WXXV Student Athlete of the Week: St. Patrick’s Brooklyn Mitchell

This week’s WXXV Student Athlete of the Week plays a lot of different sports and even though its football season that’s not one of them.

Multi-tasking is easier said than done especially when it comes to playing multiple sports in high school. St. Patrick senior standout Brooklyn Mitchell plays three of them and she plays them all very well which makes her the perfect choice for this week’s WXXV Student Athlete of the Week.

When reminiscing on growing up, St. Patrick’s Brooklyn Mitchell says she truly doesn’t remember life without softball and that’s probably the case because the softball bloodline on Mitchell’s maternal side dates back all the way to her great-grandmother, all proudly wearing 13 on their backs. “It’s fun to hear stories about them and their journeys and know that I am the next generation and I can keep carrying it on and then maybe if I have kids, they’ll carry it on and wear the same number. It’s really cool to think about.”

Last season Mitchell led the squad in doubles, home runs, and RBI and she shows off her quick hands and agility while playing shortstop for the Lady Irish.

Little did she know those skills would be put to good use on a court wearing a varsity jersey that literally fell into her lap. “I was like I might as well just try out, it’ll be fun, and I ended up making varsity my seventh-grade year and it was my first year ever playing and I remember getting in the car and telling my mom, “They said I had a varsity jersey!”, and my mom was flipping out like, “What are you talking about? There’s no way.”

Mitchell is a captain on both St. Patrick’s softball and volleyball teams and she’s also on the all-team district roster for both, but just when she thought her hands were full, she fell in love again, this time on the hardwood.

Her favorite part of basketball is the capability to improve individually each and every day. “Being able to work out by yourself, because volleyball and softball are kind of hard to just do by yourself, but basketball if you have a goal, you can do whatever. If you just have a ball, you can dribble and it’s just so fun. It just takes your mind off of everything and I like it a lot.”

The internal grit and motivation do not go unnoticed as Mitchell led the Lady Irish to a record-breaking season, along with scoring 424 points just last year.

Mitchell says the records and awards wouldn’t be possible without learning responsibility, time management, and many other qualities, but one of the main factors that comes to her mind when thinking about her success is consistency. “Consistency is a big part of it too because you can’t just go into the game expecting to play your best and playing the best you can be if you aren’t practicing, and I feel like that really ties into my faith too because I can’t expect God to answer all my prayers and do this for me to have a good faithful life if I don’t practice it and don’t pray on my own and do things like that.”

Mitchell also put her faith to the test when deciding her next steps after high school. She’s currently committed to play softball at MGCCC for the next two years and even after that she doesn’t know if she could fully walk away from athletics. “I didn’t know if I wanted to be a doctor or a nurse or something like that or if I wanted to stay in sports, but then I thought about it and I love sports so much and it’s been such a big part of my life for all my life and I really want to keep it there.”

The Lady Irish will host their first playoff match of the volleyball season tomorrow against McLaurin High School.