Jasmyne

Photography by Jane Gershovich.

From last June to this June, society has been hit with a whirlwind of hurdles to overcome. With social justice movements, a contested election, a pandemic, and then emerging from said pandemic, we have all been tried, tested, and have, at times, been left feeling defeated. But even in those moments of hopelessness, we’ve found solace in the hope that our best days are ahead, so we’ve continued to weather the storm. As we’ve all learned more ways in which to roll with the punches, one NWSL veteran has been doing it forever; and flawlessly, we might add. Enter, Jasmyne Spencer. 

A native of Bayshore, Long Island, Jasmyne was never far from the ocean. Not only representative of the vast possibilities the world has to offer, the ocean became a place of intrigue for Jasmyne. 

“My mom always tells a story about me from when I was two,” she told us. “She took my siblings and me to the beach, and I went missing. She had my brothers and our family friends all looking for me. Eventually, they found me squatting behind these little ducks, walking with them, and trying to be like them. My love for the environment and the world around me is just something that I've always had”, she recalls. 

Jasmyne would eventually leverage this love for the environment into her career aspirations. “When I was younger, I always wanted to go to college and be a marine biologist. But, I'm the third born child, so financial aid for college was really important for my family and me,” she explained.

Luckily for Jasmyne, she had a skill that could open up the doors to higher education: soccer. “I originally wanted to go to UNC-Wilmington. It’s very close to the ocean, and marine biology is a big program there. It was my dream school”, said Jasmyne. But this is where Jasmyne would have to overcome her first hurdle. 

“Right before I was going to commit to UNC-Wilmington, the coach emailed me and said he just signed a local girl from North Carolina and that they didn't have the scholarship money that I, as a player, deserved. He wanted to give me the opportunity to look for other offers from other schools to see if I could get a better deal elsewhere”, she told us. “Of my offers, The University of Maryland had offered me the biggest scholarship. So after that, I was like, ‘I guess I'm going to Maryland.'” Then, the tone in Jasmyne's voice changed. “Honestly, it worked out to be the best thing ever.”

At Maryland, Jasmyne was the leader of arguably one of the best Terrapins women’s soccer teams of all time. “That whole 2010 season was probably like the highlight of my college career”, she told us. “We beat North Carolina for the first time ever in program history. I think it had been 30 years or something, but we finally did it in junior year. It was at UNC too, which made it extra special. We also earned a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament, which showed how hard we had worked all season,” she explained. 

Her love from the University of Maryland didn’t only exist on the field. “At Maryland, I love how much everybody loves the various teams. It's like a big family there. Everyone has so much school pride.” 

She then went on to tell us about her favorite class at the university. “I really enjoyed my Freshwater Biology class, but I called it my ‘Bug Class.’ We would go to random creeks and rivers to catch bugs in the water and learn how to classify them. It was very interesting,” she told us through some chuckles.

Despite her love for Maryland, as the reality for the women’s game as a career, and Jasmyne’s soccer skills, grew concurrently, she decided to pursue a spot in the Women’s Professional Soccer League (WPS). “When the WPS came about, that’s when I knew I was going to pursue professional soccer,” she told us confidently. “I told myself, ‘This might never happen again, so I'm going to put all my eggs in one basket, and just try because I want to be able to call myself a professional athlete one day.'” 

That strategy worked, as Jasmyne was drafted by the Philadelphia Independence in the 2012 WPS Draft. But, as has become a theme, the world had different plans for Jasmyne.

“When I first got the news, it didn’t even feel real,” she told us. “I got an email from Paul Riley that said that the WPS preseason was canceled and that he’d be in touch. Then I started seeing some headlines. This was before social media was big, so the news wasn't blasted everywhere. It was very, very tight-lipped. I genuinely didn't believe it until I got the follow-up email saying that the league had folded. I didn’t know what to do, but I just cried. I literally had come so close to seeing my dreams come true. At that time, I felt like my window to be a professional soccer player slammed shut.”

To soften the blow of the folding of the WPS, Joe Shalen, former owner of the Western New York Flash NWSL team, organized a semi-pro league for the summer of 2012, the WPSL Elite. Jasmyne’s team, the New York Fury, was loaded with talent, with players such as Michelle Betos, Tobin Heath, and fellow Long Islander Allie Long. “I grew up with Allie. We played for the same club”, Jasmyne told us. By playing both with and against some of the best names in women’s soccer, particularly under coach Paul Riley, current coach of the NC Courage, Jasmyne was able to improve her game. But most importantly, it helped nurture her inner flame and reminded her why she loved the game in the first place.

This left her with a big question: Should she return to College Park and play her last season with Maryland? “I just couldn’t show my face there,” she told us. “The thought of going back and explaining why I was back made me feel like such a failure.” Since she wanted to finish her degree, her friends suggested exploring study abroad options to earn the credits to graduate and cool off from everything that had happened away from campus. After meeting with some program advisors, there was one location where Jasmyne could both finish her degree and play soccer: Denmark. 

“Before hearing of this option, I didn’t even know where Denmark was,” she told us through some laughs. “I don’t think I ever would’ve picked it in a million years to visit.” But after a few phone calls with academic advisors and coaches from Danish side Brøndby IF, Jasmyne only had one thing to say to herself: “Alright, Jas, I guess you’re going to Denmark.”

New country? No problem for Jasmyne. “Denmark is very small. This is going to make me sound like a conceited New Yorker, but when I got there, I was like, ‘What? This is it? I'm from New York, I can handle this,'” she told us through a smile. Although her upbringing in The City helped her conquer the streets of Denmark, her games in the UEFA Women’s Champions League were certainly a challenge.

“I went to Denmark so cocky,” Jasmyne explained. “I was like, ‘I played in the ACC. I played in the NCAA tournament. I played in a semi-pro league with the best in the world. I can do this.'” But during Champions League play, none of that mattered. “No one cared about how I’d played with some of the best women in the USA because these were the best women in Europe,” she explained. “They’d say, ‘It's cool what you guys are doing in the US, but this is the Champions League.’ So the competition was through the roof.” 

The elevated competition only motivated Jasmyne to improve as a player, not only learning tactics specific to European soccer but also the passion found on the continent. “In Europe, they’re just on another level when it comes to soccer. They eat, sleep, and breathe soccer. Here, we might love soccer while we’re playing or watching it, but then go home and watch a basketball game. I don't think that there's that as much of a shared love and passion for the game here as there is there. But that might change as the game grows in the US”, she told us hopefully.

Since leaving Denmark, the game has done precisely that, particularly on the women’s side. With the launch of the NWSL in 2013, Jasmyne found herself back in the States. But the adaptability learned from her unexpected tenures in Maryland and Denmark would be put to the test again. “When the NWSL first started, we didn't have the resources to fly every team every weekend. You only got to fly to a game if it was greater than a six-hour drive”, she explained. “I remember we had to drive from DC to Rochester, New York on Memorial Day weekend. We left on a Friday, sat on a bus for 14 hours, and then had to play the next day.” 

Jasmyne explained some of the other struggles she experienced at the time. “My first contract was $5,000 -- before taxes. We didn't have a locker room, and we were doing our own laundry at home. To support myself in the offseason, I would work odd jobs, such as at a vet clinic and a catering hall. It was definitely tough, and I have many friends who are no longer playing because they could not support themselves financially”. At the time, these struggles made it very difficult for professional women’s soccer players, but Jasmyne wouldn’t trade it for the world. “I think all of those initial struggles were necessary sacrifices because now that the league is stable, the question is no longer ‘are we going to have a women's league,' but rather ‘how big can we make it, what more can we do?'"

In the NWSL, Jasmyne has played for Washington, Western New York, Orlando, Seattle/OL, and now, Houston. “I feel like we're entering the golden years now,” Jasmyne said happily. “As a veteran of the league, it's just been super cool to see the growth of women's soccer in the last ten years. It's been absolutely wild.” 

Even outside of the NWSL, Jasmyne has had stints in Cyprus and Australia in the offseasons. “I’d always thought Australia was fascinating as a country, but it felt like a million miles away, so I didn't think I’d ever go. But someone on Sydney FC, a team in the Australian W League, tore their ACL, and at the last minute, the team needed a forward. I think ten days before their season was going to start, I got a call, and the coach said, ‘Jas, do you want to come play for Sydney?' I guess that’s how I ended up in Australia," she recounted through laughter.

As women’s soccer continued to grow and draw in more funds, more players had the freedom to explore their own brands and projects, and Jasmyne was no exception. Remembering her love of the ocean from her youth, as well as the impending climate crisis, she knew whatever she did had to be centered around the environment. “Climate change is no longer debatable,” she told us. “With that in mind, I wanted to make a living an eco-friendly lifestyle much easier.” Thus, Jas It Up, Jasmyne’s own eco-friendly clothing line, was born.

Jas It Up started off as a simple idea back in 2017, when Jasmyne was playing for the Orlando Pride. “Starting a clothing line wasn't on my radar at all. The opportunity just presented itself, and I dove in headfirst,” she told us. “But, just like soccer, fashion is a universal language, and it’s the best way to express yourself. Even if you don't think you’re into fashion, what you choose to wear and how you choose to express yourself is, inherently, fashion. That idea motivated me to explore this path and see what would happen,” she explained.

“Jas It Up began as a custom headband collection, nothing too crazy. I always wear headbands when I play. It’s my personal signature. But, my sister-in-law noticed that I would always buy all these headbands every year, so she suggested that I just make my own. So, I made a couple in three different colors and sold them through the website I made. The fan base in Orlando absolutely loved them, and it gave me another way to engage with the fans and inspire them to embrace their individuality”, she recounts. 

“Something about the satisfaction you get when you're like, ‘Damn, I put so much time into this and you know, people are actually buying it' is just so infectious. I don't think I realized how impactful Jas It Up really was until I got to see people embracing and enjoying themselves, but in my material.”

On the topic of her materials, Jasmyne is committed to eradicating the unethical and unsustainable tactics that have plagued the fashion industry for decades. “As I started to learn more about the fashion industry, I realized how terrible many of the current practices are for the environment. I told myself that if I was going to work in this field, I needed to do better myself. So, I switched to eco-friendly fabric and worked to share environmentalist messages as part of the brand as well.” 

With ecological sustainability woven into the fabric of her clothes, she also wanted to ensure social sustainability. “I use a portion of the proceeds to do free soccer clinics and mentoring in Orlando, where the whole idea started, and also back home on Long Island, back where I got my start.”

Jasmyne has not forgotten her Long Island roots, particularly how different her soccer landscape looked growing up compared to what it is now. “There, everybody looked like me,” she explained. “My first competitive team was all Black and Hispanic girls, making my first experience with competitive soccer super diverse. It wasn't until I got older and started to play on a more elite travel team that I was really the only non-white player. Everybody's always asking, ‘how can we get more children of color in the game?’ I always tell them that they’re already in the game. The issue is how we get them to stay in the game. This has been my greatest desire ever since I went to college”, she told us. 

“After some games and team events, we get to interact with the youth, where we host clinics and sign autographs. I always make it a point to spend extra time with the kids of color because I want them to be able to see me and see that they can get into college and play professionally if they want to. But even greater than that, I want them to know that they could pretty much do whatever they want. I feel like I've carried this responsibility and desire with me ever since I've had a platform. Especially in the last 18 months or so, it's been cool to see how many people I can actually impact and inspire.”

In a career that has taken her all over the world, it’s prudent to ask what’s next for Jasmyne. Although, when asked, she doesn't want much to change. “At this point in my life, I thought I would have been ready to retire. But now that I’m here, absolutely not! I'm going to appreciate all this while I still can”, she told us. 

With her recent transfer to the Houston Dash, a team full of talent, she will have several opportunities to continue adding to her own personal trophy case, including at this summer’s International Champions Cup, where the Dash will take on Portland, Barcelona, and Lyon. Luckily for the Dash, Jasmyne could not be more excited to make the most of this season. “With COVID, I feel like I’ve lost three years of my life, to be honest. I tore my ACL, and just as I was coming back, we had the pandemic. It's been nearly three years without having a real season for me. So I’m excited to get back out there and just give it everything I have.”

If anything is clear, even in an ever-changing world full of hurdles, it’s that Jasmyne will continue to live her life, overcome the odds, and achieve her goals. “I tell all the young girls to lead with what they’re passionate about because any goal takes a lot of work, and it’s very time-consuming as well,” she explained. “ I think if you’re not doing something that you absolutely love, it's easy to not see it come to fruition or even do it properly. I've made so many mistakes. Some have cost me money, and some have cost me time. But it's all just a learning process, so I really try to embrace the journey”, she told us confidently. 

And while Jasmyne continues to blaze trails both on and off the field, there will be young girls out there watching her. We hope that one of them has a soccer ball in one hand and a textbook in the other, and when faced with the choice between the two of them, we hope she thinks of Jasmyne and remembers absolutely anything is possible.

Photography by Jane Gershovich.