Brooke Allyn Olmstead plays the position of point guard while wearing the #12 jersey. Brooke is in her 6^th year of college, but has only recently returned to play her 3^rd year of basketball. Graduating from Caronport High School, she chose to stay in Caronport to pursue her education mainly for the purpose of playing basketball. However, she ended up staying here because the classes completely captured her, and as a result she has been studying to attain degrees in both Biblical Studies and English Literature. 

Olmstead works hard both on the court and off. She is a leader to her team and brings a strong defense along with great hustle and determination. Her teammates have told her that she either acts like a 5-year-old or a 90-year-old. This however doesn’t unsettle Brooke as she, “loves being ridiculous with everybody; and, in the same breath, loves inviting teammates to come alongside (her) and search for fresh ways of thinking about being human, about this world, and about what it might mean for us to follow Jesus.”

Brooke, after being asked what is special about her team here says, “Besides laughing (and laughing) with my teammates, I love learning how to follow Jesus together—specifically in the weird context of athletics. Actually, it’s pretty beautiful to be a part of something so messy: we get to forgive radically in response to our repeated failure to be faithful people.”

In response to what basketball has taught her and what her goals are as a student, she combined her answers to this particular statement: “My friend and tree planting foreman, Matthew Vanderqwaak once offered these thoughts to my (tree-planting) crew: ‘we’re not tree-planters; we’re human beings.’ And, he proceeded to add, ‘not only are we human beings, but we’re human beings that uphold a particular set of beliefs!’ What Matthew asked me to think about as a Christian job-holder, playing basketball (for people like Rod and Will) has taught me as a Christian athlete: we have a chance to delight in valuing the things that God values, and not (in the first place) in valuing what human beings choose to value. I hope that I always treasure and pursue those things that matter most to the God of Israel.”

Brooke’s faith and trust in God, and wanting to seek his kingdom better is seen in her favourite passage of scripture, Matthew 13, which is a set of parables that Jesus used to explain about the Kingdom of Heaven. Each parable divulges deeper into what the Kingdom is like. Brooke says that the reason this passages has the most meaning for her is that it is one of the most articulations of Jesus’ Kingdom vision.

After school, which she is to finish up this year, Brooke hopes to, “explore really important things, especially biblical things, with people. At Briercrest, a number of gracious people have dedicated their lives to prying open and blowing apart their students’ worldviews, and then, to walking alongside each of us as we struggle to understand the new, fragmented lenses through which we begin to perceive different things about oxigeno w radio this world.”

She has said she’d love to do something like that—“to dedicate her life to courageous learning about God and His world alongside a whole bunch of really brave people.”

This is one of Brooke’s last few games in the ACAC and she has been a great student and we wish her well in whatever endeavours she has in the future.

 

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