Kennedy Smith is an Olympia 2021 graduate from Waynesville who was involved in National Honor Society, Blue Crew, Varsity Basketball, Varsity Softball, and was a Middle School Softball Coach during her time at Olympia High School! She has participated in a year of sports unlike the rest of her time as a high school student. Despite this, she still enjoyed her time as an athlete and made unforgettable memories with her teammates and coaches.

Not only did Kennedy dedicate her time to the programs she was playing for, but she dedicated her time to the middle school softball program. During the fall season, her off-season, Smith would help coach the middle school players. “It truly opened my eyes to the game in such a different way. I am forever grateful for Coach Darrell allowing me to help coach the past 3 years!” Smith stated. Because of COVID restrictions on high school sports, she wasn’t able to make the typical transition of middle school softball to basketball. The basketball team wasn’t even sure if they were going to get their season together. However, the season was able to happen and Smith faced some adversity during the brief, five week season. She was quarantined due to a close contact COVID case. She explained, “The best part of basketball would have to be coming back from being quarantined and still being able to jump back in with my team and play a game my first day back.” 

After basketball came softball, where Smith stepped right into a leadership role and was determined to help lead the team back to the state tournament. She stepped up with timely hits multiple times for the very successful Spartan Softball team. Unfortunately, the Spartans faced the would-be state champions in a sectional championship match-up. “I am very proud of all the underclassmen that stepped up this season. I think that being able to make it to the sectional championship against the 2A state champions this year was very impressive. I am forever grateful to be able to say I played Olympia Softball,” said Smith.

In her time with Olympia athletics, Kennedy Smith has learned and taught her teammates to take nothing for granted and remember to always play for the team. Smith will take these life lessons with her as she continues her education at the University of Tennessee. She will be studying elementary education.