One of the best girls basketball players in Vermont high school history, Jasmyn Huntington Fletcher, is heading back to the local hardwood, this time as coach of the Woodsville High girls hoops team in New Hampshire.
Fletcher, who’s also known as “Jazz,” played for Oxbow High in the 1990s, ranks third all-time in career points in Vermont with 2,079, and holds the record for most points scored in a D-III girls final (46) and D-III girls semifinal (43), both in 1996, her senior season.
She also appeared in three state championship games, won two, and earned the Vermont Gatorade Player of the Year award twice, among other accolades during her time with the Olympians.
After high school, she took her talents to the collegiate level in Division I at Nevada and North Carolina. Fletcher averaged 12.8 points in her first season with the Wolf Pack.
She has since been named to the Vermont Sports, Vermont Principals Association, and New England Basketball Halls of Fame.
“My biggest hope is that the kids that get to play for her recognize what a unique opportunity this is, and that the interest level for girls basketball here continues to grow,” said Woodsville High athletic director Lori Taylor.
Taylor also played at Oxbow High and missed out on doing so alongside Fletcher and her older sister, Jade, who is second all-time in Vermont in career points, because of grade-level differences.
Fletcher’s latest role starts a new chapter in the game she loves.
“When I hung up my shoelaces, I hung them up, and I didn’t look back for a very long time,” Fletcher said. She’s done many unrelated things since her playing career ended — including bikini modeling and opening a hair salon.
“I always thought basketball was going to be my end-all, be-all, and you know, I hit a lull. I hit a spot where the love left me, and you know, so I went on to trying new things,” she said.
Basketball eventually crept back into Fletcher’s life as her kids took interest in the sport, but she wasn’t quite ready to dive back in.
“When we were out in Nevada, there were some bits of opportunity to coach out in Sandy Valley, and it just didn’t feel right,” she said. “You know, it wasn’t one of those things where it just got me excited, and I can’t do something that doesn’t, you know, make me get my blood pressure going.”
However, that fire started rekindling after she moved back to the area about two years ago to be closer to her sick stepfather, after spending several years in Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
Fletcher started a company, Peak Performance, about a year ago, where she trains local athletes, and last year she was talked into coaching the Upper Valley Nets, an area AAU team.
“That’s what really lit the fire in me and got that competitive feeling back in my bones,” she said. “And I just decided right after coaching those girls and falling in love with those kids and just the whole experience and everything is that I really wanted to get back into coaching.”
On top of that, Fletcher was privately training some Woodsville High Engineers hoopsters, and they asked her to coach the team.
“So I had actually reached out to Lori last year,” Fletcher said. “I didn’t know that Jamie Walker was going to be taking the position. I had just said, ‘Hey, the girls had mentioned that there was a position available and she was like, Oh no. She was like, That’s just a rumor. ‘”
That changed before this season; the position opened, and Taylor knew exactly who to call.
“She was the first person I thought of, and I knew she had been working with some of the kiddos that go to our school, and they all really love her, and said, you know, she was doing great things, and it just kind of was really good timing for both of us,” Taylor said.
Heading into her first season at the helm, Fletcher is focusing on building up her players’ confidence.
“These are a young group of girls, so it’s about giving, putting them in situations and circumstances that show them — win or lose — we’re growing, we’re building, we’re learning, and that’s all I can ask from them,” she said.
While Fletcher said building the foundation is “what championships are made of,” she emphasized the importance of fans not getting too far ahead of themselves.
“I’ve seen a lot of comments that, you know, now we can get a banner up, and I’m like, hold on, like, one step at a time,” she said with a laugh.
With the Fletcher era officially underway, Taylor believes wins and success for girls basketball at Woodsville will come, but the immediate focus isn’t necessarily on that; it’s development and program growth.
Woodsville’s athletic director hopes that growing interest could lead to a junior varsity team, and that Fletcher will help build these kids’ skills for the floor and later in life.
“I’m very excited and really optimistic about what this is going to mean for Woodsville High School girls basketball,” Taylor said.
Regardless of this season’s wins and losses, one thing is clear: Fletcher is happy to be back home.
“It’s been a long time coming for me to finally feel like all of the pieces of the puzzle fit, and it’s a great feeling,” she said. “I’ve wanted to be home for a very long time, and now I think I’ve found it, and I’m really excited to start this new chapter.”
