DONOVAN HUMPHREYS- SOUTHWIND HIGH SCHOOL

Tell everyone about yourself?
My name is Donovan Humphreys and I am a up-coming starting small forward for the Southwind Jaguars from Memphis, TN.

What are your dreams in life?
My dream is to get as far with basketball as I possibly can and also be a part of the game in any shape, form, or fashion.

What was your best game?
My best game was a CBL game in which I scored 40 points; 5 dunks, and went 10/10 from the line. That got me some exposure in locally.

Why are sports/education important to you?
Sports and education are very important. Sports keep young people busy and out of possible trouble. An education is the key to anything in life.

What can you do to make yourself better in your sport?
I can make myself better in sports by not thinking as much and let the game come to me.

How do you make your team better?
I make a impact on my team by being a threat from out and inside the paint. I'm also the most athletic on the team and my vertical leaping ability off two feet is amazing.

What advice can you give other student-athletes?
My advice to student-athletes is to never let sports get ahead of your school work. Education must always come first.

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Shouts out to SoSportz! Be looking out for the site soon!

KYLE BOLIN- LEXINGTON CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL

Tell everyone about yourself?
My name is Kyle Bolin and I'm a freshman at Lexington Catholic High School in Lexington, Kentucky. I play football there where currently I'm the Quarterback. This past season(2009), I played wide receiver on the varsity level because I was third on the depth chart behind two senior Quarterbacks. However, I started Quarterback on the freshman and JV level. This coming up season,(2010), I will begin my career as a varsity quarterback. I will have my sophomore, junior, and senior year to live up to the hype that has been set upon my shoulders. I have been very lucky to perform at my very best in front of very important people. In the off-season after my eighth grade season, I was named the FBU East All-American Team starting Quarterback. A couple months later, I participated in the National Underclassmen Combine. As an eighth grader, I had to compete with current freshman at the time. There were three combines, an open combine for anyone to do, an ultimate 100 for the elite players in the surrounding states, and then a top prospect camp for the top 100 players in the nation. As an eighth grader competing with freshman, I was named the QB MVP in all three events. After my showcase, I have been contacted by many schools such as Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, South Carolina, Florida, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Kentucky, Georgia, Texas, Florida State, Missouri, UCLA, Michigan, Louisville, West Virginia, Duke, Northwestern, Illinois, and Arizona State. The Goal for myself this season is to win a state championship and be honored as the first team all-state team.

What was your best game?
My best game was when we played Trinity High School. They are a powerhouse 6A school in Louisville, KY. Before the game started the coach told me to get our offense to 35points. After the game, I ended with 5 passing touchdowns and 2 rushing touchdowns. I threw for 350 yards and ran for 175 yards. We lost the game but it was one of the best games of my career.

Why are sports/education important to you?
Education comes first. In order to survive in this country, you must have an education and a degree. Sports may not always be there so I will need something to fall back on, and an education is my insurance. Sports is very important to me because it keeps me in good physical condition and allows me to stay in shape. Also, sports teaches you how to handle yourself around people and ables you to become a man, and learn very important habits for when you mature.

What can you do to make yourself better quarterback?
Practice. Practice. Practice. Throwing, running, lifting, and studying film. There is so much to being a good Quarterback. I look at it as if I could always be better, no matter how good I am. I can always throw more balls, work on my agility, my release, my hand offs, and decisions. One thing I need to work on the most is being patient in the pocket and going through my read progression.

What is your dream college?
The University of Tennessee. Ever since I was six, I have always dreamed about quarterbacking the Volunteers of Tennessee in an SEC environment. I went to one of their games and it was mind-blowing. The stadium is so loud and the fans are crazy. From then on I've tried to imagine what it would be like to play in front of a fan base like Tennessee's. Hopefully I will be able to experience that feeling one day.

If a College Coach ask you, how can you make our team better, what would you say?
I would say many things. The most important thing would be to have a shorter memory. The ability to forget the mistakes I've made the moment after I've made them. Sometimes when mistakes are made, I would get down on myself or my team. Another thing I need to work on is not keying on one player. Sometimes I choose who I'm throwing to based on how well the wide receiver is. I need to go through my progressions and throw to the open receiver, not the player.


What advice can you give other student-athletes?
The decisions you make today will effect the rest of your life. Many kids make stupid decisions when they are young and it ruins the athletes future. Also, to live like a peasant today, then like a king tomorrow. In other words, work your butt off while a kid, make sacrifices that you normally wouldn't make just to make sure nothing goes wrong. After all the hard work, you will live a very easy and happy life when your older based on all the hard work you've put in as a kid. Just remember though that sports is only temporary and you will always need an education to fall back on. Education comes before athletics.

Send a shout out to SoSportz:
Thanks for giving me the opportunity to answer your questions, and taking the time out to interview me.

LAUREN AVANT- LAUSANNE COLLEGIATE SCHOOL

Tell everyone about yourself?
I'm Lauren Avant, an 18-year-old Senior at Lausanne Collegiate School. I'm a 5'9", 150 pound true point guard that can convert to a combo guard at any time. I've been playing basketball since I was five or six, been on the competitive aau/exposure circuit since I was 9. I committed to play for Pat Summit and the Lady Vols on Thanksgiving of my freshman year. I have a 4.7 GPA and plan on becoming an Orthopedic Doctor after graduating from Tennessee. I suffered from a severe shoulder injury so I didn't play on the circuit this summer and only played a couple high school games, so I missed out on alot of events and camps I was invited to.

What was your best game?
It's hard to choose a single game out of my entire career that's 'best'. I personally think my best games are when I'm able to get my teammates involved; one game I had 21 assists. My first high school game back after my shoulder injury, I had a quadruple double, so if I had to pick, it'd be one of those games.

Why are sports/education important to you?
Sports and education are important to me because I know that this day in age that sports can pay for your education, and you need an education to succeed in life and have a steady income. Sports also influence education becomes sometimes you need that instinctive competitive nature that only sports can give you to want to better yourself in life, which starts in the classroom.

What can you do to make yourself better in your sport?
To better myself in my sport, I'd first have to get healthy so I can actually produce. Then I'd like to work on my leadership skills and qualities because I understand the importance of a point guard being vocal and also leading by example. Lastly, I'd like to not only increase my worth ethic but also increase the work ethic of the players around me.

How do you make your team better?
I think I make my team better by bringing a fiery intensity and just pure energy to the game every night. I'm not afraid to mix it up with the guards or the big men; I’m just a scrappy guard. I'm also very unselfish, so I like to get my teammates in the game by delivering accurate passes in the shooting pocket because I understand that truly makes a difference and just getting them in the position to score points. I also like to have fun playing, which is rare now, and I think that relaxes the team.

How do you feel about being a future Lady Volunteer?
I honestly can't wait to get up there. I feel like it's been forever since I've committed, and I can't wait to get up there to play. I was born a Lady Vol; it's always been my dream school and pretty much the only school so I plan on making the best of this opportunity.

How was the recruiting process?
The recruiting process was hectic. It started in like 8th grade; my AAU coach was my stepfather, so they could contact us legally. Then I started getting contacted illegally, and NCAA ended up checking my phone bill monthly. They came to my house and investigated. It was crazy, and that's part of the reason it ended so early. It's really hard getting to know all of these coaches and realizing how they're just great people, then choosing another school. The recruiting process is just stressing.

What advice can you give other student-athletes?
If I could tell student athletes anything, I would tell them to value their education and to take advantage of all of these scholarships and to look into the academic section of the schools and not just the athletics portion because academics will always be useful and athletics can only take you so far. But while you have the opportunity to be an athlete, take full advantage of that too and work as hard as you can to be the best. Time management is essential in being the best student-athlete on any level so learn it as early as possible, and last but not least, don't let anyone tell you what you can't do or what you're too young to do; try your best to prove everyone wrong.

Send a shout out to SoSportz:
Thank you SoSportz for creating this awesome website with loads of information and also for creating an awesome facebook page to relate to the young student athletes across the nations. Keep it up!