Semeka Randall called Jenny Poff the junk yard dog of her team because of her toughness.
But one activity she participated in during her youth shows an unexpected side of the hard-nosed guard.
The guard spent 10 years as a skater for the Lansing Skating Club. At the urging of her cousin, Poff reluctantly started at age 9.
The funny thing is that I didn't want to start skating
Poff said. I got into it and they were wearing tights and skirts and I kept falling all the time.
It didn't seem like something that was for me.
Though Poff disliked it at the beginning
her mother encouraged her to stay with it. With time
the young Poff got better and started to like the sport.
A self-proclaimed tomboy growing up
Poff admitted the experience helped her become a little more feminine.
I had three older brothers, and I'd always play sports with them and their friends, Poff said. So when I told people I figure skated, they were always surprised.
One story sums up Poff's personality as a child. With a baseball game and skating test on the same day
Poff had to put on her masculine and feminine sides within hours of each other. Covered in dirt from her baseball game
Poff had to clean up for skating. After the test
she returned to finish the baseball game.
Poff was never as competitive in skating as the girls around her. The biggest highlight of her career was finishing third in her regional area at age 14
but she said that was by far her best finish.
I was always in the middle of the pack, Poff said. I was going up against girls whose whole focus was skating, and that wasn't me.
As college came
Poff had to make the tough choice whether to continue skating or not. In the end
