By Derrick Smith

Athletes put in a lot of work in order to be the best they can be. But as Kylie Jinks knows, you also have to be prepared to outwork the others that you are competing with.

“To be successful in all my sports, I’ve had to show up and outplay everyone else who showed up,” she said. “I treated everyone, even my best friends, as competition and my goal was to be better than them in everything. And sometimes I’d fail but those failures just made me push myself harder the next rep. Every practice, I was diving in the outfield, I was stealing extra bases, or every practice I was driving the basketball to the goal, I was making plays in any position I was needed on the court. I was working in the weight room nonstop to be stronger and on the track to be faster. I never took a break in sports. When one sport finished, I moved to the next sport and that, being a multi-sport athlete, is what has made me successful in my sports.”

Kylie is a senior at Miami High School, where she competes in softball, basketball, track, and powerlifting.

There is a group of people that have helped Kylie become the athlete that she is today. 

“My family has had the biggest influence on my life,” she said. “My parents have always supported everything I’ve done. They’ve pushed me to be the very best I can possibly be in every sport I play. I know they pray for me before every game and they always hug me after every game which encourages me to do my best with that kind of support. My four brothers are also big role models in my life. Since I’m the only girl, my goal is to basically be better than them in all aspects and so they push me to become better and to try new things.”