years as she led the devils to back-to-back regional titles and two state semifinals. Beira also was a member of the lacrosse team and served as a four-year varsity letterwinner, two-year captain, and team MVP. 

Beira played for Jackals from 2013-2017 and yielded three NIT appearances and Pool F Champions at Shooting Star Tournament in 2016. She was selected to play in the National Futures Championships and took home a bronze medal in 2015.

Lena Vandam

Vandam has been a coach for Jackals since 2021. Vandam’s extensive goalie experience includes her time on the U-18 Belgium National team. Vandam had a standout career for Rider University and the Broncs, where she received two-time First Team All-MAAC awards (2017, 2018). Transferring to Towson in 2020, Vandam was tabbed the CAA defensive player of the year, while also making first team all-conference. Vandam also led the league in saves per game and save percentage and finished five games with over a .800 save percentage including a .929 percentage against Drexel (4/18/21). In the 2021 fall season, Vandam led the conference in saves once again and picked up first team all CAA accolades. Vandam holds her B.A. in Philosophy, Information Systems, Film & Media, M.A. in Marketing Intelligence, and P.B.C in Interactive Marketing. 

Anna Bertrand

Bertrand is currently the JV field hockey and lacrosse coach at BCC High School. Bertrand graduated from West Virginia University with a BA in Criminology and was Captain of the club field hockey team. She is currently pursuing an MA in Social Work.

Anna was a four-year varsity starter at Clarksburg High School where she led the team to back-to-back regional championships and state semi-finals in 2017 & 2018. She finished her career picking up First Team All-Met accolades in 2018 and HM in 2017 and First Team All-State accolades in 2017 & 2018. Bertrand’s stellar career ended with setting new records in goals (36) and assists (42). 

Bertrand was also a member of the varsity lacrosse and track teams at Clarksburg. Bertrand was an AAU Jr. Olympian Gold Medalist in 2013. She was selected to play in the National Futures Championships from 2013-2016 and was a gold medalist in 2014. Bertrand played for Jackals from 2008-2018 and yielded five NIT appearances. She also was a U19 Pool F Shooting Star Tournament Champion in 2016. 

Leyla Balimtas

Leyla is currently in her seventh season of coaching the JV field hockey team at Blair High School. Coach Leyla continues to compete and recently brought home a gold medal in the USFHL 2023 National Championship. She also works as a UX Designer for a government consulting firm. 

Coach Leyla was a Senior Captain for the UMD club field hockey team and led her team to a school record National Field Hockey League semi-finalist finish. 

A Howard County native, Coach Leyla led her team to a 3A State Championship and was a senior captain. Leyla also ran track for River Hill and had stellar showings in the 3A State Championships. She played for club, Howard Stampede. 

Dominique Nelson

Dominique began coaching for Jackals in 2023. She played division 1 field hockey at Towson University where she received All-CAA Commissioner’s Honor Roll all semesters. She graduated with her BS in Sports Management and minored in Business Administration. She has been running her own highly successful and quickly expanding beauty company, Allure Beauty Co since 2019. 

A native of New Jersey, Nelson was a four-year varsity starter and team captain at Piscataway High School. She was the 2015 Rookie of the Year, three-time First Team All-Conference selection, two-time NJ.com Greater Middlesex Conference Player of the Year, three-time All-North Jersey Field Hockey team, two-time team MVP, and finished with 51 goals and 21 assists in her career. Nelson was also a member of the Varsity Track team. She played club for the Mid-Jersey Knights and spent one year in the US Futures Program.