Jacki Ginnings
If you can’t root for Jacki Ginnings, you might as well just give up now.
This is a young woman who has overcome doctors misdiagnosing her foot injury four times, a move to a new state which ripped her away from her all-star soccer team and the first coach she met on Whidbey Island almost destroying her confidence.
Thankfully, the Coupeville High School sophomore found new, better coaches, a bright future with a new team — the Whidbey Islanders GU17 squad — and a doctor who actually listened and made a proper diagnosis.
Now back on the pitch after missing the school soccer season, Ginnings, who has battled fallen arches and then suffered through treatments that worsened the condition, has remained surprisingly upbeat. And her joy for soccer — still intact.
“I love everything about soccer, from practices to games,” Ginnings said. “My favorite part of soccer, though, is playing with my team. The Islanders are definitely the best team I’ve ever played on. They’re like a second family to me!”
Refreshingly low-key about her talents (“I’m sorry, but I have no idea what my strengths as a player are”), Ginnings, a center defender, is, nonetheless, greatly appreciated by her coaches.
“She is a huge asset to our team,” Sean LeVine said. “She will fill in nicely for the CHS team next fall for the great senior departing center back, Anna Bailey.”
Ginnings first caught the soccer bug in San Diego four years ago. After two seasons of juggling play with a league and at the YMCA, she was selected by a select squad and shined for them before a move to Whidbey pulled her away.
Then came the first setback.
“When I first came here, I tried out for a local team but the coach told me I wasn’t good enough to play on his team, so I went to Sean’s team and have been playing for him ever since,” Ginnings said.”My coaches (LeVine and Scott Rosenkranz) have helped me so much over the past couple years.
“When I was told I wasn’t good enough to play soccer by a coach, I didn’t have much confidence after that,” she added. “But thanks to them, I’m now a pretty confident defender.”
Just when things were getting better, everything almost fell apart. Plagued by swollen, painful feet, she went to see a doctor, and was put in a weighted boot, then a cast, then back in the weighted boot, only to have the problem intensify each time.
Finally, a new doctor diagnosed her with fallen arches and cured most of her problems within a matter of days.
“My foot over-pronates a lot. Over time it was too much for my foot to handle. Fluid got into the bone causing the bone to become swollen,” Ginnings said. “I went to a podiatrist and he told me all I needed to do was wear orthotics. When I got the orthotics my foot started feeling better within a week, and now after a month of physical therapy, there is no pain.”
While she’s thrilled to be back on the field, she is still dealing with losing an entire soccer season. Since it’s her lone sport, the loss was a major one.
“I definitely had a hard time not playing soccer for high school; it’s by far the best part of school,” Ginnings said. “When I found out I wouldn’t be playing with the team, I was very upset, mostly at the doctor for misdiagnosing me four times.”
She channeled her anger into cheering on her teammates, however, and was there with them virtually every step of the way.
“Even though I couldn’t play, I went to almost all the games, and had a lot of fun watching them play,” Ginnings said.
A big fan of biology class (“My favorite teacher is Mrs. Eller, who is funny and super nice”), the movie “Pitch Perfect” (“It makes me laugh no matter how many times I watch it”) and the song “Everybody Talks” by Neon Trees, Ginnings hails her coaches and her mom as a driving force in her life.
“They (LeVine and Rosenkranz) have an endless supply of patience, which makes them even better coaches,” Ginnings said. “They show patience with everything, from a slow day at practice or at a game, to when I was asking every five minutes if I could play soccer yet, but they always told me very patiently, ‘You haven’t even been cleared by a doctor yet.’
“The biggest inspiration has been my mom, Angela Stephan,” she added. “She has been by my side for everything, big and small, from school, having to drive me everywhere for practices and games, and dealing with me when I probably drove her crazy from how annoying I was when I had the cast on and had to rest for a month and do practically nothing, so I just sat around the house all day.”
Coupeville Sports 