Burkert faces the challenges of life and wrestling without hesitation

Jenna Burkert never let anything affect her confidence when it came to wrestling.
For the 2014 World Team member, adversity big and small was all a part of the game – no matter what form it took.
“I remember picking up a flier in class when I was six-years-old and a boy told me ‘You can’t do that Jenna, you’re a girl.’ And so I said, ‘Yeah? Watch me.’ And I’ve wrestled ever since,” said Burkert.
She was extremely active as a child, constantly searching for new challenges and activities;however, she eventually found a true passion for wrestling as a youth on Long Island in New York.
“I was a pretty average kid-I played a lot of sports, including basketball and lacrosse. I was also in acting and took dance. But it was definitely different being a female wrestler in New York. I originally didn’t get the support that I have now. Once I got better at wrestling though, and once the guys realized that I was there to stay, I got a lot more respect from them,” said Burkert.
When it was apparent she had a knack for the sport, she made the move to attend the United States Olympic Education Center in Marquette, Mich. She left Long Island High School and went to Michigan by herself, entering Marquette High School. At the age of 15, Burkert was faced with one of the most difficult, yet most rewarding challenges of her young life.
“I really didn’t know what to expect, since I had moved at such a young age,” said Burkert. “It was a new school, new state, and new team. Life was totally different in Michigan compared to New York. It was a hard time for me; to be honest, I cried every day for the first year. Going to the Olympic Education Center Program, though, that really took my wrestling to a whole new level. That year, I went on to win the Junior Nationals. That proved to me that my training at the USOEC was changing my wrestling and changing me as a person.”
Her coach at the U.S. Olympic Education Center Program, Shannyn Gillespie, acted as her guide. For being in an unfamiliar place at such a young age, she attributes much of her success to the supportive coaching she received at the USOEC.
“Coach Gillespie was really good to work with then. It was only my teammate, Erin Golston, and I who were both there at only 15-years-old. He did a really great job at kind of tapering us so we could last longer on the mat. He was also very supportive outside of wrestling, checking in on us once a month to see how we were doing and keeping us busy with team bonding. He always made sure we weren’t losing track of our goals or why we were there,” said Burkert.
As her time at the USOEC went on, she proved herself a star on the mat, picking up national titles on many levels. Her 2009 Junior Nationals championship win gave way to her becoming the 2009 and 2010 ASICS Girls High School Wrestler of the Year.
“I think going to Michigan at a young age is why I accomplished so much then. I went from practicing once a day with my high school team to twice a day, every day, all year round with the team in Michigan. There’s a reason why I was two-time wrestler of the year, and why I made a Senior World team. It just made that much of a difference for me, getting myself out of that comfort zone and training harder than I ever had before,“ said Burkert.
With her success came a desire for a higher level of training.
For Burkert, there was no ceiling to what she could accomplish, only to continue to go up from where she was.
“I always knew that I could do better. There’s always going to be something higher that I’ll always want to achieve. I’ve watched my brother, who is autistic, come such a long way in his life and overcome so many obstacles. Wrestling, in comparison to the battles he faces each day is not that big of a deal. So when it came to continuing to wrestle during college, it was a no brainer,” said Burkert.
It wasn’t until she began to compete on the Senior level that she realized just how good of a competitor she was.
“In high school, I was beating people that had huge accolades already. I beat a World silver and bronze medalist from Poland at the Klippan Lady Open when I was about 16 or 17. I never really knew how good I was. It never clicked in my mind. I was making teams and getting all of these awards, but I always just viewed it as stepping-stones. I never focused on the fact that I was actually doing really good for my age. When I look back now, though, I start to realize how I was progressing and succeeding,” said Burkert.
She attributes that real success to her long enrollment in the Olympic Education Center Program, and getting that year-round freestyle wrestling experience that she wouldn’t have gotten had she stayed at her high school in New York.
In 2010, she made the 2010 Youth Olympic Team. Before, wrestling had taken her to places like Japan and Austria; however, Burkert believes her time in Singapore at the Youth Olympic Games set the stage for the rest of her career.
“My experiences all around the world at international tournaments kind of changed my perspective-especially my experience at the Youth Olympic Games in 2010. That was the first big stage I had wrestled on. All of the competitors that I had competed with there are all Junior and Senior World medalists today,” said Burkert.
In 2012, she made the move to become a resident athlete of the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. There, she devotes her time to being both an athlete, as well as a student at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.
“I knew I was an elite athlete, and I knew that going the college route would have been a great idea. There are a lot of great girls wrestling for college teams, and some of those girls were on the Senior World Team last year. But I went the route of the Olympic Training Center because it was kind of all that I knew. I liked training twice a day, whereas in college you can only practice once a day. Here in Colorado Springs, we have the best facilities, the best coaches and sports medicine staff. I just knew that it was where I wanted to be,” said Burkert.
Her time at the OTC has paid off. She made her first Senior World Team in 2014 and competed in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. With that, the desire to continue that path upwards was fueled.
“I feel like making the World Team this past year was the big moment for me, it was the true stepping-stone. It really made me realize that I’m right there with everybody and that I can compete with them. When you train every day, you kind of lose sight of what your goals are and how close you are to them. I had a few injuries last year, and making a World Team seemed incredibly out of reach. Then, all of the sudden, I’m on a World Team. It sparked a fire in me that made me want to get on another World Team, and eventually get a World medal,” said Burkert.
Burkert is looking forward to the upcoming Olympic year, and continues to stay hopeful about her chances of making it to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
“I want to focus on changing my perspective about wrestling throughout 2015. Right now, I’m wrestling for me and me only. Everything I do is because I want to be the best in the world. I’m pretty confident, of course, but I do want to take it just a day at a time. The Olympics are going to come right around the corner, but just taking it slow and steady has put me in a great spot so far,” said Burkert.
Until the Games, she is enjoying a life in and out of the wrestling room. (A few years after this story was published, actually, Jenna ended up meeting the author of this feature face-to-face. The two fell in love, and were inseparable after that fateful day.)*

(They married on October 5th, 2019.)*

Career-wise, she is studying for her undergraduate degree in sociology from UCCS, and her passion lies with counseling. While she is unsure about how long she will be able to wrestle, she believes that she will always want to stay in touch with her experiences as a wrestler while changing people’s lives on and off the mat.
“I’m not sure exactly how long I’ll wrestle. Eventually I want to get my masters degree in school counseling. Obviously I have some pretty big goals I still need to fulfill in wrestling, but I would like to follow through with my love for people and counseling. I do think wrestling will always have a place in my heart, though. I’ll always be around it. I wouldn’t mind coaching in college; I think it would be incredible. Wrestling has given me such a great life, so I want to give back to the sport that helped build me,” said Burkert.

*Edits made in 2019 by the author, now Alexandra Burkert*