Jacqueline Joyner Kersee also known as Jackie Joyner Kersee was born March 3rd, 1962, in East St.Louis, Illinois. Coming up Jackie lived with her mother Mary Joyner, father Alfred Joyner, and older brother Al Joyner. Most children grow up wanting to play with friends, play games etc, but Jackie was different she grew up focusing on athletics, Jackie was determined to make it to the top. Jackie didn’t win may races when she was younger, but that didn’t stop her she always dreamed of being on tv and she was set on making that dream come true. As a teen, she won the National Junior Pentathlon championships four years in a row, and received honors in high school in various sports, including track, basketball and volleyball. Jackie recieved many college scholarships, she decided to attend the Univeristy of California, Los Angeles on a full scholarship for basketball. There are three important turning points that occured in Jackie’s life. The first turning point is when Jackie’s mother died. Her death helped Jackie find her focus, and pushed her to work harder. She decided to stop juggling between two sports and focus on track and track only. When Jackie returned to UCLA she found comfort within the assistant track coach Bob Kersee who later became her husband. Coach Kersee showed Jackie he cared about her as a person and an …show more content…
Jackie faced many obstacles in her life but she overcame them, every setback in her life made her go harder than before. As young athletes we all want to make it big, but we dont want to put in the work it takes to reach the top we tend to give up when things get difficult instead of pushing ourselves to work harder. Jackie’s life made me look at things differently, her life made me realize that working hard is the only way to make it to the top. The lesson I learned from Kersee’s life is success comes with trials and tribulations its just up to you to overcome