The Official ProSoccerTalk welcome for Jenna Pel

Our ProSoccerTalk mini-bus is beginning to fill up!

We’ve just added Jenna Pel, and quite happily so. As I’ve said before, there may be journalists in this country who know women’s soccer better than Jenna – but somebody will need point them out for me.

She’s already started; check out last week’s good work on Alex Morgan and her prodigious rise.

Jenna knows her soccer, so she’ll sound off about more than just the U.S. women’s national team and women’s soccer in general. But that is her particular area of expertise. So look for Jenna to tell you what’s important, to start conversations or add to those someone else has started.

Here’s Jenna, telling you about herself:

Greetings from Houston, Texas. Jenna Pel here. I’m the new girl in the cubicle next to Steve and Richard’s. Another hand lent the PST cause. Woo hoo!

So, where to begin? Earliest soccer memories, maybe? You got it. They’d include father-daughter time playing FIFA International Soccer on Sega Genesis (a 90′s relic) and that funny thing that happened over the summer of 1999.

My passion for the sport lay dormant for the next nine years. This Fernando Torres goal in the Euro 2008 final and the USWNT’s Gold Medal win in Beijing ensnared me once more. Women’s Professional Soccer launched several months later. Oh, what followed.

Inspired by current PST talisman Richard Farley, All White Kit launched in the spring of 2010. Its purpose is/was twofold: to document the topsy-turvy going’s-on of WoSo and to provide comprehensive, colorful coverage rarely afforded to the women’s game. Reader interaction coupled with top-notch contributions from Chris Henderson, Lauren Barker, Lissa Tan, Ray Curren, and others, has made it a tremendously enriching experience.

I wrote about the funny things that happened over the summer of 2011 for several web-based outlets including FOX Soccer and Grantland. It took some time to make sense of the hijinks that ensued. The messy demise WPS last January forced me into a mini-hibernation. I’ve recently returned to match fitness and am eager to lead the line alongside seasoned goal-fetchers Steve and Richard.

I’ll be around. It’s a pleasure to be in your company.