MIDDLEBURG - In her day, Middleburg High volleyball great Jenna Erwin (Class of 2016) was a hard-charging, diving, pivoting athlete under the watchful eye of former coach Carrie Prewitt and now, Erwin, after nearly a 10 year journey, is almost done with her next endeavor; being a doctor.
"It's been a long journey, but one that I have worked hard to complete," said Erwin, 26. "I give a lot of credit to the people who kept me playing hard on the court; the physical therapy people, because I had a lot of injuries along the way and have an appreciation of how they kept me playing."

For Erwin, or more accurately, Dr. Jenna Erwin, DPT (Doctor of Physical Therapy), the journey is not quite over.
"I have probably two more years before I'm completely done with my specialization certification," said Erwin, who also had sister Maddi Erwin on the back-to-back Final Four finish teams of the Lady Broncos in 2013 and 2014 under Prewitt to steel her resolve in job at hand. "One thing I learned from coach Prewitt is to finish what you start and that the work you put in is what you will get out. Pretty basic stuff, but something I've taken with me to finish my task."
Erwin still has a few more initials to add to her name tag wherever she ends with WCS (Womens Clinical Specialist) a two year study and CLT-LANA (Certified Lymphedema Therapist-Lymphology Association of North America).
"The CLT certification course will be done in September (135 hours) and the WCS will take about two years," said Erwin. "Lymphedema therapist comes after a cancer surgery; maybe Mastectomy, a patient can get lymphedema in the arm because the surgery affects the lymph nodes, also can affect women going through ovarian cancer (lymph nodes in the hips)."
Erwin started the now nine year journey with college play at Gulf Coast State College, then Indian River State College, then University of South Florida with Erwin earning a Health Administration bachelors degree at University of North Florida and her DPT at University of South Florida.
"My long term goal when I started college was health administration," said Erwin. "I was always in physical therapy my whole athletic life practically. I was always there at Preferred Physical Therapy in Fleming Island."
Erwin noted she had chronic knee pain; a constant nagging pain.
"It was the type of injury that needed rest and, if you know me, I'm not a rest kind of athlete," said Erwin, also noting shoulder injury from rock climbing and skateboarding. "The only reason that I was able to continue playing through college was the physical therapy. That's my advice to athletes that I will see in the future."
Erwin confided in Preferred owner Allen Weiss that she was not happy with the business side of health care and he offered me a job to get a feel for the physical side of it.
"After just three weeks, I knew I had found my vibe," said Erwin, now studying at home in Orange Park for a five hour exam in July. "I took two years of pre-requirements while working at Preferred then went to get my degree."
Erwin next moves to Pennsylvania to start her WCS certification in August at the University of Pittsburg Medical Center.
"I plan on specializing in pelvic floor physical therapy," said Erwin. "Any cancer in the pelvic and the therapy thereafter. It's a very niche part of therapy, but very newer and needed kind of therapy in the pelvic region."
Sister Maddie, who played volleyball at Flagler College, is married got a child, living in Utah and working in a ski resort.