STAR of the Week: Taylor Henley, West Ouachita Volleyball

WEST MONROE, La. ( KTVE/KARD ) — It is a major accomplishment for any student to maintain a 4.0 grade point average.

Take that and combine it with being one of West Ouachita Volleyball’s most valuable pieces and you have Taylor Henley.

Add in her high quality character and there is not much else to say.

So we honor Taylor for her hard work and dedication to both the game of volleyball and her academic achievements as our latest STAR of the Week brought to you by Coney Island Connections and Chris Lewis.

“It is very tiring and it does tak a lot of time and effort, but I feel like when you want something and when you want to be good at something, you have to work for it,” Henley said. “I think that first being a student before an athlete is kind of like training for coming here and playing volleyball. Being consistent in school outside of volleyball helps be consistent in volleyball too.”

“We push that in order to be be a great volleyball player, you have to be a smart volleyball player as well,” said Bonney. “Education is number one for us and no matter what, the girls know they have to put school work first and then we put volleyball second. It’s just how it has to be.

West Ouachita’s Taylor Henley is not only a standout on the volleyball court, but also in the classroom.

The senior is one of the team’s top leaders, helping the Lady Chiefs add to the win column, but she is also one of the top students in the entire school and has the grades to prove it.

Head Coach Amanda Bonney says for anyone searching for the meaning of being a student-athlete, look no further than Taylor Henley.

“Taylor is the perfect example of a student-athlete,” Bonney said. “She’s a 4.0 student who has put her job as a pure student to the top level, and she doesn’t take the easy classes either. She is a great leader for her classmates and for the younger kids in the school and she brings that leadership onto the court as well.”

Taylor is finding much success while taking on quite a challenging schedule.

School, practice, homework, etc.

But regardless of how crazy it can get at times, her education is always the number one priority.

“After I eat, I usually get my backpack and I study and do some homework,” Henley said. “Most of the time it’s math.”

Although it is go, go, go with Taylor, there is always a chance for a little down time.

“After doing homework, I will usually just watch Pretty Little Liars,” Henley said.

We all have seen Taylor’s competitive edge when she steps on the court.

But what you may not see is that same edge when it comes to school.

It is mostly a competition with herself, but there is also the urge to emulate someone she looks up to the most.

“I think I definitely am,” Henley said. “Not with other students, but with myself. I challenge myself and I push myself. My sister, she was a really smart student-athlete and so I compare myself with her and compete with her. I try to be like her a lot.”

It is never easy trying to compete with the accomplishments of an older sibling, trust me.

But having that challenge is something that only pushes Henley to be even better.

“Sometimes it’s exhausting because my sister was a lot of things,” said Henley. “She was valedictorian and she was very popular. She won a lot of things. It just makes me want to be as good as her, if not better, because I just feel like I have to be.”

There is no question pertaining to the skills Henley brings to the floor.

But for Coach Bonney, she is excited about the skills that she will bring into her life.

“I absolutely love when they come back in four or five years and they are telling me what they are doing and that they are fulfilling their dreams because I always feel like I’ve put a little help into making their life and dreams, and that’s ultimately what being a coach and a teacher is, is helping them set the building blocks to set up their dreams and what they want for the future and it is so rewarding on me to be be able to see that in their futures.”

Young girls already look up to Henley and strive to be the student and athlete she is at West Ouachita.

But she won’t stop having an impact once her time as a Lady Chief comes to an end.

In fact, she will enter a new journey in a profession giving her a platform to have an impact on an even bigger stage.

“I plan on going to ULM,” Henley said. “I want to go into nursing and eventually become a doctor. Planning on working in the NICU with the babies.”

“I love that she wants to go into nursing,” Bonney said. “I saw her as being a nurse because they have a very demanding job and they are always on the run 100% of the time and there really is no down time with a nurse and with her doing how well she does in school and on the court and being able to constantly do everything at a high-speed level, she will be a perfect nurse and she is great with little kids.”

“I don’t want to be stuck in a job that I don’t love and I feel like I would love that,” Henley said.