Triple Threat: Jaslene Lozada

Jaslene Lozada has been a dedicated student at Speer since her freshman year. She has participated in Volleyball, Girls’ basketball, and Girls’ Softball ever since. I sat down with her to learn more about her, how she balances being a multi-sport student-athlete, and to learn about all of her experiences.

I asked her how she managed all her responsibilities, including school, sports, and her family. She explained, “there’s always time to fit in family time.” Even after long, late practice, she makes time for family dinners. Her family is extremely supportive and “always at my games, and they always make time to see me play, so that gives me time to see them.” To continue playing the sports she loves, she uses school as her motivation. She has learned that she must stay on top of her school work, whether it means staying up late to finish homework or making up for it by doing it in advisory the next morning.

Her family has always surrounded her with sports, so naturally, she finds it to be her escape. Jaslene has shown passion and dedication to all of her sports. This seemed like something that she had been doing since a very young age. I asked her about how long she has been playing, to which she said, “I have been playing basketball for as long as I can remember. I was always a part of a league since I was little. I always played volleyball in my backyard with my family when I was younger, but didn’t play on a team until my 8th-grade year. I grew up around my family, always playing softball, and that played a big part in making me want to and start playing.”

Every athlete has their rough moments, but being able to acknowledge them and learn from them is what makes the player great. Jaslene shared one of her most recent times she had a difficult performance. “My worst performance was this year in my volleyball game against the Bulls. I was down on myself and let little things get to me, and that affected me, I didn’t  lead and support my team the way I am supposed to and the way I’m expected to. It wasn’t just my skills being effected during the game that made me believe that was my worst performance, but it was the fact that I wasn’t able to push through it and still be there for my team like I knew I should’ve been.” 

Jaslene has had the opportunity to serve as captain of the Varsity volleyball team. I asked her what she had learned from this experience, she said, “While being a captain on the volleyball team, I have learned that the pressure is very real and that a lot of eyes are on me. My energy, my body language, my reactions, the way I come back after a mistake, my words, my effort, everyone is looking to see what I do and how I act to see how they should as well. If everyone is feeling beat and they want to give up, I cannot feel like that too, because then who brings us up? Who reminds us that we’re good and that we can do it? Being a captain has taught me that yes, coaches are always going to be the ones we look to, but nobody gets what you’re feeling like the person on the court with you. So I have learned how to read everyone’s energy that I play with and learned the best ways to support and uplift them during our hardest game and/moments.”  She has learned to motivate her teammates by acknowledging their strengths and she reminds them “we are not our mistakes and we are very capable of doing better and growing from our mistakes.” What a great leader!

When asked about her future in sports, Jaslene shared, “ I would love to play sports in college. Realistically, I don’t think it’s going to be that way for me because I think I realized too late how much I actually loved it and wasted time not working on my skills to get to that level. I plan to try to join a club volleyball team, but that’s about it.” Although she might not continue competitively, her love and passion for the sports will continue to be apart of who she is on and off the court. And when she isn’t playing or practicing, you can often find her jamming to her favorite artist Drake.