Lindsey Johnson, Southlake freshman, can throw a circular disk a long, long way. Her skill at throwing the discus meant she placed third in the district then represented the varsity team at the high school regional competition last year.
Lindsey was in eighth grade when one of her discus-throwing friends said, “You should try it,” and she took up the sport.
“It was a little unusual to throw discus,” she said. “A lot of girls were more in the running events, high jump or pole vault, but I was pretty much one of few representing the varisity team in discus.”
Lindsey also played volleyball and basketball and ran track, but doesn’t like to be defined by her involvement in sports. “I wouldn’t like to think of myself classified as a jock,” she said. “There’s a lot more to me than just sports.”
She was also on the newspaper staff, involved in choir and a dedicated student. “There was a lot of pressure in school, especially with trying to get good grades,” she said. “My senior year I was in all AP classes, but I was learning how to balance things, knowing when to do things and how how much time to set aside to study.”
Her turquoise blue eyes looked serious as she said, “School always comes first in reality. One of the good things I learned from being an athlete is how to be able to make it all work. Team sports is a lot of bonding experience. It helps to compete in sports, get to know your team mates, to know your own strengths and weaknesses, all of the things that are important with collaborating. I do think especially with our football team competing at state, there was a lot of pressure present. There’s pressure on all the football teams in Texas, I think. The whole town gets into it, and our team lived up to expectation. But for me personally in the discus throw there was not too much of that pressure.“
Lindsey, who is already counting the days to her nineteenth birthday in March, said since she is not on an SFA team she can concentrate more on schoolwork. She stays involved in sports in intermural flag football and basketball, and she is now considering playing softball.
“I just like sports in general,” she said. “It’s one of great things, getting out there and working up a sweat, working off energy. I like that feeling. I can’t sit in a place too long, and sports keeps me moving around, joining a team effort, meeting people.”
The communications major lives in Griffith Dorm and said it is harder to organize an exercise schedule around her classwork than when she was in high school. However, dressed in jeans, a long-sleeved T-shirt and and Nike Shocks, she looks like she could take off running any minute. Or maybe throw a discus. That probably wouldn’t surprise any of her former team mates from Caroll High, or her new classmates at SFA, once they get to know her.
