Jayla Lackey wears many hats, but a primary one during the fall semester will be that of middle blocker on Canyon High’s volleyball team.
The senior Lady Eagle, wears the lucky number 13 and has been planning her senior year impact for the past three years.
“I am really excited. You always look up to the seniors,” Lackey said. “I have planned since my freshman year what it would be like to be a senior and what we want to do, and be – to be a fun group.”
Fun for this athlete comes with high expectations of this year’s Lady Eagle team.
“I hope that we will get further than last year, which was the regional quarterfinals,” Lackey said. “I hope that we actually get to the regional tournament. We have a really tough district. I expect us to start off pretty strong.”
The Lady Eagles will travel to New Braunfels to compete in a tournament that will include larger 5A teams, and will provide a challenge before having to take on the talent rich 4A Panhandle teams.
“We have a really good tournament in New Braunfels, just before school starts,” Lackey said. “I expect to do pretty well in that. We will play a lot of 5A teams, and start off the season really strong with a lot of good teams. Hopefully, in district I expect us to be one of the top teams to go to the playoffs with a high ranking. I hope that we don’t have to worry about a playoff before the playoffs.”
In addition to having a rather large senior class, Lackey attributes this team’s strong prospects towards the fact that coach Lorrie Hammit will be returning this season. Hammit is the only second year coach this team has seen in four years.
“Since my freshman year I had a different coach into my junior year, so this will be our first time that we have had a coach here for more than one year,” Lackey said.
“She has taught us a lot, I have learned so much. I think that is what is making us that much stronger this year, that she will be here again. She has taught me to let everything go. She told me to relax and be the leader on the floor, be a role model and communicate with her and communicate with my teammates. She has taught us a lot of mental toughness, which I think we needed. We are still working on it.”
As a leader, Lackey hopes that underclassmen take some guidance from this year’s seniors.
“I just hope that they know that it’s not all about winning,” she said. “I hope that they know that if they lose that it’s OK, but they have to build on that.
“Communication with one-another as a team, is another thing that we are working on this year as seniors. I hope they take that from us. It’s going to be hard, some of our practices are awful. Sometimes we get frustrated with the coach, we get frustrated with each other or we get frustrated with ourselves, but you have to grow from it. You have to learn that it is ok to make mistakes, because that is all volleyball is – is mental. I hope they understand that and want to get better.”
Despite all the obstacles, Lackey continues to shift her view of this next season to a positive note.
“I think that we are going to be really good,” she said. “We had a good turnout to all of our games last year and I think that we only have eight or nine home games this year and I hope that we have a lot of representation. We have a game against Randall at The Box called Big Pink. It is going to be during October for breast cancer awareness and I hope that we have a big turnout for that. Randall is obviously one of our biggest rivals, so we want a good turnout and we want Canyon fans to be there along with Randall fans and have a good match.”
While her life on the court is exciting, Lackey is also busy off the court. She was elected as the Lions’ Club queen, and knows that she will be involved with many community service events.
“It kind of inspires me to be a part of Canyon and be a part of the community,” Lackey said. “Helping others, helping the community and being at the meetings; the meetings are so much fun. It’s a big thing, but it is mostly just helping the community.”
Along with this Lackey will be searching for a college home, a pivotal decision since her long-term goals include law school, a law practice and possibly politics.
“I am keeping my options open, but I have big plans for after college,” she said. “After college I want to go to law school and be an attorney, and maybe be in politics someday.”
Through all of this Lackey leans on her parents to be the stable guiding force in her life.
“My parents are always challenging me to be a leader and have servant leadership, and communicate with people,” she said. “My parents they are my big supporters.”
With clear aspirations on and off the court, Lackey should be one to support this volleyball season and in years to come, as she may need your vote if she runs for office.
