WXXV Student Athlete of the Week: Gulfport Volleyball’s Kailey Johnson

Last year, Ansley Brent’s second student athlete of the week was Brooklynn Montana who played volleyball at Gulfport.

As fate would have it, this year, her second student-athlete of the week also plays volleyball for the Lady Admirals.

The Lady Admirals volleyball team had a remarkable season last year making it to the South State championship with six seniors leading the way, but that also means the Admirals only have one returning starter for the 2023 season and that one returner is living up to her captain status, both on and off the court.

Introducing our WXXV Student Athlete of the Week, Gulfport’s very own Kailey Johnson.

In middle school, Kailey Johnson’s mom told her to go outside and play around with a volleyball to see if it was something she might like. Turns out, she loved it. “I realized that if you work hard at something because you love it so much, you can get to where you want to be if you keep pushing yourself, and I’ve gotten to that place and have loved it ever since.”

Johnson is an opposite side hitter for Gulfport High School and she’s played for the Admirals ever since she was a sixth grader.

She says the wins and achievements are great, but her favorite part about the sport are the people on her side of the court. “My teammates, I’ve always wanted to be there for them and supporting them. If I have their back, they have mine, and I always want my coaches to have someone to look to on the court and I always wanted to be that person for them to look up to and look to for anything, and supporting my coaches and my parents, everyone that’s supporting me including staff members and anyone that’s encouraged me to keep working hard. I like to show them what I can do.”

Mission accomplished, according to Head Coach Resi Fitzgerald, who describes Johnson as the team’s backbone, which is why she nominated her for student-athlete of the week. “I nominated Kailey because of her leadership skills within our team. She plays with so much composure on the court. We rely on her a lot and she never gets flustered, she’s always aggressive, always makes good choices, and leads by example. Kailey is one of our very few returning varsity players, and she motivates her teammates, and on the court, we know if we need to get the ball to somebody to score, Kailey is that person.”

“I was very anxious and nervous actually to be one of the few returners, and I kind of used that and turned my mindset around and showed that I can be a leader and I’m going to be a captain and I need to push more than ever and push my teammates so they can push and support me in return.”

Some of Kailey’s top moments being back-to-back district champs and competing in the South State title match last season, just to name a few.

How could we forget, playing in the North-South All-Star Game back in July. “It showed that my hard work out of all the years since I was younger has really paid off and I was just happy to be there and I really enjoyed the moment.”

Two months later and the Lady Admirals are sitting pretty with an overall record of 17-4. Johnson believes their performance is a reflection of their positive mindset. “We have a lot of mind goals and stuff that we say before practice to get us going, pumped up, and the energy is great, I love it, and we always tell our teammates and ourselves to get one percent better each day.”

The Lady Admirals continue to get one percent better each day as they prepare for their next match at D’Iberville.