Athlete Spotlight: Mikayla Gavin

Mikayla Gavin is a senior at Audubon High School who is on the girls’ basketball team, playing center and power forward. Gavin has been playing basketball for thirteen years, and has always enjoyed it. She likes playing basketball because “I am always running and doing something active. Growing up I played softball and basketball, and I was so bored playing softball that when I started playing basketball, I fell in love with it.” Mikayla wears the number 12 because it represents how many years she has been playing basketball. As of this year, she’s been playing for 13 years, but couldn’t change her jersey number for this season.

A quote from a coach that inspired Mikayla to play better was “Throw me to the wolves and I’ll come back leading the pack”. When her coach said that, Gavin said “I felt like I could lead us to work hard and become [contenders] this year. Mikayla has a lot of role models, but she would choose her mother and her mentor if she had to choose. Mikayla says, “I look up to both of them because they teach me how to be the person I am”. 

Mikayla Gavin stays motivated to continue playing by remembering who her teammates are and how much she loves playing with them. She also stays sharp by doing a pre-game routine of practicing foul shots and three-pointers until one of her teammates steals the ball. Mikayla states that a weakness of hers is that “When we lose, I put my head down. But I’m improving by telling myself that there’s always next time.” She says of her strengths, “I have the strength to get a jump ball and put a girl to the ground while doing it and making three-pointers”. 

With Mikayla being a senior, she felt excited about her senior night but was also sad that the season was ending and she wouldn’t play with her “amazing teammates” anymore. She is still thinking about whether or not she will play basketball after high school, but Gavin’s top college of interest is RCSJ (Rowan College of South Jersey).