Jada Cooper, a participant on this 12 months’s Jennie Finch Classic throughout All-Star Week in Seattle, was just lately chosen because the second of 4 recipients to earn this 12 months’s esteemed Jennie Finch Empowerment Award.
This award, which comes with a $10,000 scholarship test and a visit to the 2023 World Series, is given to a teenage softball participant who shouldn’t be solely an awesome athlete, but in addition a scholar and a humanitarian. Out of the six traits of the Arm & Hammer JFEA — humility, dedication, motivation, management, dedication and integrity — humility and motivation are probably the most evident in Cooper.
She talked about the place these come from and her mother’s response after she instructed her she received the award.
“It’s so hype to be around [these players], because, like this family and this environment, it makes me so much better as a player,” Cooper mentioned. “My motivation — my mom every day … I know she is probably crying right now. She is so excited. She can’t wait to see me when I get back home.”
A 3-sport varsity athlete (softball, basketball and volleyball), Cooper can play something and all the pieces at a excessive degree. She is a 17-year-old catcher and utility infielder for the Westside Wolves High School workforce in Houston. In addition, she can also be part of the Houston Astros Youth Academy. She has been a vital piece for her native youth academy, as she helped lead Houston to the RBI World Series championship recreation final 12 months.
At the Houston Youth Academy, Cooper was praised for being a humble particular person, even amid all of her athletic success, for at all times being an awesome teammate by motivating those that she performs with to at all times be one of the best that they will, and in the end being the lifetime of the occasion.
Even although Cooper was competing in opposition to different athletes when she received this particular award, she nonetheless obtained an enormous ovation from the opposing groups, the largest celebration that Finch had seen.
Alyssa Arnall, Cooper’s Astros Youth Academy teammate, shared the affect that Cooper has on their workforce.
“She brings us all up, no matter how we are doing in the game,” Arnall mentioned. “If we are down or if you just had a bad play, she’ll always tell you, ‘Pick your head up.’”
Laila Robins, one other one in every of Cooper’s teammates, echoed these praises.
“She’s so in tune with the team and very welcoming,” Robins mentioned. “You definitely need leaders like that to be able to push you further in the game.”
Cooper is making an affect on the sphere, however a good larger one off of it. Not solely does she assist coach youthful athletes on the Astros Youth Academy, however over the previous few summers, Cooper has additionally labored at a camp referred to as RaiseUp Families. Cooper, who was as soon as a beneficiary of the monetary help program from this group that helps to help younger children that come from single-parent households, additionally helped run a meals drive for these in want.
“It feels really good to give back, because I was once in their shoes, and it’s like, ‘I’m real grateful to be here,’” Cooper mentioned.
Not solely do her fellow teammates have glowing remarks about her, however Megan Hays, an Astros Youth Academy coordinator, shared her appreciation as properly for the softball athlete.
“Jada is humble in the fact that no matter how she does on that field, she still goes in that dugout and tries to pick her other teammates up,” she mentioned. “She motivates the opposite ladies to be simply nearly as good as she is and nonetheless has that perspective of, ‘I’m nonetheless a teammate. We nonetheless should cheer for one another.’
“Just the balance of academics and softball is so huge. … For her to actually put that community service in there as well is very huge, but that’s just who she is. She loves giving back.”
The subsequent step for Cooper is senior 12 months, as she has aspirations of going to school to play softball and main in a business-related subject. That’s why the $10,000 scholarship is so impactful.
“It will help a lot, because I come from a family that really doesn’t have as much as other families do,” Cooper mentioned. “Like I really appreciate the money — it’s going to help me narrow down some options.”
“MORE POWER TO YOU” — the Jennie Finch Empowerment Award motto — may be very obvious in Cooper’s life. She is now part of a prestigious group engaged on making an lasting affect not solely on the softball subject, however in the neighborhood as properly.
Content Source: www.mlb.com