Senior Signing Night happened recently and there was such a mix of emotions throughout the whole night there was such joy and excitement for these seniors. There were 2 that signed for volleyball, 4 signed for baseball, 1 signed for basketball, 3 signed for football, 3 signed for softball, 1 signed for tennis, and 1 signed for golf. Though they were sad to be done with their high school sporting careers, they felt a calming wave of relief to have the assurance of knowing where they are going after high school.
“It feels amazing. There was a lot of stress in the beginning, but God got a plan, so it feels really good,” Senior Darell Smith said.
Just cause these seniors are set to be collegiate athletes doesn’t mean that they are going to start slacking off.
“Just knowing that I need to continue to keep up with the skill that I have so that when I go into college I can be well prepared. It’s definitely gonna drive me and motivate me to keep up working,” senior Addy Schlake said.
These athletes have developed such a drive with their sport, many are driven by their friends, and parents. Others have had the most drive from their faith in God and give all their stress and worries to him.
“Just praying before every game. Just Praying before every game. I really just like to give it all to him and whatever happens, in the back of the pitcher circle, I always draw a cross before every pitch.” senior Madison Nickell said “As a pitcher [I] have a pitching rhythm and that’s my rhythm drawing a cross before I step on the mound; I collect myself and my thoughts.”
Just watching these athletes in their environments you can really see the impact they have had on their teammates.
“I think them being seniors this year leaves an impact on the younger girls because when we were younger we had seniors, but we weren’t close with them.” senior Haley Barlow said “[Lauren and Addy on the other hand] I feel like they’ve left a good mark because they have good teamwork, and I know they’re gonna carry that into college; whatever team they go into.”
Some of these athletes have loved their sports since they were little kids but for others it didn’t always start out that way.
“Actually, volleyball in the past few years has become my top choice. For most of my childhood, I played competitive softball.” senior Karlee Riggs said “I thought that softball was what I was gonna do, and that was the plan until high school; I quit softball sophomore year and that’s when volleyball really took the number one spot in my life.”
As they were reflecting on their high school careers these athletes got to thinking of how they wanted to be remembered, and what legacy they wanted to leave behind. Some wanted to be the one who was always smiling through it all, others wanted to be the ones who always showed compassion to everyone and some wanted to be the ones who always did it the “Pirate Way”.
“The legacy that I wanna be remembered by is just being compassionate with everyone, just showing God’s grace through everything.” Nickell said “the humility that he brings to everyone, and just shining his love and his kindness to everyone throughout.”
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