Spending five years playing collegiately after a prolific Park Hill career, Jenna Winebrenner is leaving a legacy in the professional field and in her home city, being a defender for the Kansas City Current and an assistant coach for the Kansas City Comets.
The Current – who play in the National Women’s Soccer League – drafted the 2017 Park Hill graduate with the 41st overall pick in the fourth round back on December 18, 2021. In the aftermath of an impressive rookie campaign, Winebrenner added to her soccer resume by joining the coaching staff of the Comets, which is a men’s team in the Major Arena Soccer League.
“Growing up in Kansas City, that helps me a little bit; I have a lot of connections, I’ve been around the Comets for awhile,” Winebrenner said. “I know Leo (Gibson) and Stefan (Stokic), so I just took a text and said, ‘are you looking for anything, I want to work and be around the guys and learn,’ and it just happened to work out.”
Gibson is the head coach and Stokic is an assistant coach for the Comets, and they go way back with Winebrenner. Stokic has known her longer and coached the defender around a decade ago.
“A long time ago, she was part of the youth club I coached so it’s awesome having her around,” Stokic said. “For me, it’s been more about seeing her grow into the player that she is right now, so it’s kind of more satisfying to me than anything else.”
While double dipping into two different soccer leagues right out of college is impressive enough, that’s not the most notable history that Winebrenner is making. When she signed with the Comets, she became the first ever female coach in the Major Arena Soccer League although she wasn’t aware that no other women had reached that feat before.
“I had no idea that was going to be part of my title. I think for me, I’ve had women pave the way before me, so I assumed someone was not in that position already. I’m happy and grateful that I can pave the way for girls behind me,” Winebrenner said.
In her rookie season with the Current, the defender played in 11 games and started six, tallying 534 total minutes, 31 clearances and nine interceptions. Winebrenner now has multiple duties with the Comets, including stepping in during practices and competing with the players.
Former Park Hill girls’ soccer defender Jenna Winebrenner has returned to her home city to play for the Kansas City Current and coach for the Kansas City Comets.
“One of the things that makes Jenna special is that she’s a hard worker, she’s very determined and has great work ethic. She has the experience that she’s played with everybody else, so for us, it’s the hard work that she puts into her career that I think she can put into this as well,” Stokic said.
The Current have exercised Winebrenner’s contract so she will be playing at least one more year in Kansas City. While the Current has the top priority for the soccer star, she is enjoying her time on the Comets’ staff.
“We’re kind of learning as it goes, we’re in the offseason right now with the Current, so I will still be playing next season. I kind of do behind the scenes things for the Comets, so don’t necessarily need to be on-site all the time but I’m glad to be here when I can, especially in the offseason,” Winebrenner said.
Back in her high school days, the Park Hill alum was named the 2014 and 2015 Conference Defender of the Year and 2016 Player of the Year, along with being a two-time Second Team All-State and 2016 First Team All-State player. Winebrenner helped lead Park Hill to a 65-81-25-5 record, including three consecutive district titles and three Kansas City Suburban Red Conference Titles.
“Growing up playing, the dream was to play professionally so to have teams in the city that you grew up with representing the clubs that you are a part of is a big deal. I want to give back to the community that gave back to me and there’s so many good people here who helped me a lot to get to where I am, so I’m just excited to still be a part of it and come back after five years away from Kansas City since I was in college,” Winebrenner said.
Spending four years at Notre Dame, Winebrenner progressively became more involved with the team as she started the final 16 games of her sophomore season and the remaining 34 games in her junior and senior years. The Fighting Irish posted 22 shutouts in her career and the Park Hill alum was on the All-ACC Academic Team after her senior season concluded.
In her fifth year in college, she transferred to Texas Christian University and was one of seven players to start all 24 games. Leading the team with 2,092 minutes played, she had three assists on the year – all of which were for game-winning goals – and played every minute of the Horned Frogs’ run to the Big 12 Tournament Title.
“I was pushed in a lot of different ways in college as a leader on the field and pushed outside my comfort zone which helps me, especially here being with guys. It’s a little bit outside of my comfort zone, but they’ve welcomed me with open arms and I’m grateful to be here every day,” Winebrenner said.