TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Sometimes life is funny. We can't control certain things that happen to us, we can only control our reaction when things don't go our way.
For Godby senior basketball standout Darrion Denmark, that couldn't be more true in her senior season, a season she's lucky to have.
"An accident happened right next to me," she remembered of the September day that changed the course of her senior year. "I ended up getting hit by a piece of the car that fell off."
"She was of course upset," said head coach Chelsea Johnson. "This being her senior year, not knowing if she was going to be back."
Darrion was in bed for a week healing from her injuries, and returned to school on crutches which she sported for two weeks.
"When we found out she was coming back, the team was excited, she was excited," said Johnson. "Of course we told her we were going to take it slow, but Darrion doesn't know slow. She doesn't know slow at all. In her very first game back, she had 15 points."
15 points and the rest of her senior season to look forward too, Darrion is glad to be back, and the Cougars, happy to have her.
"We're very young this year, a lot of 9th and 10th graders. Her being one of the three seniors, they look up to her. They watch how hard sheplays. They watch how she overcomes adversity. Just from that alone, they feed off of her energy."
It's not just on the court where Darrion's inspiring her teammates either- she's also an inspiration in the classroom, as with a courseload full of AP and Honors courses, she sports a 3.36 GPA.
"It's a lot of studying. Homework after practice. It's a lot of late nights and early mornings. Class is important first. After class, we come get it done on the court, but class is number one."
"She doesn't have mandatory study hall, because she has over a 3.0, but she still comes to ensure her teammates do the same thing. That is important to me because she knows that when that ball stops bouncing, she has other aspirations bigger than basketball."
And after a big scare to start her senior campaign, Darrion has plans to keep that ball bouncing, for quite a while.
"It's a lot more to get done. I can do it, I think my team can do it, we'll be alright.">
