When thinking of the qualities that embody a leader, the name Jasmine Brewer comes to the forefront for the Loyola Wolf pack.
Throughout Brewer’s tenure as a member of the pack, she has acquired a series of awards and recognitions, with the most recent being the NAIA Champions of Character Award. Her other awards include multiple All Conference Honors, National All-Jesuit Women’s Basketball Team member and All Louisiana Honorable Mention.
Brewer has established a steady career for the ages, sitting just 11 boards shy of being first all-time in individual rebounding. This season, she has been a consistently strong player, leading the team’s statistics across the board. Still, Head Coach Kellie Kennedy will be the first to say that the impact of lone senior Jasmine Brewer is more than statistics.
“She just gave her heart and soul to this program. We couldn’t have done it without her leadership,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy also said that Brewer’s emotion and will has been contagious and inspiring for the members of the pack.
Even with all of the awards and accolades that have come in just four years for Brewer, the one award that means the most is the Good Works Team. For Brewer, this award symbolizes her work and dedication to her community and is not limited to her success on the court.
“To be honest, I’ve been blessed to have the talent to play basketball and the drive to work hard, so getting awards for basketball isn’t as new to me like getting awards for things off of the court,” Brewer said.
But it has been the success of the team on the court that has further motivated Brewer this season. Even without a championship trophy to display, it has been a championship caliber year for the team.
“Our season ended a lot better than we ever dreamed. We won our division, which means we all get rings. The game that we lost, it was a tough one to bear but we can’t let that define our season, because our season was great,” Brewer said.
In the midst of the success of a deep playoff run this year and throughout her career, Brewer has not lost sight of the fact that being a member of the pack means that she is a part of a family.
“We were not just a basketball team; we’re a family. We know what makes each other sad, what makes us laugh. I’ll miss the road trips, the practices, the comic relief through adversity. That’s us. We’re a passionate group, so when we have our mind set on something and we want to do it, the way we play is phenomenal,” Brewer said.
Graduation day is soon to come for Brewer, but she won’t be leaving the pack without some sisterly advice from a former team player, Garkeiva Council.
“The next chapter is coming. Being a part of the pack is one small chapter, and there are bigger and better things to come,” Council said.
Council, who is the recipient of the Ignatian Award in spring 2012, hopes that Brewer won’t forget where she came from. Following graduation, Brewer will be teaching and coaching at Ascension Episcopal School in Lafayette.
“You may see me later on in the future coaching for some college, you never know,” Brewer said.
Mark Robinson can be contacted at [email protected].
