Fancy Footwork: Jenna VanHolland Kickstarts Blue Dragon Football & Soccer

by Katy Been

It’s a scene that plays outside most South Dakota high schools every fall: as the late afternoon sun turns autumnal gold over the grass and turf of practice fields, coaches whistle and shout to football and soccer players running drills and practice games.

At one such Friday practice in Garretson earlier this fall, head football coach Chris Long and his players were in a bit of a pickle. With only a week before their first game, the Blue Dragons were on the turf working their Points After Touchdown, or PAT. They needed to make some decisions about their kicker. “We’d had some guys kick in practice a little bit, and they looked like they could maybe do it, but we knew we had to make some changes because one of our kickers was our holder and another was our possible snapper,” says Long. “So, we went to PAT and we failed miserably. We just couldn’t get the ball through.”

Meanwhile, on the grass field nearby, head girls soccer coach Amber Williamson and her team were practicing when the time had come for the two teams to switch fields. “Coach Long, as we’re passing between the two sports, says, ‘Hey, we’re struggling to find a consistent kicker,” says Williamson. “‘Do you have anyone on the soccer team who could kick a field goal?’ And I said, ‘Well, we’ve got quite a few who could try for you. That’s what we do!’” Long had seen the soccer players kick before during homecoming at the powderpuff football game. “Those girls end up kicking PATs,” says Long. “I asked and I was mostly joking, but halfinterested. And Coach Williamson said, ‘Well, I’ve got some girls who’ve got really strong legs.’”

Four soccer players gave it a try, kicking off the tee. “A couple of the girls did a nice job, Jenna (VanHolland) being one of them,” says Long. Next Long ran the whole play. “We upped the ante with snap, place, hold. They struggled for the first two or three kicks, but Jenna, literally after the second or third time, got her timing down, her footwork down. She made everything. She kicked and we got it done. I said, ‘I know this is quick to make a decision, but I’m interested if you’re interested.’”

Jenna, a junior, was. “Right away, she was like, ‘I want to do it,’” says Williamson. “She’s a go-getter, both on the soccer field and a football field. She just right away bounced right in.”

VanHolland conferred with her parents. Jenna has played soccer since she was four-years old and her mother had concerns. “My dad (Travis) was all for it,” says VanHolland. “And my mom (Angela) was like, ‘What if you get hurt for soccer?’ She was a little hesitant. She called both of my coaches and was like, ‘Are you sure this is the right thing to do?’ She reached out to a ton of her friends and was like, ‘Should I let my daughter do this?’ But she ended up being okay with it. She probably saw that first game, too, and was like, ‘Okay, this is....’”

Angela VanHolland actually didn’t see that first game – at least not her daughter’s kick. Feeling a little too nervous, Angela went behind the bleachers and listened for the crowd’s reaction.

Jenna was nervous too, but support poured in before her debut in a game a mere five practice days after she signed on. “I don’t know how many family members reached out to me and told me, ‘I got your back,’ and, ‘You’re going to do great,’” says Jenna. “I have so much support from all my family and friends. So thankful for all that. And every time I step out on the field, I have eight head taps. I can count them. Some of them are harder than others. Some of them I maybe close my eyes, but I’ve eight head taps on the way in and on the way out, regardless if I make it or not. I couldn’t do it without all of them. You know what I mean? I can’t kick without those points first, so couldn’t do it without them.”

Coach Long addressed the nerves and unknowns in the pregame. “Before the game, we sat as a group and I said, ‘we’re really happy to have you guys here,’” says Long. “And I talked about some of the heroes I had on this team. There’s some guys that really did a lot of good things in the off-season. They’re my heroes. And I said Jenna being here when it’s really a nowin situation for her. I mean, she’s putting herself out there in front of everybody, and if she doesn’t make it, people expect that.”

As luck would have it, the game went into overtime. “It transpired that we had the chance to kick the game-winning PAT,” says Long. “We sent her out there. A great snap, a great hold. And then she absolutely drilled that one.” Jenna’s kick won Garretson the game 43-42.

Mom Angela knew it went well when she heard the crowd roar from her spot behind the bleachers. Jenna remembers the before and the after. “My head was totally blank,” says Jenna. “I just remember trying to not to think about it because if I think about it, I knew it was not going to go well. I just remember walking out in the field, and all the boys were really supportive and then ran out after I kicked it. Everybody was jumping up in the air and was all over me in this huge huddle. And I got so many hugs from all the guys and it was the best.”

Coach Williamson says Jenna is the full package. “On the field, Jenna is a tremendous competitor. She plays usually a full 80-minute game for us. She’s fiery. She is aggressive. Any ball in the air, she’s going to do everything she can to get there. Off the field, she is quiet. Cool, calm, and collected. But she’s a great student, a great student athlete. She’s just kind to others. I mean, she’s just a great all-around kid.”

“I think at a young age soccer taught me what hard work meant,” says Jenna. “I just always enjoyed having a place that I could work hard in and soccer taught me that. I mean, that’s my place. I never even thought that was an option to play on the football team, not going to lie. It kind of felt like a joke at first and it kind of ended up working out. It was crazy. I’m not going to lie. Going to the first football game with a bunch of boys is eye opening. And ever since the first game it’s consistently gotten better.”

SDPB’s Nate Wek contributed to this story.

State Football Championships are live November 11-13 on SDPB1 and SD.net.