A Chat with SFA Senior Jasmine White
10/10/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Jasmine White is a senior from Houston, who is majoring in Geology. She plans on going into the oil business, but her next stop will be graduate school. “I don’t know specifics yet until I get my Masters. I am applying to a bunch of different places and we will see where I get in,” said White. The focus right now though is on the five soccer games left in regular season.
The native Houstonian started her soccer career way back in kindergarten. No one in her family had played the beautiful game. White thinks just must have been a hyper child because she remembers one day in class where “my teacher handed me a paper and said take this to your parents. It was for soccer tryouts, so I took it home to my dad and was like here. And he was like ‘You want to play soccer?’ and I was like ‘yeah!’ He was like, ‘I don’t know anything about soccer.’ That was the start of it, and I have played ever since.” She then played recreationally until she turned 11, and then transferred over into club ball. Her first team was called the Tornadoes, but that only lasted a year. Then, she found the Stingers team. “We were really good and super girly… I was with the same group of girls from my second year of soccer until I switched clubs my senior year,” explained White. “We are all still good friends.”
When it came down to making a decision for her senior year, White attended several invitational soccer camps. “I remember seeing Kelly [Ann Craig] at one. She probably doesn’t remember this, but I had seen Kelly at the game when [the SFA coaches] were like we want you to come. I [visited] the very next weekend.” After meeting the team, the deal was sealed. She knew that this was a group of girls that she could be around. “That is the one thing that has kept me and a lot of people here: the team and the way that we all communicate and immediately accept each other.” It is a feeling that nothing can replace. The togetherness of the team has brought them so far over the past couple years, to championships and back.
White actually has two favorite memories from her time here at SFA. The first is not really game-play related, but it was during her sophomore year when SFA played Arkansas in Austin, Texas. “The entire game was really windy. [Coach] Wally’s hair blew up, and it was just sticking straight up. No one wanted to tell him, because we didn’t want him to be mad at us. This game was on TV, and so he gets home and watches it. He goes ‘why would no one tell me about my hair?’” It is the best memory for White because the players continually mess with him to this day about it.
“It is just hilarious. We called him “shark fin” forever. It was so funny because we all knew, but we were just like stay focused on the game, just stay focused,” laughed White.
Next to that, White’s favorite soccer memory was her first goal against Oregon State in 2014. She had been struggling with an injury and had been contemplating the future of her career. Then, the goal just happened. “It sealed the deal. This is why I am here,” said White.
Have you ever had a nickname and what was it? My nickname has always been “Jazz,” but my mom calls me “Tasmania” like the Tasmanian Devil because I guess I was hyper as a kid. It is funny because at games I still hear her say that. That’s my family nickname, but everyone else just calls me Jazz. Everyone on the [Stingers] had a supercool nickname. We had a Rocket, a Tiger, but they just called me Jazz. I was sad because everyone had a super cool nickname. I tried so hard to get it changed, but now I am the only one that still gets called by their nickname. I guess I win.
What motivates you to work hard? I am going to have to say, in general, my parents. They both have work incredibly hard to get where they are today. I just want to make them so proud and just be able to be proud of everything I do from here on out. As far as, in school and directly with the team, my teammates do. When I look at them, I see them working so hard for me, for each other. It just pushes you so much more when you know that they have your back. I think that’s why we do so well as a team on and off the field, because we have that security knowing that that person is going to work hard for you.
How often do you buy clothes? I buy them kind of a lot. Everyday after class, I will just go to a boutique in Nac and more then often not I find something. So I have a lot of clothes. I am preparing for life after sports. I shop a lot, and it is dangerous. Online shopping will get you. I am going to go with three times a week, that’s my final answer.
If you could describe Wally in one word, what would it be and why? I am going to say “goofy” or “fun.” I have never had a coach where we blast music all practice. It is a necessity. When we don’t have it, we are like where is the music? We have been spoiled basically. He is just always fun. He is always keeping it light, keeping it loose. It just makes the perfect environment. It makes people want to be here. He is actually hilarious when people listen. He is definitely “goofy,” that’s what I am going to have to go with. Yeah, “keep it loose, keep it light,” if I learned anything in college, it would be that.
-SFA-
