Through the discovery of another sport, wheelchair tennis, Jackie was able to meet that challenge and was recently given the Charlie Wedemeyer Scholarship Award, a $2,000 scholarship bestowed on high school athletes who have succeeded in the face of adversity.

"Rodeo and horses were a big part of my life," she says. "I needed something to take up my time, and I was ready for something new. I started going to tennis practice and I got hooked."

Presentation High School athletic director Jim Reilly nominated Jackie for the scholarship. He says the young athlete is an example to the other players on the team.

"She's an outstanding young lady," Reilly says. "She has overcome tremendous physical hardships. I'm really proud of her. She didn't let her injury get her down."

The Presentation High School student is currently ranked fourth in the country in the women's singles division and ninth in the junior division.

"It's fun but competitive," Jackie says. "There are teams everywhere."

A professional sport since 1976, wheelchair tennis is played around the world and is one of the fastest growing wheelchair sports. The rules of wheelchair tennis are similar to the able-bodied game, except that players are allowed two bounces instead of one. To accommodate the sport, players use a lighter wheelchair, which gives them greater mobility on the court. Wheelchair tennis also requires no court modifications.

When other wheelchair players told her about their experiences competing on high school teams, Jackie decided to try out for Presentation's varsity tennis team.

"I never thought about playing on a high school team, but the other kids really encouraged me," she says. "I was so nervous, but I knew I needed to do it."

Jackie's performance at the tryout earned her a position as a singles alternate player, where she plays using the two-bounce rule. It also provided great exposure for wheelchair tennis.

Presentation High School coach Pati Ruiz believes that Jackie is the first athlete in a wheelchair to play on the school's team.

"She's very coachable and very hard- working," Ruiz says. "She is always trying new things and putting 100 percent into her game."

That mentality has helped Jackie succeed off the courts as well.

Game of life

Two years ago, however, life was completely different. Back then trying new things meant relearning the basics such as how to balance and bend over in a wheelchair, how to navigate in the outside world and how to come to terms with the fact that she might never walk again.

Back then it was everything equestrian. From the time she was a little girl, Jackie had insisted that all family trips include a horseback riding session. From there it turned into an interest in rodeo. At age 12, she began taking lessons.

Persuading her parents to let her get involved wasn't easy at first.

Her mother, Vicki, tried steering her in another direction.

"We said, 'Why don't you try soccer? We live in Willow Glen. We can't have horses,' " Vickie says.

Jackie was persistent and even presented her parents with a proposal detailing the costs of participating in rodeo. Her parents finally acquiesced, but Jackie had to work at the stables as part of the deal.

Then she acquired a thoroughbred, Baxter, from a co-worker of her father. Jackie stabled her horse in Woodside at the home of rodeo friend Carli Adams. The thoroughbred became a part of the Cimino family. He even had his own stocking at Christmas time.

"Baxter and I knew each other so well," Jackie says.

Everything changed on Nov. 9, 2002, one day before her 16th birthday.

That day, Jackie was scheduled to participate in three rodeo events at the Mid-State Classic in Paso Robles--barrel racing, poles and goat tying. She completed the first two events without a hitch.

Then the time came for goat tying, an event that requires strong hand-eye coordination and precise timing. The event also includes a part where riders jump off their horses while the animals are still in motion.

Although Jackie had practiced this skill numerous times, her foot got caught in the stirrup when she tried to dismount her horse. Jackie was dragged around the arena until someone finally succeeded in untangling her. She suffered a cracked femur, two collapsed lungs, a cracked skull and a serious spinal cord injury. Her father, John, who was in the audience, saw it all.

"For John to watch his daughter suffer such a violent thing and not be able to do anything to stop it ... I'm amazed at how strong he was," Vickie says.

While John was witnessing the accident, Vickie was at home, preparing to meet her family for Jackie's birthday celebration.

"When I got word that she was in a serious accident, there are no words to describe that feeling--shock, horror maybe," Vickie says. "I kept trying to get information. I thought maybe her leg was badly broken. John said, 'You need to get here. It's life-threatening.' "

Unconscious and critically injured, Jackie was transported to a hospital in Paso Robles and then taken to Stanford Hospital. She was put into an induced coma for nearly three weeks, and when she awoke, she remembered nothing.

"It took strong faith to get through the initial part," Vickie says. "The information they are giving you is the worst information you can imagine."

Life after rodeo

Because Jackie's injuries required extensive rehabilitation, she was transferred to Valley Medical Center in San Jose in November 2002. Soon after she arrived at the medical center Jackie developed pancreatitis--inflammation of the pancreas--from the steroids she was taking. Because of the illness, she couldn't eat, drink or speak for two weeks.

After she recovered from the unexpected complications, the doctors and her family informed Jackie of her condition.

"She couldn't talk. She couldn't openly cry. We couldn't tell her,'" Vickie says.

Initially the doctors told Jackie that there was a chance she would recover from the accident and walk again. Then reality set in.

"I kind of latched onto that," Jackie says. "It was good to have hope, but I had to move on and live life for what it was."

Jackie's willingness to accept living without the use of her legs also helped her parents.

"Jackie told us that through it all, she felt like she was in God's hands," Vickie says. "She said, 'I can do this, but I need your help.' That's when we started taking our cues from her."

Part of accepting her new situation involved learning a new way to navigate in the world.

"It was incredible to see her get into the wheelchair for the first time," her mother says. "It was a 45-minute task. She still had tubes stuck in her. The first couple of rolls were like seeing her walk again. She finally had the freedom to get out of bed."

Jackie attributes her positive attitude and ability to cope to the support of her family, friends and the medical team at Valley Medical Center. She also believes that her rodeo experiences helped her weather that difficult time.

"I always think that the work I did with horses helped me get through it," she says. "Taking care of horses is so much like taking care of another person. My parents were adamant that I treat rodeo respectfully. I had fun, but rodeo was like a job. I was going on road trips and doing things early, so I grew up fast."

Not being able to compete in rodeo was another major hurdle she had to accept.

"When I first got hurt I felt like, 'Great. I had found something I like and now I can't do it anymore.' I was terrified I wouldn't find something I loved," she says.

Hoping to inspire Jackie, Carli's mother, Thayer, gave her a tennis racket and some exercises to do. Jackie, however, wasn't too excited about the idea. Just maneuvering her wheelchair was an effort, because her muscles had atrophied from a long period of inactivity.

"I was terrified," she says. "I was learning to do things like get in and out of the chair."

Then Sharon Kelleher, a Willow Glen resident and the top-ranked wheelchair tennis player in the world, visited Jackie through the hospital's mentoring program. Kelleher gave Jackie a wheelchair to use for practice. A month after she left the hospital, Jackie joined the South Bay Smash, a wheelchair tennis team.

Kelleher's proficiency on the court encouraged Jackie to keep trying.

"It's hard to watch her play and not get inspired," Jackie says.

Kelleher was also inspired by Jackie.

"She's so positive all the time, and so disciplined at working hard," Kelleher says.

Kelleher was also impressed by Jackie's eagerness to try a new sport so soon after her injury. "A lot of times it takes people a while," she says. "Jackie just got right into it."

Focusing on wheelchair tennis helped her daughter cope with her injury, Vicki says.

"The TV was not going to be Jackie's best friend," her mother says. "She needed something to do outside that was physical. Jackie's always been the type to be outside."

After six months, Jackie and her parents traveled to her first tournament in San Diego. The trip marked Jackie's first outing since the accident, and she remembers her uncertainty about how she would manage the plane trip and hotel stay. She looks at pictures from that first tournament and she says, "My biggest fear was coming out of the chair. Now one strap will do.

I have learned so much and I am so much more independent since then."

This confidence is what she will take to the University of Arizona next year. Although she hasn't decided what she wants to study, Jackie knows one thing for sure--she'll be playing on the university's wheelchair tennis team.