Editor’s note: This is a regular feature profiling senior athletes at Bryant High School.
Maya Thompson
NAME: Maya Thompson
PARENTS: Michael and Lavita Thompson
SIBLINGS: I have three brothers, one older, two younge, Mycal, McKinley and Mekhi Thompson
FAVORITE SUBJECT IN SCHOOL: Chemistry
FAVORITE SPARE TIME ACTIVITY: I like to read and go shopping and relax and not do anything.
FAVORITE FOOD: Mexican
FAVORITE MUSIC ARTIST OR GROUP: Jheneiko
FAVORITE MOVIE: Great Gatsby
FAVORITE TV SHOW: Breaking Bad
WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE TOY AS A KID? Anything Barbie doll, Bratz dolls, just liked dolls.
WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS AFTER HIGH SCHOOL? I’m going to go to Arkansas State in Jonesboro. I’m undecided right now. I’ll pick something when I get there.
OTHER THAN YOUR PARENTS, WHO’S HAD THE BIGGEST INFLUENCE ON YOUR LIFE? HOW? I guess just all my other close family members because they’ve given me the tough love and the soft love, just whatever I needed to grow as a person.
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE THING ABOUT TRACK? I love the team.
EVENTS? Shot and discus.
WHAT APPROACH DO YOU TAKE TO YOUR EVENTS? I try to focus and I try to generate a little anger so I can throw hard.
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE SEASON SO FAR? I think that we’ve been proving ourselves wrong because we had a lot of doubt in ourselves. Now we’ve seen, as a team, that we can pull together, everyone pulls their load and we can still win meets even though we did lose a lot of members last year.
WHAT’S BEEN THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE SEASON SO FAR? Winning our home meet and, personally, for me, I was two feet off the record for shot put.
WHAT’S IT GOING TO TAKE FOR THE TEAM TO BE SUCCESSFUL AT CONFERENCE AND STATE? We’re going to have to believe in ourselves and we’re going to have all pull through and do our very best; no slacking.
TALK ABOUT YOUR EVENTS NOW; WHAT DO YOU THINK IS YOUR BIGGEST ASSET? WHAT ARE YOU MOST CONFIDENT IN YOUR ABILITY TO DO? I’ve been doing this for a while so now I kind of have that muscle memory to do it and now this year I’ve been more consistent with my throws.
WHAT DO YOU WORK HARDEST IN PRACTICE TO IMPROVE ON? Speed and form.
WHEN YOU’RE THROUGH RUNNING TRACK AT BRYANT HIGH SCHOOL, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’LL LOOK BACK AND REMEMBER MOST FONDLY ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE? I’ll remember all the victories, the celebrations, my team and just getting better and better every year.
