Winter Athlete - Calissa Clendenin
Calissa Clendenin, a senior at North Moore High School, is one of the Moore Daily Sports Winter Athlete Winners.
Calissa is a three-sport varsity athlete, and she received a nomination for her basketball season. As a high school student, she played volleyball, basketball, and softball all four years. The sport she loves most, softball, has been a part of her life since she was three years old. Soon after, around age five, she started playing basketball and volleyball in middle school. "I’ve been playing softball so long, and I have a lot of love for it,” said Calissa. “I’m choosing to continue it in college and keep working at it while I get my degrees.”
Calissa averaged 7.9 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks per game for her basketball team. Her 151 points and 155 blocks were the most of her team. Despite leading her team in most of the statistics, Calissa kept the conversation about the team when asked about this season. “It’s about our team, I feel like it was really like a family this year,” said Calissa. “We were just kind of group of us girls who just kind of came together and played. We tried to play to the best of our ability. We tried to work hard every time we got on the court.”
Calissa just finished her senior season of softball, where the team made it to the second round of the playoffs. They also nominated her for the Spring Athlete Award, but the results are not yet available. She is the first athlete to be nominated twice in one season.
She has committed to playing softball next spring for Pfeiffer University.
Despite having a great basketball and softball career at North Moore, she explains that this past volleyball season is probably her favorite sports memory. “We went to the third round, because that’s the first time we’ve been there in a long time, and our record was very good,” she explained. The Lady Mustangs volleyball record 22-4 overall and 12-2 in the conference. Three losses were to the same team.
Calissa plans to study nursing beginning this fall. She is currently working towards her CNA certification at North Moore.
During her free time, she enjoys hunting and fishing. She is looking forward to and is very thankful that she gets to continue playing softball at the next level while earning her degree.
“I want to mention my volleyball coach, Leehneer,” said Calissa. “She’s been special to me, in volleyball especially, and she was also my basketball coach for one year. She has shown me a lot to improve my game.”
The second winner of the Moore Daily Sports Winter Athlete Award was Jaylen Kyle of Union Pines. You can find his article here: www.mooredailysports.com/union-pines-vikings/winter-athlete-jaylen-kyle
B&B Motors is the sponsor of the Moore Daily Sports Winter Athlete Awards.
