This has been Jenna Killman’s home away from home, her gateway to fun. It’s a soccer field, a place where she’s among the best who play the game. Since her freshman year at Olympia High School, Killman has been a starter, earning all-league honors.
With her quickness and knack for dribbling, she’s a scoring machine, kicking in four goals in a 5-0 win against Graham Kapowsin earlier this season. She leads the Bears in scoring and assists, helping them to get off to an impressive 6-2 start.
“She’s got great footwork and great vision,” said Tamara Liska, Olympia’s girls soccer coach. “She sees it. And she’s fast on her feet. She’s a completely solid all-around player.”
She’s certainly not a newcomer to soccer. Killman was only three-years-old when she played on her first soccer team, following the lead of her sister, Hannah Killman. Hannah is two years older than her sister and they were teammate Bears and both all-league players.
“I’ve been playing since I was three,” Jenna said with a smile. “My parents put me on a team with my older sister.”
It was a familiar family scene – sisters running up and down the field and mom and dad, Greg and Shawna Killman, on the sidelines, cheering.
“It was fun,” Jenna said.
Eventually, while fun continues to be one of the goals, the objective grew bigger. Killman hopes to earn a college scholarship to play soccer.
“That was definitely a goal,” Killman said. “I’d rather my parents didn’t have to pay for me to go to college.”
Consider it mission accomplished. Last spring in a visit to the University of New Mexico, Killman accepted a scholarship offer to play soccer there.
“I’ve always wanted to be in the highest level of soccer there is,” Killman said. “I feel that college has a lot to offer in Division I. I pretty much did all I could to get there.”
Besides her physical skills – the speed, the quickness and knack for scoring – Killman also has the desire. She plays soccer year around. When she’s not playing for the Bears, she plays for Washington Premier FC, an elite club team.
“I’m super competitive,” Killman said during a recent practice. “And so I play and live for the thrill of the exciting moments and the rewards you get from taking risks. That’s what I really get my adrenaline from.”
But Killman’s desire to be the best she can be on the soccer field, her dream to play soccer in college, never eclipsed the classroom. She never put sports first and homework last. Both were important. As a result, Killman has a 3.8 cumulative grade point average. She’s sharp in the classroom and on the soccer field, a true definition of student-athlete.
“I have to give a huge shout out to my parents because they always keep me in line, making sure I’m doing my homework,” Killman said. “They always make sure I’m doing everything I can to get good grades. And my mom is super organized, so I’ve of got that from her.”
From her dad, Killman got her physical skills. He played quarterback at the University of Idaho.
As a team captain, Killman takes her responsibility of leadership seriously. She’s often a coach on the field, encouraging and reminding her teammates what they need to do.
“She’s a great communicator,” Liska said. “She’s a great leader. She’s a good, positive encourager and communicator.”
This Bears team is a mix of make-it-happen offense and a stingy, steal-the-ball defense. With five shutouts in their first eight games, they’ve outscored their opponents 14-4. Carly Becker, Olympia’s all-league goalkeeper, has been a shot-blocking sensation. Maddie Moen and Olivia Kay cover the middle defensively and Chloe Gentry and Claire Smith are on the outside on defense. Recently, Liska put sophomore Keila Kruse at defensive midfielder.
“That’s been a great addition there,” Liska said.
But while the objective is always to win, it’s not the end goal for Liska. She’s aware of the life lessons sports teach her players.
Before games and during practice, Liska, who is in her first year as head coach at Olympia, talks with her team about things they can control on the field – their attitude and their effort.
“That’s how I felt as a player about life lessons,” Liska said. “You learn to win gracefully and you learn to lose gracefully.”
But there are also things you can’t always control. That’s the outcome. “You can learn to handle that in a positive way or you can be sad and sit back and kind of wallow in your pity and quit,” Liska said.
Quitting, giving up during a game, is not Liska’s philosophy at all.
“I’m definitely ‘the glass is half full’ kind of coach,” Liska said. “That’s what we encourage our girls to do. Also on the field we talk about character – that we’re playing hard and that is what they want to be known for. That’s the direction of this program – to be hard, aggressive players, but to be clean.”
And Liska hopes that the carryover 10 years down the road, the skill her players learn, is perseverance.
“You can respond in a positive way and move forward, or you make a bad choice and not handle it well,” Liska said. “That carries over to your job, your life, your marriage, it’s always a team effort. It’s always how can I help that other person whether it’s on the field or off the field.”
It’s not just the scoreboard that matters for Liska and her Bears.
