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by Ted Ryan 

For years, soccer was the focal point of Jen Carlson Johnson's life. And then, it was gone in the split second it takes for a knee to rip apart. "It was completely devastating," said the former Champlain Valley Union High School (Class of '97) star who became one of the nation's elite collegiate scorers with the powerful University of Connecticut Huskies. "I literally made it through high school and college with barely a sprained ankle," recalled Johnson, who joined the Long Island Rough Riders, a professional team, after graduating from UConn in 2001. "My first season (with Long Island), I blew my knee out completely.

"I played one more season with the Rough Riders, but it just wasn't the same. To this day, it still bothers me that I don't play soccer. I loved to do it and then so quickly I couldn't do it anymore," said Johnson, who scored 57 goals and 100 points for UConn. "I wanted badly to play again; it just wasn't there," said Johnson. "Then I kind of had to grow up and give the career thing a shot."

The career route has had its own twists and turns. While playing for the Rough Riders, she met her future husband, Jason Johnson, who introduced her to the world of motorcycles. The two married, then decided to move to Florida and open a motorcycle shop.

"It was through the motorcycle shop that we met a whole bunch of Pinellas County deputy sheriffs," said Johnson. So when "the shop unfortunately went under within a year," she said, the couple decided to apply for positions with the Sheriff's Department. They took the requisite training and joined the department within six months of each other. Johnson said her husband is a road deputy while she is a corporal in the Pinellas County jail, where most of the inmates are serving sentences for minor or non-violent offenses. "My husband arrests them and the people are housed in the facility here," she said, laughing.

Though the jail is not a maximum-security prison, Johnson said some inmates are there awaiting trial or sentencing for violent crimes. "I work with maximum security men without it being a 3,000-inmate facility," she said. "I don't think I want to work in a prison; that actually scares me." Johnson - hardly intimidating at 5-foot-3, 140 pounds - is a member of the jail's corrections response team (CRT), a group of officers who are trained to subdue unruly inmates and extract them from their cells. Her most unnerving incident involved a dozen maximum-security male inmates she was escorting in an elevator when the elevator became stuck.

"Luckily that turned out okay, but it could have gone into a very bad situation," Johnson said. "I know my parents (John and Lynn Carlson of Shelburne) are not thrilled with what I do, but they trust me," said Johnson, who expects to make the profession a career.

When not dealing with prisoners or playing golf - she's roughly a 15 handicap - Johnson joins her husband in another past-time: racing motorcycles. "Jason races with the CCS (Championship Cup Series), but I haven't got my race license yet," Johnson said. "We do all his track days. I don't race against other people yet; I haven't told my mother, but I'm trying to do that." Johnson has been on the track, however. She rides a Honda CBR 1000 RR cycle that's "pretty fast, top speeds of 160 miles per hour." "That's about as fast as I've gone," said Johnson. "It's exhilarating. It's amazing to be in control of a motorcycle going that fast, turn into the turns and your knee's dragging on the concrete."

Though Jason survived a bad crash several years ago - "My mom came down and she's seen the hard side of things; being a mom, she's nervous" - Jen said, "Knock on wood, I have yet to crash." "I don't push myself like my husband; he's the one who crashes. It's just fun and a little different," she said.

The Johnsons, who hope to start a family soon, recently moved to Tarpon Springs on the Gulf Coast. They often boat on the Gulf, though Jen never fishes. "I feel bad catching fish on a hook; I'm an animal lover," she said. From soccer star to racing motorcycles to handling prisoners, Jen Carlson Johnson has yet to slow down.

Do you know of current or former Shelburne athletes who are still into competition? Let me know at Ted Ryan@aol.com.