Student-Athlete of the Month

By Faith Giambarberee

On Dec. 3, Abigail Jonas stepped up to the platform at her weightlifting practice, ready to lift the bar and show off her skills after months of hard training. Her teammates cheered for her, chanting motivational words as she persevered to reach new records, in great form.

“It’s a lot of personal goals and setting things for yourself and really working and pushing towards all your goals and anything you want to achieve,” Jonas said.

Having a motivational mindset is very important and Jonas is proof of that. She sets short term and long term goals at the gym Train Harder with her coach, Jordan Garrison.

“He is the most amazing coach I’ve ever had. He helps me through everything; he pushes me, and he really makes sure I reach all of my goals and meet all of my expectations,” Jonas said.

Having people like her coach there to help Jonas reach her expectations has proven to be very beneficial. He makes sure she’s alway on the right track and pushes her to put in effort even when she feels like giving up. On Nov. 30, she reached a new back squat personal record (PR) of 273Ibs. In competition, she set a school record for the clean & jerk in her weight class of 154Ibs. She got a 155Ib lift to beat the previous record of 145Ibs, then beat it with her next lift of 160Ibs, and surpassed it again with 170Ibs on Nov. 18.

“I haven’t had any doubts yet because I try to maintain a positive mindset when I go through this and train and spend every day. Even though I don’t max out, I hit new PRs, I’m still super super positive and I always wanna make sure that I can always do better. I’ve built a lot of muscle and I’ve lost a lot of weight and really it just improves my self image of myself and I get to achieve all the goals I’ve wanted. It really just boosts overall confidence and self esteem for me,” Jonas said.

Weightlifting tremendously helps Jonas in several ways, making her feel more confident in herself during rough times. Striving always to do better has brought her a lot of success, not only for her team, but for her self-image as well.

“I have made new friendships. I’ve only been doing it for about 3 months but I’ve made a lot of really, really close friends and I spend a lot of my time with them,” Jonas said.

She has bonded over something she loves with other people who can share the same passion. Jonas explains that she is with those people a lot of the time which has got them much closer.

“Right now I’m looking Abigail Jonas performs a clean and jerk in competition. Photo provided by Abigail Jonas

at all of the Florida schools like UF and UT and I hope to get into one of those come my senior year. Although weightlifting is not an official sport in college, I do plan to continue throughout college and upkeep a healthy lifestyle that is goal achieving,” Jonas said.

Even though Jonas is a junior this year, she plans on going to a local college here in Florida and pursuing weightlifting after she graduates. Congratulations

to Abigail for being the Gregg Schindler State Farm Femaile Athlete of the month for December!

James Hill warms up before taking the court. Photo by Tom Mewborn

By Davis Burnette

The Gregg Schindler Male Student Athlete for December is a senior at J.W. Mitchell High School,

James Hill. Coach Jason Vetter nominated Hill because he serves as captain of the team, maintaining a 4.4. GPA. Hill is a member of the National Honor Society and volunteers for Metropolitan Ministries.

After scoring 15 points in their final preseason game on Nov. 17, shooting guard Hill, who excels at both basketball and baseball, believes this is the year the varsity boys’ basketball team will go far.

Hill first picked up a basketball at a very young age. and has played since he was four years old. Alternating between basketball and baseball seasons every year, he balances both sports.

“I love playing basketball as it’s such a fast-paced sport and is a place I feel comfortable and enjoy every minute of it,” Hill said.

Although the Mitchell team finished their previous season with a negative record of (13-14), Hill was optimistic about the 2021 season. He believes that this year will be a big step up for the team.

“I think the team has improved a lot. We have a really tight core group of guys, and we’ve worked hard to get better. We also have some new, very talented guys who are only going to help us get better from last year,” Hill said.

With the return of influential players such as Hill, David Proper, and Khamari Smith, and the addition of new teammates, Hill believes that the team will bounce back from their previous season.

“This year, we are hoping for a championship. We are hoping we can build off of the good things we did last year and improve on the things we need to so that we can bring home a championship,” Hill said.

Fans will be limited due to COVID-19 restrictions as James Hill plays in his final season as a Mustang basketball player. The varsity basketball team opens their first game of the season at home vs. Wiregrass Ranch High School on Friday, Dec 4, and the season continues into February 2021.