“I’m super excited and can't wait to get started,” is how 18-year-old Moose Jaw product Jasmine Kohl describes how she feels after deciding to commit to play not one but two sports for Lake Forest College.
Kohl, who was a product of the Moose Jaw Minor Hockey's Mavericks program - before that it’s predecessors the Pink Panthers and the Maniacs - is off to the Chicago area university where she will be part of their hockey and softball programs in their NCAA Level 3 team the Foresters.
For the past three years, Kohl has played hockey with the Saskatchewan Female AAA Hockey League's Prince Albert Northern Bears while attending Carleton Comprehensive High School.
In the summers, she has returned home to Moose Jaw to play softball where she was part of the 2022 Girls Provincial U17 A Championship team.
“It is pretty nice actually, I was being looked at by other schools too,” Kohl said in a telephone interview from Prince Albert just prior to heading out to practice with the Bears.
She said she was talking to almost a dozen other US colleges but settled on Lake Forest because of what they offered program wise and financially.
“Other schools couldn't give as much as [they hoped to] and tried to get me more.”
Kohl received a scholarship that will help pay for her schooling with her being financially responsible for the remainder.
One of the unique things about Kohl's scholarship is it is a dual sport scholarship - female hockey and softball.
Although it cannot be confirmed, it is likely the first dual sport scholarship awarded to a Moose Jaw athlete.
Applying for a dual sport scholarship was something Kohl said she had not initially considered but applied just for hockey.
Later she asked and was told by US colleges that she was welcome to apply for both sports.
“Looking back at the beginning of the process, I didn’t think I could do it and only uploaded hockey onto my profile…I asked someone and then sent a video.”
The dual sport application was something more than a few coaches wanted to see.
“I was surprised how many coaches wanted to see my ball as well.”
“To get here now and being committed to play at Lake Forest is just fantastic.”
Kohl heading off to play college hockey is part of her dream to one-day make the roster for Team Canada.
“My goal, since I was really young and watched Team Canada play on television, was that I wanted to be part of the team,” she said.
Even if she doesn’t ever crack Team Canada’s roster, Kohl philosophically said, “If it doesn't follow through, I will still be happy going to school and playing hockey and softball.”
Kohl has two goals while at Forest College – the first is to try to crack Team Canada's roster, and the other one being to work on her academics studying psychology with a secondary goal of one day becoming a psychiatrist. She wants to become Dr Jasmine Kohl someday.
Kohl says her parents, Shawn and Tammy Kohl, are proud to see their daughter get an athletic scholarship and head to school in the U.S.
“They are just as excited as I am about it.”
Her parents have been supportive of her hockey efforts and have driven to attend every one of her games this year.
Kohl would not even try an estimate the number of kilometers her parents have driven her as part of her hockey journey, other than to say it was “countless.”
Although receiving the scholarship was great for her, she pointed out that had she had chosen a different path in her life her parents would not have been disappointed in her.
“My parents are proud of me no matter what.”
Although she has never been to Chicago she said she had been to other places - Boston and Minneapolis - for hockey, as well other places playing softball and they were all positive experiences.
“Every time I’ve been to the United States it’s been a great experience.”
