Bringing Back: Jenna Rachels

Does anyone else remember this girl? She was a junior elite gymnast back in 2007 and one of my personal favorites. While her days on the elite scene were short lived, I still think she was a superb gymnast who showed a lot of potential for such a young age. Jenna reminded me a lot of Jordyn Wieber at the time because they had a similar style of gymnastics and they both always wore those adorable hair scrunchies. Maybe that's why I liked her so much? Anyways..

Photo Credit: Heather Maynez

I wanted to talk a little bit about Jenna's career. I'm sure many of you don't know who she is because like I said, her days as an elite gymnast were very short. I believe she never really reached her full potential both at the elite and JO level due to the nagging injuries that ultimately ended her career. It's really unfortunate but nonetheless I think Jenna Rachels had a pretty good run.

Jenna started gymnastics at the age of four at a place called Paris School of Performing Arts. I've never heard of the place but according to Jenna's website (which luckily I was able to find in archives) she trained there until she was a level 8 gymnast. She then moved on to Gwinnett Gymnastics Center and began competing levels 9 and 10. At the age of 11, Jenna was a TOPS participant and also qualified to the HOPES division at the 2006 US Classic. Unfortunately an elbow injury kept her from competing during most of the level 10 season that year. 

In 2007, Jenna moved with her coach to World Extreme Gymnastics Center. She was invited to attend a National Team Training Camp and eventually qualified to compete at the 2007 US Classic where she placed 15th AA. Jenna also competed at the 2007 VISA Championships and placed 23rd AA. She was 12 years old at the time and the only elite gymnast in her state. Even though she didn't place that high at Nationals, I still feel like she showed a lot of potential. I was certainly a fan after her performance!

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Jenna started out the 2008 season by placing 3rd AA and 2nd on bars and floor at the Lady Luck Invitational. She then went on to win bars, floor, and the all around at the Parkette Invitational. In February, Jenna attended another National Team Training Camp and qualified to compete at the US Classic. Her goal was to qualify to Nationals again but unfortunately she injured herself and could not compete. I'm not sure how she injured herself (knee injury?) but it must have been something minor considering that later that year she bounced back with a clean sweep at the Music Invitational. 2008 was a good year for Jenna (small injury aside) because she was beginning to add upgrades and become more consistent. Even though she didn't compete much during the summer (elite season) she still managed to have a pretty decent level 10 season. Her goal of competing in the 2012 London Olympics was still in sight.

                      

Jenna competed periodically in 2009 after having surgery on her knee. I'm assuming this knee injury was what kept her out for the elite part of the season in 2008. She also switched back to Gwinnett Gymnastics Center. In 2010, Jenna placed 2nd on bars and beam at the Spring Break Out. She also placed 2nd on bars at the State Championships and then retired shortly after. Her body couldn't take anymore. I wish Jenna could have stuck around because she would have been a fabulous collegiate gymnast, but as always safety has to come first. She made a smart decision and ended up finding a new passion because of it! Putting her gymnastics background to use, Jenna took up competitive cheerleading. She attended Ola High School and helped the team to a first place finish at the 2012 State Championships!

                        

Jenna graduated from high school in 2013. I'm hoping she decided to continue her passion for cheerleading at the collegiate level. I think that would be a pretty fair trade off.  Best wishes to her!

Photo Credit: Lloyd Smith