PACIFICTOWN-Army import Jenelle Jordan will be playing inspired heading into the semifinals of the Premier Volleyball League Season 3 Reinforced Conference as her family has come over to support her.
Jenelle’s father, Darin and brother Jonah were cheering for the middle blocker as she scored 11 points to help Pacifictown-Army beat BanKo, 25-18, 25-14, 25-20, on Saturday to seal its place in the crossover semifinals.
Her mother, Andrea Hayes-Jordan, a surgeon in chief at North Carolina Children’s Hospital, is also expected to arrive this coming week as Army takes on defending champion Creamline in a best-of-three semis series.
“They’re very supportive of me. It’s not more of a shock to me that they are here. I know they are coming when I told them that I was playing here in the Philippines,” Jenelle said. “It makes me happy. Almost all the places I played they come to see me play.”
Darin was a linebacker of the San Francisco 49ers when they beat San Diego Chargers to rule Super Bowl XXIX in 1994, a year before Jenelle was born.
“Her game is great. I haven't seen her play this well for a long time, she's playing really well, she's playing inspired volleyball,” said Darin, who arrived with his son two days ago.
“She looks good, she's healthy, the team's healthy and they are all playing together, right? So, it's great to see her play and I haven't seen her play in a while.”

The former NFL player caught the attention of the fans as he had the loudest shout at The Arena in San Juan City cheering for his daughter and the Lady Troopers.
“Since she's about eight years of age, I've been behind her and yelling,” Darin said. “It's what I do, I motivate her and try to make her stay focused on what she needs to get done for the team as well, right? Not just for her but the team as well.”
Jenelle, for her part, was not surprised with the energy of her father as Darin has been her loudest supporter since she started playing volleyball.
“The yelling does not faze me at all, he actually toned it down a lot for this game. It’s really nice to hear his voice again in the audience,” she said. “And just have that feeling that he’s there, still supporting, always encouraging all the players not just me. I think it will be a big benefit in the semifinals and the finals.”

Jenelle shared that having an NFL champion father doesn’t add any pressure to her game.
“There’s no added pressure, it’s more of the benefit just because he understands sports so it’s easy to talk to him,” she said. “So if anything it’s a benefit for me because he gives me inside knowledge of how big the games are and how to take care of myself so I can help the team out the best as possible.”
Darin raised Jenelle as a competitor.
“I'm all about, iIf you're going to be in it, you're going to be in it to win it.' Sometimes, I don't play the game just to play the game, I play the game to dominate the game and to win the game,” Darin said. “So, I expect the same thing from her. My competitive spirit is always to go out there and do the best that I can do and to be the best player I can be.”
“My tenacity and the ability to overcome and the ability to make the people around you better. You can be great but it's not about you,” he added. “It's not about her, it's about the team. And as long as her team does well, then she will do well. So you have to serve in order to be served.”
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