Jordan Brewster has learned to keep her on the ball, whether she is defending or trying to score. (Photo by Brent Durken/ISNSoccer.com)

By Michael Lewis

By her count, Jordan Brewster already has missed 43 school days since August.

She’ll add to her total this week as the Hoover High School senior journeys to Trinidad & Tobago as an alternate on the U.S. Under-20 national team at the CONCACAF Under-20 Women’s Championship this week.

While academics are important to Brewster, she is willing sacrifice a few more school days to get more experience under her belt.

As one of four alternates, Brewster will be able to train with the team until the tournament begins. Then she will have to return home, according to competition rules, unless a U.S. player suffers an injury.

While the Internationals SC standout would like to have stayed for the entire tournament, Brewster has welcomed the opportunity.

“I’m just excited to be going,” she said. “Most of the players that were in the pool were either involved in the previous U-20 World Cup cycle or in the U-17 World Cup cycle. My first camp since U-14 was April last year. I think it’s really cool that I had the opportunity to be in the mix with a bunch of veteran players. I’m excited for the opportunity.

“I talked to the coaches about it and they want me to use it as a learning aspect, so I can get used to what the World Cup would like and what the environment in qualifying and the atmosphere of the tournament and what is required to perform well.”

Though she was an alternate, Brewster still is part of the program.

“When we come back to camp, it’s going to take all of us to train and make each other better,” she said. “So even if people weren’t rostered, even if I wasn’t playing in a game, it’s my responsibility to help the team out in practice and help prepare for an upcoming game.”

Brewster has her priorities straight. Despite missing so many school days, her grades have not been affected.

“I have all A’s right now, which I had in previous years,” Brewster said. “But it’s kind surprising, compared to how much I’ve been gone. I was expecting my grades to slip a little. I’m holding on so far.”

Having trained and played with U.S. national teams since she was 14 – she was a goalkeeper back then — Brewster has learned to balance playing and school work. She will tell her teachers the dates when she will be gone. They, in turn, will send her work she can tackle during her free time.

“And if some of the teachers are really lenient and nice, they’ll send tests and quizzes to our coordinator and give it to us in a proctored room,” she said. “I don’t get that far behind, but it helps being in class seeing the notes and labs.”

There is nothing like being there, whether it is in class or with your friends.

“I come back to school and the first thing they say is: ‘When are you leaving again? How much time do we have?’ ” said Brewster, who replied: “Guys! Just enjoy the time while I’m back.

“It’s hard.”

In many respects, Brewster has been in school with the U-20 team the last few camps as coach Jitka Klimkova moved her from forward to right back.

“I’ve been trying to learn a new position and all the details,” she said. “I’ve been watching extra film. The coaches try to give me a good concept of it. I’ve been getting better each camp.”

Playing defense is the mirror image to being a forward. You must chase a player instead of being chased.

Asked how much she has learned, Brewster replied, “Just how much running and you have to stay in-tuned the entire game. Being defenders, you have to always be side-on and checking over your shoulder. Even if the ball is way up the field you have to be watching the players around you. They may make a cut run behind you. It’s just a lot of more awareness and staying focused on the game.”

Brewster is a natural, said Internationals SC founder, president and director of coaching Zdravko Popovic.

“She has the natural attributes that no coach can coach,” he said. “Once you have the base, we are able to contribute to develop her skills of the game. This whole process helps the young athlete develop mentally, emotionally and psychologically to teach them how to deal with adversity.

“She went through all of the stages to get to where she’s at. She’s really enjoying right now and benefiting from the trust and believing in herself, and in the club, and applied to herself every aspect of it. Now, that it’s coming to the surface for her.”

Popovic said Brewster being an underage player competing against college women was quite an accomplishment.

“She [was] in final consideration for the World Cup for the U-20 as a U-19 [player]. That by itself, speaks well,” he said. “After that, let’s see what happens at the national program. But I believe she is going to be an exceptional college level player and a professional player. I believe a lot of this is the by-product of the seeds that we planted in the early stage of her times with us. At the same time, the athlete has to have a commitment, they have to have a desire. The athlete has to have the dedication and pride and willing to do what it takes what is beyond ordinary. And Jordan obviously has those things. Now we’re seeing the positive result of it. So that is very flattering, very rewarding, very heart-warming to see an athlete like this get a chance and an opportunity, which is well earned and well deserved.

“I believe the future is bright and I believe the sky’s the limit.”

Regardless if she plays or not in Trinidad, Brewster has experience performing overseas for national youth teams in Australia, China and the Czech Republic.

She was most surprised by the cultural differences, whether it was food preparation or social behavior.

“Probably the biggest thing for me was outside of the soccer, being around the different communities and the way people react with one another,” Brewster said. “Things over here would be kind of rude to us was totally acceptable. In China, personal space is like non-existent. We would be in an elevator packed full. We would stop at another floor and people would shove their way on. We would be like, ‘OK’ I’ll take the next one.’ ”

Several years ago, Brewster made a giant step from travel soccer to Internationals SC, a decision she hasn’t regretted.

“I remember deciding whether if I wanted to make that big of a commitment because Internationals wasn’t like playing for any other club,” she said. “It was a really big commitment with your time. That’s when soccer really started for me. I got better training, more practices a week, more technical, more aspects — physical, technical, tactical.”

It has been worth it and then some.

Brewster committed to attend West Virginia University during her sophomore year. It was a relatively easy choice as everything fell together from the team to academics (she wants to become an attorney) to the feeling of belonging at the Morgantown, W.Va. school.

“The coaches were just so amazing,” Brewster said. “I knew that I wanted to go away from home, but I didn’t want to feel I was not with a family. West Virginia’s culture off the field is amazing. I just felt like everybody had each other’s back and everyone was there for one another. It’s team stuff all the time. I talked to some of the players. ‘Hey, do you miss home?’ ‘Yeah, I do, but you feel you’re like part of a family here.’ That was the biggest thing for me. School-wise, they have a pretty good pre-law program. So that was important.”

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.