Kayla King '21 Recruiting Profile

I began playing softball at 7 years old through the encouragement of my best friend's mom who was a coach. I have always loved playing with my teammates for fun and recreation, but my competitive character has resulted in me playing at "Premiere level.”  My goal is to play university level ball in the United States or Canada.  I hope to contribute to the success of a team with my dedication to the sport I love and believe I can make a difference in.  I am emotionally invested in softball and I want to promote it because it has taught me so much as an athlete and human being.  I want to be an advocate for encouraging other girls to remain in sports as I fundamentally believe that it contributes to our development as people.  Playing ball has always given me deep purpose in my life.  I also hope to excel in my academics while playing ball and pursue a career in physiotherapy or psychology.

Softball has exposed me to many learning opportunities and provided me with several life lessons that have contributed to who I am today. The heartbreak in losing championships, play down games, and not performing at my best at crucial times, have taught me resilience and how to recover from loss and build from it. I took my biggest learning experience from my team's loss in provincial play downs and city finals. We entered play downs with a motivated mindset until we played two division 1 teams and lost our chance at provincials. I went into those games expecting them to play at a similar skill level as us. A motto I have always chosen to play by is “ You can only control attitude and effort when you are an athlete, not what happens in a game.” I brought my best efforts to both of those games, however, our goal of winning provincials was off the table. From this loss, I set a goal to place in city finals in either first or second. Some of my teammates struggled to see the purpose in competing anymore, however, I stepped up as a leader, influencing the idea that it would be best for us to finish as high as we could despite the the provincials setback.

I attended a “UCLA,” camp in the summer of 2019, in order to improve my play and acquire new skills for my physical and mental game. At this camp I had the opportunity to speak to the NCAA softball world series champions and ask questions about the life of a college athlete and what it takes to reach that level. My main goal is to get a scholarship in softball where I will be able to incorporate my individual skills both mentally and physically towards the success of a college/university team. A large part of my values involves me pushing myself to focus on academics while achieving high marks and understanding the concepts I am learning. During my first semester of grade 11, I found I wasn't being pushed hard enough academically,  so I made the personal decision to apply to Westmount Charter High School, a school for gifted students, and was accepted.  I finished grade 11 with a GPA of 3.2 in a program that was much more difficult than the previous curriculum I was enrolled in.  It was reinforced repetitively at the UCLA camp to focus on getting good grades while learning to balance out your schedule if you were looking to play at a college level. I have continued to live by my values and put 110% effort into my education at all times, while taking the time to train and always finish my fitness reps. I believe so strongly that softball requires a lot of mental toughness and confidence.