News Page
Jasmine Plummer didn’t suit up this past season because her mom won’t let her
play with the boys anymore.
“She said they are too big now,” said
Jasmine, a freshman at Joliet West High School. “I wanted to play football more
than anything, but she doesn’t think it’s safe for me because they get
bigger.”
While she had to give up her first love, she’ll be able to
relive her football stardom at age 11 on the big screen this summer.
Hollywood decided the feats of Plummer, now 15, deserve big-screen treatment.
Her story will be told in the movie “The Longshots,” which hits theaters in
July.
Keke Palmer, of “Akelah and the Bee,” plays Jasmine. And Ice Cube
plays Jasmine’s uncle, Fred Johnson, of Harvey. Fred Durst, singer for Limp
Bizkit, is the director. Co-stars include Tasha Smith, Jill Marie Jones and
comedian Earthquake.
Why a movie on her life?
At age 11, Jasmine,
who then lived in Harvey, made Pop Warner football history as the first girl to
play quarterback in the national championship in the 56 years the organization
has held the tournament.
While out in Florida for the “Super Bowl” of
Junior Pee Wee football, the media put Jasmine in sports magazines, newspapers
and on television. On ESPN, she was seen running in a clip promoting the Pop
Warner tournament.
Soon after, Hollywood was calling and wanted to make a
movie about Jasmine’s life.
“Before they even found out if they were
going to win it or not — that’s when the offers started coming,” Fred Johnson,
said.
He picked writer Nick Santora, of “Law & Order” fame, to write
Jasmine’s story.
“He was the most passionate for telling the story —
keeping the story as true life as possible,” Fred Johnson said. “There were some
companies that wanted fictional stories — that she’d gotten these miraculous
powers.”
The movie is a little different from Jasmine’s true
life.
Keke Palmer’s character is a girly girl who wants to be a super
model, but that all changes when her uncle sees her throw a ball.
Jasmine
understands why Hollywood wanted her to be a girly girl in order to make the
movie interesting.
“I’ve always loved sports,” she said. She started
wrestling at age 7.
Although she gave up football in high school, Jasmine
earned a spot on the JT girls’ varsity basketball team and is working hard to
make it to state finals for the Steelmen track team.
Like Jasmine’s life,
Keke’s character leads her team to the national championships.
“We don’t
even know how the movie is going to end,” Fred Johnson said. “In real life, it
was third place.”
How it started
Jasmine started playing for the
Harvey Colts when she was 9 years old, thanks to her uncle.
“I saw her
play in the streets with some neighbors, with kids twice her size,” he said.
“You can tell she actually enjoyed what she was doing, keeping up with the boys
on the street and embarrassing some of them.”
Jasmine said she preferred
playing sports than playing with dolls.
“My mom, she really wanted me to
be like a girly girl. She always bought me little dolls and stuff. But I never
played with it. I’d take my brothers’ toys,” she said. “My uncle thought I was
good so he wanted me to play for a real team.”
But Mom wasn’t too sure
about the idea.
“I was like, ‘No! She can’t play,’ ” said her mother,
Cassandra Johnson. Eventually, she said yes.
“The first year, they hardly
let her play. The next year, he put her on the field and everyone fell in love
with her,” Cassandra recalled. “I just go out there screaming for her. If she’s
running a touchdown, I’m running down with her.”
During one game, a
tackle left Jasmine on the ground unable to move.
“She got hurt one time
real bad. We went to the hospital. We had to take her to the emergency room. I
was like I know she can’t play no more,” Cassandra said. “That girl had a to
nerve say, ‘I want to come back and win. She couldn’t move.’”
Jasmine
didn’t return that day, but was soon back on the field.
Her teammates
weren’t always supportive; it took awhile at first for the boys to accept
her.
“The first year I didn’t really play quarterback I was just a
linebacker. I guess, they listened to me more because they know I can hit them
hard,” she said.
The following year, she led her team to an 11-1 record
and to the national championships as quarterback, a role she loves.
“I
get to boss people around,” she said with a laugh.
Modest about
life
Jasmine, who is the oldest of five children, moved to Joliet at the
end of eighth grade, attending Washington Junior High School. So when she got to
Joliet West High School this fall, Jasmine’s background as a football star was
unknown.
Jasmine isn’t one to brag about herself. Her counselor,
Christine Lipke, found out about Jasmine’s past through a Sports Illustrated
article a co-worker gave her.
“He said, ‘Your girl is in Sports
Illustrated. I was like, ‘Get out of here,’” she recalled.
And, then
through a newspaper interview, Lipke found out Jasmine has her own line of
athletic wear coming out.
On May 20, Jasmine’s new athletic wear, TAG:
True Athletic Girl will be available online at www.tag-wearit.com. The slogan is
“The Day of the Tomboy is Over.”
“You can play sports and not be
considered a tomboy just because you are good,” Fred Johnson said.
The
brand will include clothes girls can wear while playing sports: from shorts,
T-shirts, sweats, wristbands and scrunchies. The clothes will be sold online.
Fred Johnson is working with a few sporting good stores to get the items sold
there.
“Anytime, a girl is good at sports, they yell out you are a
tomboy. You don’t have to stop being who you are, a girl, because you can play
with the boys,” he said. “You are not a Tom. You are not a boy. You are just an
athlete. I know there are a lot of girls out there that can
relate.”
Jasmine doesn’t like it when people call her a
tomboy.
“Just because I liked to play with the boys don’t mean I’m a
tomboy. I mean, I’m still a girl. I still like to do some things the girls do,
but not just the really girly stuff,” Jasmine said.
“Jump rope is kind of
fun. You won’t catch me doing my nails. The hair thing, mom did that,” she said
referring to a hairdo for a photo shoot.
Just do it
philosophy
When girls go see her movie this summer, Jasmine hopes they
learn a couple of things.
“Be yourself. Don’t worry about what other
people are going to say. If you like to play sports or whatever you like to do,
do it as long as you have fun with it,” she said.
Lipke said Jasmine
knows how to balance school and sports.
“She’s very, very smart, too.
She’s not just about being an athlete. It’s the total package,” Lipke
said.
“If I do good in school, I can play basketball,” Jasmine said.
“I’ll be smarter than everybody else. Plus, if I don’t have good grades I can’t
play sports. My mom won’t let me, if I don’t keep up my grades.”
And, her
mother wants all A’s. And she wasn’t too please with a B in art.
“I had
to pull it up. I almost got kicked off the basketball team (by mom),” Jasmine
said. “I just said I was going to get it up. It was just a misunderstanding, and
I only missed (an A) by five-tenths.”
Who’s the celebrity?
In
February, Jasmine, her mom and her uncle got to meet the stars portraying them
while the actors were filming in Shreveport, La.
“I was more amazed (the
actors) were more excited to see Jasmine than we were to see them,” Fred Johnson
said.
“Keke’s just like me,” Jasmine said. “We come from the same place.
We were born in the same hospital, Ingalls Memorial.”
Fred Johnson is
thrilled that Ice Cube is playing him.
“To watch my idol play me, I was
like, ‘Wow!’ We got to take photos with them. They treated us like we were part
of the crew,” he said. “We had our own chairs. We got to eat with the cast. It
was a real nice experience.”
In the movie, Ice Cube is a former high
school football star.
“That part is exaggerated. I wasn’t a star. I just
played,” Fred Johnson said with a laugh.
During their visit, Jasmine
tried to play matchmaker, hooking up Ice Cube and Tasha Smith, who plays her
mom.
“I told Ice Cube to ask her out. If I played football, he would had
to ask her out,” she said.
“It’s still hard to believe this will be a
motion picture,” Fred Johnson said. “We thought it would be a special on the
Disney Channel.”
Future is open
Her uncle said Jasmine could still
get out on the field and play football, but right now they are getting her to
concentrate on basketball so she can get a college scholarship.
Jasmine
already has a spot on the Chicago Force, women’s tackle football team, when she
turns 18. After high school, she hopes to play college basketball and then the
WNBA.
“I told her she could be an inspiration to all ages,” Fred Johnson
said. “You can play anyone if you possess the ability and desire.”
“I
miss everything about football,” she said. “I miss waking up early and hitting
people. I love hitting people. It’s so fun.”
Jasmine, her mom, her uncle
and her dad, Joseph Plummer, will be going out to Los Angeles for the premier in
July.
What she’ll wear is up for debate. Jasmine prefers sports attire or
jeans and shirts.
“I just got to get her out of those gym shoes,”
Cassandra said. “For the premier, I might make her wear a dress. She might lose
that battle.”
Comment on this story.
60 Springs residents earn bid to wrestling trials
Some are household names. Others are little-known newcomers.
Sixty Colorado Springs residents in all 18 weight classes have qualified for the U.S. Olympic wrestling trials, which will be held June 13-15 in Las Vegas.
Nine qualifiers - Brad Ahearn, Shawn Bunch, Dremiel Byers, T.C. Dantzler, Randi Miller, Patricia Miranda, Mark Rial, Justin Ruiz and Marcie Van Dusen - won titles last month at the U.S. National Championships in Las Vegas.
Other former world team members who have qualified include Henry Cejudo, Katie Downing, Lindsey Durlacher, Tina George, Leigh Jaynes, Kristie Marano, Stephanie Murata, Sally Roberts, Keith Sieracki, Iris Smith, Brad Vering and Bill Zadick.
Stephen Abas and Oscar Wood earned trials berths based on their previous Olympic appearances. At the 2004 Athens Games, Abas won a men's freestyle silver medal and Wood did not place in Greco-Roman.
The U.S. has secured 14 quota spots for the Beijing Games in August. Dantzler will attempt to qualify the 163-pound Greco-Roman division May 11 in Rome. Van Dusen will try to qualify the 121 women's freestyle division May 16-17 in Edmonton, Alberta.
Boxing update
The U.S. Olympic boxing team, based at the Olympic
Training Center in Colorado Springs, was finalized last week when Shawn Estrada
went 4-0 and Christopher Downs and Michael Hunter fell short in Guatemala
City.
The team features Estrada, Sadam Ali, Demetrius Andrade, Javier Molina, Gary Russell Jr., Rau'shee Warren, Deontay Wilder, Raynell Williams and Luis Yanez.
Ali, Molina, Warren and Yanez won bouts last weekend against Puerto Rico in Philadelphia. Ali, Molina, Wilder and Yanez will fight Friday against Brazil and China in Bridgeport, Conn.
Judo happenings
OTC resident Myles Porter won his division of the
Paralympic judo trials last weekend in Northglenn to qualify for the Paralympics
in Beijing in October. Porter went uncontested.
Also last weekend, 14 Colorado Springs residents competed at the Northglenn Judo Championships. Winners were Porter, Erin Amos, Paola Genao-Butler, Alexa Liddie, Chris Metzgar, Akira Nervik, George and Summer Truong and Haley Vanaman. Sean Donnelly and Collin Metzgar finished second. Zane Hall, David Hooper and Jade Vanaman took third.
OTC residents Anna Palmer, Ryan Reser and Taylor Takata will begin competition Friday at the Pan American Judo Championships and Olympic Zone Cup in Miami - the final chances for the U.S. to earn quota spots for Beijing.
Kelsey makes Olympics
Air Force graduate Seth Kelsey was nominated
to the U.S. Olympic fencing team after claiming the men's epee title last
weekend at the Division I National Championships in Portland, Ore.
Kelsey suffered a first-round loss in Athens.
Bowlers cash
Colorado Springs residents Jennifer Cupples and Tish
Johnson competed last week at the U.S. Bowling Congress Queens in Canton, Mich.
Johnson lost in match play. Cupples placed 83rd.
NYC museum opening
Seven Colorado Springs national governing bodies
of Olympic sports have partnered with the Sports Museum of America, scheduled to
open Wednesday in New York.
The group consists of USA Basketball, U.S. Figure Skating, USA Hockey, USA Swimming, USA Table Tennis, USA Volleyball and USA Wrestling. The Colorado Springs-based U.S. Olympic Committee also is a museum partner.
Indiana
Courier Sports
Staff 5/2/08
Lide White Boys & Girls Club Wrestlers Sam Johnson and Andy Marthin
brought home a state championship in their greco-roman divisions on Saturday.
The state championship was held in Indianapolis where Johnson (J-285), a senior,
and Marthin (J-140), a junior each dominated their weight classes. Their two
wins qualify Johnson and Martin for the Indiana State Wrestling Association's
"Team Indiana" which will compete this summer in the National Team Duals and the
ASICS Junior Nationals in Fargo, N.D.
Cody Lewis finished runner up in
the Junior 135 pound division and Trenton Dempler placed fifth in the Novice 85
pound division.
Cameron Stewart (N-70) and Dalton oung (C-160) both won
seventh place medals.
Club Madison participates in the ISWA Freestyle
State Finals on Saturday at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.
•
The
Lide White Memorial Boys & Girls Club held its Little League Wrestling
Tournament last week.
Winners for the girls were: PW-40 - 1. Paige
Mullins; 2. Jasmine Webster; 3. Kailee Chambers. B-43 - 1. Brooklyn Anderson; 2.
Destiny Webster. B-61 - 1. Mackayla Stucker; 2. Adrienne Johnson. B-HWT - 1.
Alicia Dean. M-52 - 1. Mikeala Kelley; 2. Tayor Strouse; 3. Calista Spears. M-80
- 1. Mishayla Johnson; 2. Taylour Strouse; 3. Sidney Sandlin. M-88 - 1. Grace
Schmidlapp. M-90 - 1. Sage Sproles. N-72 - 1. Latasha Melton; 2. Brittany Cook;
3. Brianna Thomas. N-96 - 1. Kendra Black; 2. Devin Cranford; 3. Brittany
Eldridge. N-HWT - 1. Abigail Schmidlapp.