Jenna Walker ( Winebrenner; born March 1, 1999) is an American former professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player who played as a

center back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. She played

college soccer College soccer, called college football in some countries, is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. While it is most widespread in the United States, it is also prominent in Japan, South Kore ...

for the

Notre Dame Fighting Irish The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are the athletic teams that represent the University of Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish participate in 26 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I intercollegiate sports and in the NCAA's Division ...

and the

TCU Horned Frogs The TCU Horned Frogs are the athletic teams that represent Texas Christian University. The 18 varsity teams participate in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA Division I and in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for football, competi ...

, which she helped lead to their first

Big Ten tournament Big Ten Tournament can refer to any Big Ten Conference sport that has a tournament or championship game: * Big Ten Football Championship Game * Big Ten men's basketball tournament * Big Ten women's basketball tournament * Big Ten baseball tournamen ...

title in 2021. She was drafted by hometown club

Kansas City Current The Kansas City Current are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Kansas City, Missouri, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It was founded as an NWSL expansion, expansion team in 2021 NWSL ...

in the fourth round of the

2022 NWSL Draft The 2022 NWSL Draft was the 10th annual meeting of National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchises to select eligible college players. It was held on December 18, 2021, and hosted remotely by CBS Sports. Format * All 12 teams of the National ...

. After two years in Kansas City, including a stint as assistant coach to the Kansas City Comets of the

Major Arena Soccer League The Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) is a professional indoor soccer league in North America. The MASL features teams playing coast-to-coast in the United States and Mexico. The league is the highest level of arena soccer in North America. The le ...

(MASL), she played for Dallas Trinity in the inaugural

USL Super League The USL Super League (USLS), officially known as the Gainbridge Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional women's soccer league and the highest level of the United States soccer league system, alongside the National Women's Socce ...

season before retiring in 2025.

Early life and college career

Walker grew up in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

, the younger of two children born to Eric and Lisa Winebrenner. She began playing soccer at age three. She played high school soccer at

Park Hill High School Park Hill High School is one of two high schools in the Park Hill School District, in Kansas City. The school is located in northern Kansas City, in Platte County. Park Hill's teams are called the Trojans, and its colors are scarlet and white. P ...

, winning three consecutive

Kansas City Suburban Red Conference The Greater Kansas City Suburban Conference (GKCSC) is a high school athletic conference comprising large to mid-size high schools located in the greater Kansas City, Missouri metro area. The conference members are located in Buchanan, Cass, C ...

titles, and also competed in basketball and cross country. She was named second-team all-state in 2014 and 2015 and first-team all-state in 2016 and 2017.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Walker played four seasons for

between 2017 and 2020, joining the starting lineup and playing 18 games as a sophomore. She tore her UCL during her sophomore season and played the rest of the year in a brace before undergoing surgery in the spring. She started all 21 games and scored 2 goals in her junior season. She started all 13 games in her senior season, which was shortened due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

TCU Horned Frogs

Walker transferred to the

in 2021, starting all 24 games in her graduate season and earning first-team All-

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

honors. She helped lead TCU to its first Big 12 tournament title in program history, assisting

Messiah Bright Messiah Da'kahlian Bright (born January 12, 2000) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a forward for the Houston Dash of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Bright played college soccer for the TCU Horned Frogs, for whi ...

's game winner against

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the flagship institution of the five- ...

in the semifinals, and was named the tournament's defensive most valuable player. She assisted the team's first goal of the NCAA tournament and helped the team to the round of 16. While in college, Walker began coaching girls' soccer teams when she was home in Kansas City.

Club career

Kansas City Current

The

selected Walker 41st overall in the fourth round of the

. She was signed to a one-year contract with the option to extend for another year, which was exercised. She made her professional debut on March 18, 2022, playing the full 90 minutes in a 1–1 draw against

Racing Louisville Racing Louisville Football Club is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Louisville, Kentucky, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It began playing in 2021 at Lynn Family Stadium. The team i ...

in the

2022 NWSL Challenge Cup The 2022 NWSL Challenge Cup was a league cup competition that took place during the 2022 National Women's Soccer League season. It was the third iteration of the NWSL Challenge Cup tournament. In the 2022 championship game, the North Carolina C ...

group stage. She remained in the lineup for all but one of the Current's games in the Challenge Cup, helping the team reach the semifinals. She started six of the first seven regular-season games before being left out the eleven after early June. After the Current placed fifth in the regular season, Walker was unused in the playoffs as the team reached the

championship game A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional/provincial/state, national, continental and world championships, and ...

, losing to the

Portland Thorns Portland Thorns FC is an American professional soccer team based in Portland, Oregon, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Established in 2012, the team began play in 2013 in the then-eight-team NWSL, which received supp ...

. Walker made 18 appearances (12 starts) in all competitions in her rookie season. After her rookie season, Walker was hired as an assistant coach by the Kansas City Comets of the

(MASL) on November 22, 2022, becoming the first female coach in MASL history. She knew Comets head coach

Leo Gibson Leo Gibson (born August 9, 1983) is a Liberian footballer who played for and was the former head coach for the Kansas City Comets in the MASL. Career College Gibson was born in Monrovia, Liberia, but came to the United States in 2002, having ...

and assistant coach Stefan Stokic from her youth soccer days. Her duties included analyzing game film and scrimmaging with the men in practice. She said the opportunity to train with the indoor team was "an ideal situation for the offseason". Walker made 14 appearances (7 starts) in all competitions in the 2023 season. On July 22, 2023, starting out of position in

midfield In many sports, midfield is the part of a sports field that is near the line that is equally far from the end lines. That is, in American football it is the part of the field near the 50-yard line; in association football (soccer) and field hoc ...

, Walker recorded her first two professional assists against the

Houston Dash The Houston Dash are an American professional soccer team based in Houston, Texas, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The Dash began play in the 2014 season. The team plays its home games at Shell Energy Stadium. His ...

, setting up the first two goals of Kristen Hamilton's

hat trick A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mechan ...

in a 3–1 victory in the

2023 NWSL Challenge Cup The 2023 NWSL Challenge Cup, known as the 2023 UKG NWSL Challenge Cup for sponsorship reasons, was a league cup competition that took place during the 2023 National Women's Soccer League season. It was the fourth edition of the NWSL Challenge C ...

group stage. After missing the playoffs, the Current did not re-resign Walker to the team.

Dallas Trinity

Walker joined the

North Carolina Courage The North Carolina Courage are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Cary, North Carolina, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It was founded on January 9, 2017, after Stephen Malik acqui ...

as a non-roster invitee in the 2024 preseason and signed with the team as an injury replacement player. On August 1, 2024, she was waived by the Courage and signed Dallas Trinity ahead of the

's inaugural season. She appeared in the starting lineup of Trinity's first-ever game on August 18, which they drew 1–1 against the Tampa Bay Sun. She started 23 regular-season games and one playoff game, helping Dallas place third out of eight teams before losing to the Tampa Bay Sun in the semifinals. Walker announced her retirement from soccer on June 9, 2025.

Personal life

Walker is married to professional lacrosse player Ethan Walker. They got engaged in July 2024. During her playing career, Walker always wore a green

headband A headband or hairband is a clothing accessory worn in the hair or around the forehead, usually to hold hair away from the face or eyes. Headbands generally consist of a loop of elastic material or a horseshoe-shaped piece of flexible plast ...

on the field.

Honors and awards

TCU Horned Frogs * Big 12 Conference tournament:

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

Individual *

Team of the Month: December 2024 *First-team All-Big 12: 2021 *Big 12 Conference tournament defensive most valuable player: 2021

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Jenna Living people 1999 births Soccer players from Kansas City, Missouri American women's soccer players Women's association football defenders Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's soccer players TCU Horned Frogs women's soccer players Kansas City Current draft picks Kansas City Current players National Women's Soccer League players Association football coaches North Carolina Courage players Dallas Trinity FC players USL Super League players 21st-century American sportswomen