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Walking inside the Kaiserslautern High School gymnasium, the banners make it clear that girls’ track and field has been the most successful program in the school’s athletic history. Senior standout Jada Branch, among the best to ever suit up for the Raiders, has signed a scholarship to compete in college at Louisiana Tech University.
“They offered me a full-ride scholarship there and I am excited to go,” said Branch, the most dominant female on the Department of Defense Education Agency schools circuit here the past two years and the daughter of former Army soldiers Timothy and Olivia Branch.
Wesley Miller is the Louisiana tech coach who is responsible for recruitment and ultimately convincing Branch to commit to come to Ruston, Louisiana, and join the Bulldogs.
“She’s competed in so many events and she is good at all of them,” Miller said. “Jada is extremely athletic and she’s got a great build for a jumper, but she is very talented in the sprints, too. She could wind helping us in several areas. Something for her will be finding a couple of events and really dedicating to them. She has been in so many meets in different places, different countries, she has already been around lots of elite athletes. That is going to help her adjust well to college athletics.”
Branch said she plans to study kinesiology — the study of mechanics of body movements — and has been enrolled here in health professions classes offered at KHS. “I am fascinated by the human body and sports injuries and how medically they are treated,” she said.
After completion of her degree, Branch has plans to further her track and field career as a professional. She has in her sights the 2020 and 2024 Olympic Games as two of her long- term goals and will be able to compete professionally around the world if she performs well as a collegian. Branch is a member of the North Carolina-based Lights Out Track and Field Club, and has been invited this summer at an international meet in Australia, prior to going to Louisiana Tech.
“I’ve gone back and forth to the States for camps and competitions, including Junior Olympics, and my parents have made a lot of sacrifices on my behalf to try and let me chase my goals,” Branch said. “I started out competing in gymnastics when I was young and we’ve lived at Fort Stewart in Georgia as well as in Mannheim and Heidelberg. I enrolled in Kaiserslautern Middle School when I was in sixth grade, so I’ve been here ever since.”
Dennis DePriest is a former athletic director at Kaiserslautern and coaches Rose Lloyd and Andrew Panek have done the most work with Branch, who also serves with the Raider cheerleading corps. Branch has broken multiple European records or eclipsed longstanding KHS program highs in the long jump, triple jump, the 200 meters, and two hurdling events.
“My involvement with Jada has been mainly from advisement standpoint but those other coaches and a few more that have since left, are the ones who’ve really helped her develop,” DePriest said. “She is one of the best female athletes and even on the male side that I’ve seen come through. She has the power to execute jumps and the speed for the running events so she’s really versatile.
“She has only run the 400 meters maybe five times in her life so she is a student of the game and wants to become excellent in that event. It becomes a skill set. The signing of a scholarship is a significant event for the student and family but it also brings great pride to the school itself.”
Branch had to put in extra work marketing her overall portfolio after not receiving a lot of national press stateside due to being a student here in Europe. She has earned consecutive Athlete of the Year commendations by the Stars and Stripes news and will try to set more DODEA records during the coming regular season, leading up to the Euro finals in May.
“I can say that everyone I run, jump or cheer against pushes me to work harder,” she said. “All of those people have an element of athleticism about them. All of them push me. I look for growth, whether it’s through a win or a loss, I expect and want to grow personally. I’m looking forward to my final season at Kaiserslautern and that’s what college is going to be about for me — growing as a person and as an athlete.”
