Chevelle Shepherd '19 Recruiting Profile

My family is my main influence to who I am as a person and as an athlete. I grew up watching my cousins and my brothers play and win state championships. I was on the sidelines or bench as the watergirl cheering on my dad, as the coach,  and brothers as they won many state titles. These are the people I look up to. I wanted to follow in their footsteps and to win multiple state championships. I now play for my aunt who rebuilt the girls program at our school. When I was a seventh grader there was no girls basketball or volleyball at Salmon River high school. So when I was a freshman, taking third at state in basketball was a pretty good accomplishment for our program, but it was the next year that I learned more about the sport and myself.

My sophomore year was a big year. We made it clear to the state Championship and lost by 29 points. I look at this game not as a loss, but as a learning experience. I learned about hard work, sacrifice, teamwork, and most importantly, how to lose. I believe losing this game made me more motivated to work hard in everything I do. Whether it’s play volleyball, pole vault, or leading my team in the simple fundamental drills that everyone hates. It motivated me to win a state championship in a sport that I don’t enjoy as much as basketball. I not only got the pole vaulting title, but also broke the classification record as a sophomore. Being the leader of both the basketball and volleyball team as a sophomore has also taught me many important skills. I learned that leading by example isn’t always good enough. Being a young leader, I didn’t realize that my teammates actually looked up to me. Therefore, this taught me how to keep my composure when things weren’t going the way we wanted it. I have a drive to be the best whether it’s on the court or in the classroom. I want to be a role model to the young kids in my community because I know that when I was young, my role models were the high school athletes. Although I love the sport of basketball, I am a three sport athlete. This means that I could end up going to college and playing any of the three sports. During volleyball season volleyball is my main focus. During basketball season, basketball is my main focus and so on for track season. I would love going to college and playing any of these three sports. I do not have a preference, all I know is that I will give my all to whatever sport I am participating in.  

I still have a lot to learn about myself and about the game of basketball, volleyball, and track, but I believe my work ethic, leadership skills, and my drive to be the best I can possibly be will help me achieve my goal of being a collegiate athlete.