Jence Ann Rhoads (born 31 December 1988) is an American professional

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

player, a member of the

United States women's national handball team The United States women's national handball team is the national team of the United States. It takes part in international handball competitions. At the 1982 World Women's Handball Championship in Hungary the U.S. team placed 11th. ...

and former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player .

Personal life

Rhoads mother, Melinda Rhoads, played for the United States national handball team for 10 years and was a member of the 1984 U.S. Women's Olympic Handball Team. Her father, Robert Rhoads, is a former professional basketball player who played college basketball at

Wake Forest University Wake Forest University is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The Reynolda Campus, the un ...

Basketball

College

Rhoads played for Vanderbilt from 2007 to 2011. In 2011, she garnered first-team All- SEC honors and second-team all-conference honors by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

. She was the only player in the school's history to have at least 1100 points, 500 assists and 400 rebounds.

Vanderbilt statistics

Source

Club career

Rhoads signed with Úrvalsdeild kvenna club

Haukar Knattspyrnufélagið Haukar ( en, Hawks F.C.) is an Icelandic multi-sport club from Hafnarfjörður with divisions in Football, Handball, Basketball, Karate, Skiing & Chess. Club history The club was founded on 12 April 1931, when 13 young boys ...

in August 2011. On October 2, 2011, she helped Haukar win the Icelandic Company Cup by defeating

Keflavík Keflavík (pronounced , meaning ''Driftwood Bay'') is a town in the Reykjanes region in southwest Iceland. It is included in the municipality of Reykjanesbær whose population as of 2016 is 15,129. In 1995, Keflavik merged with nearby Njarðv ...

, 63–61, in the cup finals. In the game, Rhoads had 34 points and 10 rebounds. In the final 16 of the Icelandic Basketball Cup, she scored 6 unanswered points during the last 20 seconds of Haukar's game against KR, sending the game to overtime. She ended having 23 points in Haukar's 78–73 victory. During the Úrvalsdeild playoffs, she helped Haukar sweep defending champions

in the semi-finals, 3–0, scoring 31 points in the third and deciding game. In the finals, Haukar lost to

Njarðvík Njarðvík () is a town in southwestern Iceland, on the peninsula of Reykjanes. As of 2009, its population was 4,400. History In 1995 it merged with the town of Keflavík and the village of Hafnir to form the new municipality of Reykjanesbær. T ...

3–1. For the season, she led the league with 7.5 assists per game. Rhoads spent the 2012–2013 season with Sepsi SIC of the Romanian Liga Națională, averaging 11.7 points and 5.8 assists. In August, 2013, Rhoads signed with rivals

BC ICIM Arad BC ICIM Arad is a professional women's basketball team from Arad, Romania. The club, for sponsorship reason under the name BC Univ. Goldiș ICIM Arad, competes in the Liga Națională. The club is one of the most successful basketball clubs in ...

. She helped ICIM Arad win the

Cupa României The Cupa României ( en, Romanian Cup) is a Association football, football cup competition for List of football clubs in Romania, Romanian teams which has been held annually since 1933–34 Cupa României, 1933–34, except during World War II. I ...

and finish second in the league. After the season she retired from professional basketball to fully focus on her handball career.

Awards, titles and accomplishments

Individual awards

*First-team All- SEC: 2010, 2011

Titles

: 2014 * Icelandic Company Cup: 2012

Accomplishments

*Romanian All-Star: 2014 * Úrvalsdeild kvenna assists leader:

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

Handball

As she went back from Romania in 2014 and she was searching for another basketball club her mother a 1984 Olympian was at the 30th Olympic reunion. There

USA Team Handball USA Team Handball is the governing body for handball in the United States. USA Team Handball is funded in part by the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee. Previously, the governing body was the United States Team Handball Federation. USA Team Ha ...

told her mother about the USA Team Handball Residency Program at the

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...

. A few months later Rhoads attended the tryouts for the program and was named to the

in 2014. In 2015, she helped the team win bronze at the Nor.Ca. Handball Championship. She has won with Team Rogue which is basically the national team the

National Championships A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, indi ...

twice

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

and

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

. In 2018 she was the top scorer of the Nationals. In March 2019 she received a contact to play until the end of the season for the Spanish handball club

CB Atlético Guardés Clube Balonmán Atlético Guardés, also known as Mecalia Atlético Guardés due to sponsorship reasons is a professional handball club from A Guarda, in the province of Pontevedra, Spain. The club was founded in 1967 and plays actually in the D ...

with an extension option.

Academic

During her Basketball college career she did at

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

a Bachelor in Multi / Interdisciplinary Studies. At the Residency Program at

she started with a master's degree in Kinesiology and Exercise Science which she finished in 2015. In 2016 she started on a PhD in Kinesiology.