#TeamUSATuesday: Women's Freestyle National Team member Jenna Burkert

Photo of Jenna Burkert after claiming the 2019 World Team spot at Final X: Rutgers courtesy of Tony Rotundo/Wrestlers are Warriors

Jenna Burkert is the current women’s freestyle World Team member at 57 kg. She is a three-time Senior World Team member, a three-time Junior World Team member and a 2010 Youth Olympic Games participant. Jenna recently took some time to answer some of our questions.

What is your favorite movie?
The Hunger Games Trilogy.

Who is your favorite musical artist?
Halsey

What is your favorite food?
My wife’s Thanksgiving dinner, she does a killer turkey. Normally, I don’t really like turkey. It’s usually dried out, and it’s not my favorite. This year it was the typical spread with sweet potatoes and things like that, but the turkey was off the chain.

What is your favorite sport to watch other than wrestling?
Figure skating

Did you play any other sports growing up?
I pretty much did them all. I played basketball and I was big into lacrosse because I’m from New York. I did soccer too.

Who is your favorite wrestler to watch either past or present?
I loved watching Patricia Miranda. I’d have to go with her. She’s tough as nails.

What are some of your other hobbies off of the mat?
We go hiking every weekend, so we’re really outdoorsy. We have a home gym, and if I’m not wrestling, I love doing some kind of cross training and just being active. We take the dogs to the dog park, that kind of stuff.

How many dogs do you have?
We have three. It’s a full house. My oldest is Meela Rose, she’s a Pekingese. Then I’ve got Nora; she’s a Newfoundland, Great Pyrenees mix. The youngest is Conor. He’s named after “The Notorious”, and he’s a Boston Terrier.

What is your biggest fear?
I’ve seen this question before, and I’ve always wondered what I’d say. It’s funny, right off the bat when you think of it, my biggest fear is complacency. I don’t want to be complacent in life. But yesterday actually, Alex (Jenna’s wife) and I got offered to be on Ellen DeGeneres’s Game of Games show, and I was like nope, that’s my biggest fear. I do not want to be on a game show in front of other people.

So we shouldn’t expect to see you on the show then?
No, I don’t think so. I told them I have a pretty busy schedule coming up.

Do you have any plans once your wrestling career is over?
Over the last few years my life has changed in a lot of different ways. I’m currently an active duty soldier. I’m really passionate about what I do, and I love leading soldiers and getting to groom the next generation of soldiers. I think I’m going to stick around in the military for a while.

What is your rank currently?
I am a sergeant and my MOS is a 92Yankee, which is a unit supply specialist.

How did you first get involved in wrestling?
I was six years old, in first grade, and there was a flyer being passed out. I grabbed one, and this kid ripped it out of my hands. He told me I couldn’t do it because I was a girl. I fired back at him, “Oh yeah? Watch me,” I then had to go and beg my parents, and I’ve been doing it ever since. I think a big part of why I like wrestling, even though no one in my family wrestled, is because my brother is autistic. That’s a big reason why I gravitated towards it. My brother and I, we didn’t play board games or basketball or things like that together, but we always wrestled around. I’ve been doing that since I was born with him. That’s why I think I gravitated towards wrestling.

What was the best advice you’ve received in your career?
There’s been all types of influential people in my career that have told me a lot of stuff, like they believe in me and things like that. A few years ago, Jermaine Hodge, who coaches the women’s team at WCAP told me something. I was really stressed out before a competition. It was a really important one. He just looked at me and said, “You don’t have to carry the stress alone. I’ll carry the stress for you.” That’s been the best piece of advice because it really made me feel like I’m not alone in this world. Even though it’s an individual sport, I can tell my wife how I’m feeling. I can tell my coach maybe I’m nervous. That kind of opened the doors for being able to embrace that vulnerability, and I think that’s really helped me in my wrestling career.

What advice would you give to a younger wrestler?
Just have fun. Really try to simplify it with that Penn State kind of mentality. Those dudes are out there having a ton of fun. Stick with it; never be complacent. That’s a huge thing in my career. There’s always someone better than you. Even if you win the dang tournament, there’s always someone working to get better. Never be complacent; there’s always room to grow. Be humble in that mentality. There’s always something you can do.

Do you have any pre-match rituals?
Not really. I’m never usually too overly amped. I’m pretty relaxed. I just always tell myself to be grateful and have fun.

What’s your favorite place you’ve visited through wrestling?
I think Singapore during the 2010 Youth Olympics. The people there are super kind. The village was amazing. Everything was just outstanding. The people there were very generous to my family and I, which was very helpful. It’s the Youth Olympic Games so it was done up like the actual Olympics, so it was a very cool experience.

What are the biggest differences that you see in women’s wrestling now versus when you started?
It’s everywhere, and it’s a lot more accepted now, which is awesome. I remember when I would walk into the gym and I’d be the only girl for years. I didn’t even know that girl’s wrestling even existed. I really like the way the women’s wrestling community has grown and stuck together. We do a lot as athletes to try to grow the sport, and I think that’s super empowering. I think in the past, female wrestlers did what they did on the mat, and they were amazingly talented. Then they’d get out of the sport. I think you see a lot more females doing interviews, doing podcasts, doing clinics, giving back, and I think that’s why you can see the success of women’s wrestling… You have to give back to the sport that built you.

During the Olympic year, the number of weight classes shrink and the competition increases. This year, you have 2016 Olympic champion Helen Maroulis and two-time World finalist Ali Ragan coming into your weight class. What does the influx of competition do for you as a competitor?
I think it just pumps me up honestly. It shows the depth of women’s wrestling. Sometimes I think people think women’s wrestling lacks depth. I think 57 kilos is a clear opportunity to see the depth in our sport. I would be dissatisfied making an Olympic team if I didn’t really have to earn it and have people challenge me. To dethrone some of those people and have the opportunity to wrestle the best, then I know when I go to Tokyo for the Olympics I’m ready because I wrestled the best. Not just the best in the U.S. but the best in the world.

What is your best wrestling memory to date?
I think Final X at Rutgers was an amazing experience. Being in the East Coast and being from New York, I had a lot of people there rooting me on. Then all of us made the World Team from WCAP that day, so that was phenomenal. When Ellis (Coleman) and Max (Nowry) were up before me winning their matches, at that point you have nothing to do but to win because you’re not going to be the one that’s going to lose. The excitement with our coaching staff and my family and my wife was unmatched. It was a really cool experience.

The Burkert File
Birthday: May 9, 1993
Hometown: Rocky Point, N.Y
High school: Marquette (Michigan)
College: Northern Michigan, UCCS
Residence: Colorado Springs
Club: Army WCAP
Twitter: @TheJokerJB
Instagram: @thejokerjb_
• Three-time World Team member (2014, 2018 and 2019)
• 2019 Final X champion
• 2018 Final X runner-up
• Two-time World Team Trials Challenge Tournament champion (2018, 2019)
• Three-time U.S. Open runner-up  (2014, 2015, 2019)
• 2019 Pan American Games silver medalist