Jahriya Jones '24 Recruiting Profile

   Athleticism runs in my family, so I believe that I automatically was born with a lot of athletic capabilities and the only thing that I had to learn was how to maneuver it.  I started of swimming for as long as I can remember and at the age of 11 I got into competitive swimming, where I practiced 10 times more than usual and  was trained to compete in different competitions, I was never able to make it to any of the competitions because of constant moving and a very bad leg injury, I broke my femur bone in 2021 and wasn't able to play nor do much with my legs but this incident was able to introduce me to tennis, during my injury recovery I did a lot of different forms of physical therapy one being arm movements with the tennis rackets. It started off as little hand motions and hitting the ball back and forth on the wall to slowly move and trying to  receive the ball back on the courts. When I was done with recovery I knew a trick or two about tennis and was dedicated to learning more. I joined the team my sophomore year of high school and with constant practice everyday and watching  a lot of videos I was able to make it on the varsity team my first year, playing with a lot more experienced and better players than me was overwhelming at the beginning but I was able to follow through and learn from them. Now currently the number 3 player on the team as a senior in high school.  Over these years I've learned valuable lessons such as dedication , commitment and most importantly finding a love for the sport I've grown to love tennis even through the times that I’ve felt like giving up. I've learned to accept failure and maintain the same energy no matter how tough of a match I end up having. Learning control over yourself is key and an essential to succeeding and I’m ready for it all.  the same structure applies to academics, the matter of having the brains isn't  fully the gate way to good grades. Focus, consistency,dedication to always being open to acquiring different knowledge has never failed to help me achieve a good academic status.