Jazmyne Ward: Experiences from an Ivy League Freshman
Jazmyne Ward is a 2018 graduate from Vimy lacrosse who went on to play NCAA Division I Lacrosse with the Ivy League school Dartmouth, in Hanover New Hampshire. This past summer she played on U19 Team Alberta and won a silver medal in the national invitational tournament, as well as a silver medal in box lacrosse provincials with the Junior Ladies Titans team. Jazmyne is a fierce competitor in both box and field lacrosse and she was a strong leader and role-model in the Vimy Lacrosse Program. We caught up with the Ivy League Freshman this past week to gain insight into her first semester experiences.
Describe your transition from high school lacrosse to university lacrosse this year. What were your biggest challenges in this transition?
The biggest challenges so far for me, apart from being away from home, would be the large team environment. The fast pace [in practice] to ensure repetition for all team members is hard but fun. Our coaches push us to play with this intensity to prepare us for gameplay. This, as well as keeping up with classes, is definitely a struggle but once you get to know your schedule things fall into place much easier.
How has your time at Vimy better prepared you for playing in college?
I believe Vimy’s mix between lacrosse, running, lifting, and having fun, have made me a better athlete and person. These qualities allowed me to have an advantage over others because it is much similar to a college environment, and most of my teammates have not trained this way before college. Rather than having lacrosse with a team after school, I was at school going from running, to lacrosse, to lift, which is exactly what college lacrosse has been like so far.
Are you looking forward to your sister coming to join you next year?
Absolutely I couldn’t be more excited! We fight sometimes but we are so competitive it makes both of us better every time we go up against each other.
What are you looking forward to in your first upcoming season? What team are you most excited to play?
I’m looking forward to seeing what my team plays like in season. Seeing the difference in intensity between fall ball and regular season should be great. I’ve never been on such a supportive and entertaining team, and whether I play or not I know it will be a great experience. Of course, I am excited to play all the Ivy teams, but I’m very excited to play Northwestern. We played them in fall ball but only the regular season really matters and it’s our first game!
Do you have any funny lacrosse stories from your time at Dartmouth so far?
Yes! We had an instructor come to put us through some grueling fitness, we were lifting wood and doing other abstract training. At one point we had a “fun game” with him where we had a partner and had to do whatever we could to push them over the 30-yard line while they were trying to push us over the other one. When two of the girls were going one accidentally pulled the other one’s pants down, but it was so competitive she just kept going. It was such a hard game but ended up being very fun.
The Vimy Lacrosse Family is excited for Jazmyne Ward’s first upcoming season with Dartmouth and we wish her the best of luck! Stay tuned for more Vimy Lacrosse Alumni interviews.
