Mosley tennis player is this week’s Student Athlete of the Week

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) - Lauren Moody was a star for the Mosley Dolphins tennis team this year but tennis wasn’t the original choice, way back when, Lauren borrowed -- or rather, stole the hobby from her brother.

“Uh, it wasn’t originally, it was volleyball. I kind of found out that wasn’t for me, and my brother played tennis, so I stole one of his rackets and just started playing.” Moody said.

Since she picked the racket up, she hasn’t put it down and over the last four years at Mosley her game has only reached new heights.

“I’ve seen amazing developments. Every year there’s growth. This year she was playing our two spot and our three spots, and then our 2 seed doubles for girls’ team.” Mosley Head Tennis Coach, Nancy Garcia said.

Being an anchor of 3 different teams is a lot of pressure for Lauren, but she always managed to keep it cool. The real pressure didn’t come until she was in the classroom.

“Everyone in my family is just really smart, so they kind of expected me to be smart too, so I kind of put that pressure on me. School has always come kind of easy to me, tennis hasn’t, so I’ve definitely had to work harder at tennis, then in school.” Moody said.

But don’t get it wrong, Lauren still works hard in the class, and it showed. This upcoming year she’ll be attending her dream school, the University of Florida! And while a Gator she looks to study Psychology, but she’s still trying to process the timeline.

“I don’t think it’s processed yet that I’m graduating in like a month. It’s scary, so I think I’m just kind of focusing day by day.” said Moody.

“She’s very driven, she accomplishes everything she sets her mind to. Anything that Lauren wants to do in her future, I know she will accomplish it.” Coach Garcia said.

She’s off to a great start, she finished this year top 10 in her class and with a 4.0 GPA for the fourth straight year.

Newschannel 7′s Student Athlete of the Week is sponsored by Walborsky, Bradley and Fleming.

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