Spring sports are in full bloom this time of year and amidst the exciting games and rivalries, some amazing opportunities are popping up as well. In fact on March 24, volleyball player Mackenzie Meyers from Hernando Christian Academy signed her letter of intent to Florida Gateway College in Lake City. The Hernando Christian lion has worked hard to get where she is, she trains about 4 out of 7 days of the week and she’s been playing for about 5 years now. She also has team practice two days of the week and does weight training and cardio two other days. Mackenzie is a year round player. She participates in both high school and club volleyball and she’s always on the court. Mackenzie adds, “During a game I constantly strive to think positive and to think about the end goal of winning the game.” And all that hard work pays off! She dominates on the court and was scouted by a college during her senior year. She plays outside hitter during the high school season and plays right side and middle during the club season. For inspiration, she turns to God. “His strength continually pushes me to play hard and to get better,” she says. With her will to work hard she hopes to accomplish a few goals as well. She aims to finish out her senior year club season by winning a bid and going to the Junior Olympics with her team. Longer term goals are to become stronger and better everyday, so she can mentally and physically be prepared for the intense college volleyball season that awaits her.
As we all know, there were some major complications for sports teams because of Covid. Mackenzie comments, “I had just started to get better at the sport of volleyball when Covid hit, and I never thought I wanted to play in college prior to Covid. I had no videos of me playing and all of my tournaments got cancelled. When we got to play during high school season, I was able to put together videos and some coaches wanted me to go play for them!”
As far as the academics, she plans on having two areas of focus for her major, but is still undecided as to which. She hopes to major in Animal Science or Pre Med to later become a physical therapist.
Mackenzie gives a big thanks to her loved ones, “I am so blessed to have this opportunity and I couldn’t have done it without the support from my coaches, friends and especially my dad, mom and sister!”
Coach Hethorn also states, “Mack is going to be highly missed as she brought so much to the team. Not only her talent, but her love for the Lord as well. I wish only the best for Mack as she is such an outstanding lady.”
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