From the track to the mat, Jada Wilson dominates all: Senior Profile
Casey Burton, Sports Editor
The life of a student athlete can be hard, challenging and overwhelming. However, multi-sport student athletes, like Senior Jada Wilson are a different breed.
Wilson has run track and field since her childhood. She has loved her sport for many years and came to North Greenville University to be apart of the track team, where she has remained consistent all throughout her time here.
Wilson has won several awards and meets in her track career and plans to keep her passion alive after she graduates by, “Never stopping. Even if that means I’m just running marathons back-to-back”, Jada said.
As for her second sport, during her off-season of track in high school, she became a cheerleader and fell in love with cheerleading. After she graduated high school and went to NGU for track, she realized she missed cheer, and it wasn’t until her junior year at NGU that she decided to walk on to the cheer team.
Wilson has made her mark on the NGU cheer team in her, compared to track, shorter amount of time on the team. During her first season with NGU cheerleading, she was declared a flyer as soon as she walked onto the mat. Later this same season, she was later to be a part of the winning Conference Carolina All-Girl Intermediate Division Championship winning team at NGU.
“Playing two sports at the same time can be tough, but only if you let it get to you. Track practice and cheer practice don’t really overlap much because they are different seasons. Although, as long as I’m taking care of myself physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually… I have all I need to not get burnt out,” Wilson said.
Being a college student is already enough of a burden as it is; with classes, clubs, cultural events and trying to have a social life on top of it all. Having to balance not one, but two sports on top of all of this takes some serious work.
“The secret to handling it all is time management for sure. Time management is something I had to master in order to keep my cool while doing everything. My advice to anyone else who has a lot of their plate is to remind yourself why you do what you do. Remind yourself why you love your sport or whatever it is and keep pushing… also keep a planner because it helps me a lot”, Wilson said.
Wilson’s hard work and dedication as a multi-sport student athlete has not gone unnoticed and she has been recognized by both of her coaches by rewarding her as “Athlete of the week” multiple different times in both teams.
After college, she plans to possibly coach a cheer team while keeping her love for running going by staying active in her local marathons. She is excited to see where life takes her and is grateful for her years in sports.
“I give the glory to God for all of my achievements because it’s because of Him that I’m able to do what I love”, Wilson said.
