To Be a Senior at State

Skyler Ott is a senior at Bryce Valley High School who stays very busy. Throughout high school, she has participated in volleyball, cross country, cheerleading, and track. For Skyler, her healthy dose of sports is associated with good stories.

“Being involved in a lot of sports means lots of bus rides,” she said, “but in particular I remember on a trip to Wayne, me and my teammates were singing our hearts out as every team does, but it had started raining and our bus well tends to leak when it rains.”

This was a problem for the Bryce Valley girls, since it takes over two hours on a bus to get to Wayne, but Skyler and her teammates knew just what to do to make the most of it.

“I remember all of us, with use of paper towels and athletic tape, trying to stop the leak,” she said. “We didn’t love the fact that our stuff was getting wet, but goodness did we have fun singing, dancing and taping the leak!”

Skyler’s story may strike a chord with many who have strong memories associated with sports, especially those of us from small towns. Many have been the cheerleaders dancing on the bus, the hotshot basketball players on the floor, the raucous fans in the stands, the benchwarmers, the decorated winners and the ultimate losers.

It’s a similar story that sticks with you, like the gum your shoe met up with on the bleachers.

Bus Trips, Game Highlights, and Locker Rooms

But as Skyler proves, those experiences don’t necessarily always happen as the winner at state. They can happen on a long, leaky bus ride, in the locker room after a tough game, or in the moments where we mess up and laugh it off. Coaches, drivers and advisers may be surprised by the impact of these kinds of experiences, but for athletes, they are pivotal.

Ryen Treanor is a senior from Escalante High School. Ryen, who was a volleyball player before the season ended in October, said she really bonded with her team on trips.

“I definitely think that the moments with my team will stick with me the most. My favorite memories have to be the bus rides home when we blasted music and screamed the lyrics at the top of our lungs,” she said.

Rustyn Tebbs, on the other hand, told me a story of messing up out on the baseball field.

“So, it was my senior year playing baseball this year,” said the Panguitch native. “I was on second and I decided to run for third, and I slid right past third base.” Somehow Rustyn didn’t get out after unfortunately missing third base as a runner, so he got up, and stole home. “I almost missed home too!” he laughed, remembering the moment that almost cost his team a point.

A Bunch of New People

Many seniors will remember the people rather than specific places or sports events.

Kinley Shakespear, a senior at Piute High School, said high school sports taught her that friendships are important, especially in unexpected circumstances.

“When we lost Jaqueline Nunez last year it was a big deal,” she said. The teams she was on were able to take the tragedy and build each other up throughout it. “It built us and brought us closer together,” she said, despite the shock and sadness it put the whole school through.

Building relationships was also a big part of her learning to teach and work with new people when their team dynamics completely changed.

Rustyn and Vinny each agreed that bonding, talking, and laughing at practice were where most of their sports stories came from — stories and friendships that they would continue to hold near to their hearts.

Growing into Seniors

Every sports season has highs and lows. And as the athletes grow into seniors, these experiences become even more bittersweet.

For Kaycee Gleave, a senior at Piute High School who plays basketball, volleyball and softball, one of her lows lasted a whole season. She still has difficulty coming to terms with an injury that took her out for a year. “Thinking about this being my last year playing sports is pretty sad since I only got three years anyways because of a knee injury my sophomore year,” she said, “so it just felt like it flew by.”

Despite Kaycee’s injury, she still got to ride a high when her team went to state. During Kaycee’s sophomore and junior years, her team won back-to-back state championships. This was a memory that would definitely stick with her, she told me.

Skyler was also involved in winning a state championship as a cheerleader, though she got to witness another monumental step for her sport: when it became a sport.

For most of these seniors, their high school experience did not end with a state championship. Yet they, like Skyler and her leaky bus, found closure and fulfillment in all the little moments along the way.

Rustyn was excited about his senior year, but Ryen Treanor expressed similar feelings of sadness at her senior year ending. She found peace in the fact that she played as well as she did. “Now that I have finished my final season, I look back very fondly at my years playing volleyball,” she said. “Sometimes, I really do miss it a lot, but at the same time, I’m glad it ended the way it did.”

High School Sports Stay with You

For these high school seniors, the sports they played meant something, not always exactly what they or their coaches expected, but whatever it was made a difference. To their lives. To who they will become. 

For better or for worse, it’s a story that will stay with them.

Ex-high school athletes who have been graduated for five, ten, fifty years, will back this up. Don’t get us wrong, we’re not glorifying getting stuck in a high school mindset. In fact for many athletes, sports have had quite the opposite effect. 

Sports can be the impetus that pushed successful adults to work toward careers, the beginning of lifelong friendships that never ended, the support system that never failed to show up when life throws a curveball. Being a freshman, sophomore, junior, senior at state, was part of what made them who they are.

“I’ve noticed that I took a lot of it for granted,” said Vinny Hensley, a senior at Panguitch High School who cheers and plays golf. Looking back on what others have told her about high school sports, she said, “I’ve learned quickly what they meant when they said don’t blink because it feels as if I was just a freshman. I’ve been very grateful to have my support system and it’s so hard letting go of it.”

And yet, she added, in a moment of foresight, “I think I’ll always be best friends with my teammates.”

– by Abbie Call

Feature image caption: Kinley Shakespear celebrates a high at a volleyball game when her team makes a Kinley S. celebrates a high at a volleyball game when her team makes a point. Her high school sports experience was punctuated by tragedy and change, but she felt she learned a lot about building strong team relationships through it all.

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