Davis, right, vs. fighter from England

Local Taekwondo instructor and recent Taekwondo world champion Jenna Davis has come a long way from a career-ending injury, and it was no easy task.

In July, the Murfreesboro resident won a gold medal for middleweight continuous fighting at the 2018 Taekwondo International World Championships in Birmingham, England, but Davis began her sports career playing soccer.

“My original goal was to hopefully one day play for the women’s national team in soccer,” Davis said.

Davis said that she would often play on men’s soccer teams in her off-season in high school. During her senior year at Jamaica High School in Sidell, Illinois, she played on one of these teams and was purposely injured.

“One of the guys on that team was getting more and more frustrated with me and ended up slide-tackling me from behind into a goal post, which was an illegal move,” Davis said.

Davis vs. fighter from Argentina

Davis chipped off a piece of bone in her knee, tore three ligaments and lost the soccer scholarship she had with Northern Illinois University.

“That ended up completely changing even where I went to school,” Davis said. “So I went to a different college where I got an academic scholarship instead.”

Davis said that she faced a deep feeling of hopelessness after the injury.

“For me, that was a life-changer,” Davis said. “It was the first time I had ever had that kind of significant injury. My immediate thought was, ‘What am I gonna do, just sit around?’ It feels like the rug was pulled out from under you.”

Davis, who ended up earning her degree at Millican University in Illinois, said that she got past the physical and emotional damage of the injury by focusing in on her physical therapy.

“They had me in this little machine, and they said, ‘You can use this machine for up to eight hours a day,’” Davis said. “And I was like, ‘Eight hours, you say? Here I go.’ I delved into physical therapy the way that I delved into soccer itself.”

Davis vs. fighter from Ireland

Davis said that she was drawn to Taekwondo when she and her husband moved to Tennessee.

“I knew I wanted to do some kind of martial arts,” Davis said. “So I visited a few martial arts studios around town . . . When I walked in to Stevens Family Taekwondo, I saw something different than what I saw at other studios. The instructors were very precise. I thought, ‘I don’t know much about Taekwondo, but I know what a good coach does.’”

Davis began taking classes at Stevens Family Taekwondo and was hooked from the start. During that time, Davis had also been studying to receive her personal trainer certification.

“Teaching was a natural progression for me,” Davis said.

After training at the martial arts studio, Davis decided to work as an instructor at Stevens Family Taekwondo and has now been a full-time instructor for four years.

Davis said that her involvement in Taekwondo competitions stems from her experience in soccer.

“Competition of any kind is something I’ve always enjoyed,” Davis said.

Daivs (left) slipping the punch and countering with a face punch vs. Poland

Davis said that her first few competitions in Taekwondo were “a little rough,” but she quickly found her footing. She explained that the martial arts community feels like “a huge family” when in competition.

“They really encouraged me along and said, ‘Hey, you’ve got some potential here,’” Davis said. “Just having that big, encouraging family was kind of cool, and I hadn’t seen that in other sports I had played.”

Taekwondo 2018 World Championships with USA Team Coach Master Jack Stevens

Davis explained that the experience of finally winning a first-place title was surreal.

“It doesn’t quite feel real,” Davis said. “It’s years of work . . . your whole life revolves around this whole thing for months and months. It was just like, ‘This is what it was all for!’”

Davis on the Podium with the belt for Middleweight Continuous World Champion