The Lee Academy library was filled with students, friends and family.
One of the school’s greatest all-time athletes sat at the table, a parent on each side, ready to sign a college athletic scholarship. The Head of School Rone Walker spoke first, followed by coaches. Everybody applauded. Everyone celebrated. Some cried.
Jett Harrell, the star of the Lee Academy Colts softball team, became the newest member of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College softball team. Harrell was a dominant player, as a pitcher, outfielder and infielder.
So what does a student-athlete think about at the table with the scholarship, the crowd, the photos and the jerseys displayed? “It was so much hard work,” Harrell explained. “All of the work and the trips and the people in my family and school who helped so much. It was finally coming together.
Interestingly, as Jett considered the hard work to arrive at that point, so did the parents on each side of her. “I was thinking about how hard she worked, and all of our trips to play for Lee Academy and travel ball,” explained her mother, Jennifer Joyner. “We always said that what you put into something determines what you get out of it. “
“I was so proud of her, especially because she really earned that scholarship,” said her dad, Sean Joyner. “She devoted herself to becoming the best that she could be.”
In the opinion of coaches, the day’s signing will not be the last for Harrell. “She will absolutely sign with a four-year college,” said her travel-coach, Rose Kalisak, affectionally known as “Coach K” to her players and their parents. Coach K has been tutoring pitchers and coaching travel-ball for over 25 years after a coaching career that included the early softball era at Ole Miss. “There is no doubt in my mind that she will excel at Gulf Coast and then go to the next level.”
Bill Taylor has coached Jett since she was nine years old and played pee-wee basketball. He figured out that she was a special athlete early in her career. “With most athletes, you have to push them, but with Jett, we usually had to rein her in,” he said with a laugh. “I think as a pitcher she has won every playoff game that Lee Academy has ever won in softball. We’ve had a good tradition with several girls signing college scholarships, but she may become be the best of them all.”
Ross Taylor also coached Jett and remarked about the culture of a team when the best athlete is also the hardest worker. “It was always a pleasure to coach Jett,” he said. “Even in August, with the weather so hot, it changes things when the best athlete works so hard and makes practices better for everyone.”
When her parents were asked if there was a moment that each realized she might become a special athlete, both answered easily. “She was 12 and it was the first day of playing real softball,” said mom Jennifer Joyner. “Knowing her personality, I knew that it would happen because she was determined. I know that look and I know what happens when she makes up her mind.”
“She was in the first grade,” Sean Joyner recalled. “She asked me to teach her how to skip and I did. She wanted to become good at skipping, so she practiced it every day. By the end of the year, she had won a skipping contest at school. That said it all about who she is and how she chases her goals.”
