Always growing up around sports, Laila Jones was active from a young age. Jones is a multi-sport athlete who has played basketball, golf, volleyball and track and field here at West. She thrives in track and field, especially with school records such as a 43-3 in shot-put and 153-2 in discus. Along with winning the 8A indoor shot-put state championship.
Jones started track when she saw her brother throwing shot put, so she naturally followed pursuit. After a little while, her family started to notice that she had a good throw and put her in the sport.
“I got into shot put when I was around six years old. My brother was throwing, and I was throwing the shots back, and everyone started to notice that I was pretty strong. So then I just started throwing,” Jones said.
Practice makes perfect. Jones trains quite often to perfect her skill and increase her capability of reaching the next level. There is more to the sport than just going out and throwing and increasing your distance. It takes a lot behind the scenes.
“I train shot put, discus and weightlifting around three times a week. We just rotate each as a team every week,” Jones said.
A lot of athletes like to focus on one sport that they are good and passionate about to really hone in on their skill. There are pros and cons to playing many sports rather than one. She uses the benefits far more to her advantage than disadvantage. With injury being a big part of sports this aspect is a big reason why Jones plays different sports to keep all of her muscles moving and loose so she is less prone to injury. Along with the agility that comes with sports. She does this to not have any of her muscles be tight, connecting back to potential injury.
“It’s better to be a well rounded athlete because if you play the same sport at the same time every year, then you use the same muscles and you can’t really recover. So it’s both for recovery and high stress situations, because I play multiple different sports so I know how to maneuver. Everything translates to each other in each sport,” Jones said.
Jones is a strong athlete who demonstrates having a strong work ethic and determination to continue in her athletics, being someone to look out for on the field and during meets. With Jones only being a sophomore, she is going to continue to flourish as we watch her PR’s rise and see the growth in her games, seeing her continue to move up.
Favorite Food – Sushi
Favorite Color – Grey
Favorite TV Show – Traitors
