The Grind, presented by Bank of Clarendon: East Clarendon's White stays busy as 3-sport star for Lady Wolverines

East Clarendon's Hayden White has two focuses in life: athletics and academics.

Both of them keep her pretty busy all year long.

Academically, Hayden is near the top of her class. It's hard to see how she finds the time to hit the books, as she spends nearly every minute she's not in a classroom getting ready for whichever sport she's playing that season.

In the fall, she's busy starring for the volleyball team. He helped carry the Lady Wolverines into the third round of the SCHSL 1A playoffs. In the winter, she's on the same court with the basketball team, where she and her teammates are out to a cracking 9-1 start heading into the District 9 Officials Christmas Tournament this week. Once the spring rolls around, she'll be out on the diamond with the hopes of leading the Lady Wolverines back to the lower state tournament again.

During the summer, she finds the time to balance all three.

There's no rest for the wicked as a three-sport star, but Hayden wouldn't have it any other way.

"I've spent my whole life on sports, so it's something that's always been a part of me. It's something I can always go to," Hayden said. "I can't go a day without doing something sports related. It's something I always had to spend my time on, especially if I want to go into my senior year and be the best athlete I could be."

BASKETBALL

Hayden is in the midst of her senior season at East Clarendon, where she has truly seen it all.

As Hayden was rising through the ranks as an elementary school and middle school athlete, Talaysia Cooper was breaking onto the stage as one of the elite girls basketball players in the state.

Hayden had some time to hone her craft on the JV level playing for coach Quan Barnes before making the jump to varsity. As a seventh-grader, she led the JV in scoring, showing off her immense potential.

"She just caught onto things really quickly, and she was eager to learn," Quan said of Hayden. "The first year was a little bit of a change of pace for her, but she was my leading scorer on JV as a seventh-grader. Between that seventh- and eighth-grade year, that summer, her parents got in touch with me, and we did some training and kind of developed her game as far as dribbling, working on her shooting form, working on the fundamentals of the game. That next year is kinda where she took off. She took all that stuff she learned that summer, and she incorporated into her game."

Eventually, Hayden made the jump to varsity and had to play under the brightest lights. She was playing games in front of South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley and in crowded gyms everywhere the team went. While many Lady Wolverines felt some added pressure, Hayden was too oblivious to realize she was supposed to be overwhelmed.

"I knew some players probably felt that pressure. Not me so much because I didn't really know what was going on at the time," Hayden said with a chuckle. "I feel like she felt like the pressure was on herself. And because the coach at the time really just focused on her and the other girls. But I knew that we had to be a team, so I tried to push myself to be better, and I put pressure on myself to be better."

It can be overwhelming to be a freshman stepping on the court alongside one of the state's premiere athletes. While Hayden didn't feel the pressure to perform, she definitely didn't want to be the person who messed up alongside Talaysia.

"I was honestly kind of nervous to play with her. But when I started playing with her, I loved her. I loved all my teammates that were with me," Hayden said. "I kind of held myself back because I didn't know what it was like playing that such a high level at such a young age. But then I got used to it, and my freshman year was kind of rough. I mean, I played, but I wasn't really pushing myself out there. But then, as I grew, I knew how to find myself through my sports and what I should be doing for my team."

For the first two years of Hayden's varsity career, her role was pretty simple. She was to stand in the corner and if the ball came her way, it was bombs away from three.

"She had to move without the basketball, do backdoor cuts, cut to the basket and that when she really excelled as a shooter," Quan said. "She really started shooting the ball well, and she became that knockdown three-point shooter that we needed."

Then Talaysia graduated.

Suddenly, the girl who brought the ball up the court on literally every possession wasn't there. That was a major adjustment for the Lady Wolverines to make.

"When you tell a kid for two years to sit in the corner and just shoot and then you expect her to handle the load of handling the basketball, it's a lot on them, especially when they're not used to it," Quan said. "They took their lumps, but she fought through it, and she was willing to take on that role. That's just because of her competitive spirit."

Around Hayden, EC was young, so she needed to do a lot of the heavy lifting.

"I knew it was going to be tough, definitely a tough transition for the rest of our team because we had to figure it out for ourselves," Hayden said. "We had to learn plays, we had to learn the fundamentals of basketball, so the pressure was really on us to keep the program going. But it was tough. We knew it was going to be, but we pushed through."

It was a taxing season. East Clarendon won just four games, but Hayden learned some valuable lessons in a difficult year.

"One thing that we've learned is that we really have to be a team instead of being so divided," she said. "We have to have chemistry within each other on the court and outside of the court, and that's helped us a lot. And we always have to be there for each other."

East Clarendon more than doubled last season's win total before Christmas this year. Hayden said the key has been the energy from new head coach Demetrius Adams-Ludd.

"We're playing with a lot more confidence than we ever had in the past because she's bringing us confidence," Hayden said. "She definitely has a presence anywhere she goes, and she has a presence when she walks in our practices and our games for us because we look at her as a role model. And even our assistant coach, coach G(ianne Fleming). They taught us so much over the summer and even during practices this year, and it's helped us fundamentally, and it helped us with our chemistry on the court. All of that together helps build our confidence."

Hayden's confidence is evident on the court. She's cracked up her scoring output this season, and she's done much more than shoot the basketball. Hayden has focused on driving to the basket and handling the ball, but Quan has seen the biggest strides on the other side of the court.

"She's taken the leadership role of scoring, but she's really picked it up on defense, and that's where I've seen it click is on the defensive side of the ball," Quan said. "She's always been a good defender, but it's doing the little things like diving on the floor for basketballs. That's a testament to her and the new coaching staff."

When talking about Hayden, leadership is a common theme for Quan. He has seen Hayden blossom as a leader as one of the few seniors on the basketball team this winter, but he's seen it in each of her three sports.

"She's starting to lead by example," he said. "I've always told Hayden she was a leader whether she liked it or not. She always led, but she did it quietly. Now she's starting to be more vocal, and she's actually helping teach. She's really taken that leadership role. She's not a rah rah type of girl, but she leads by example."

VOLLEYBALL

Hayden hopes to lead the basketball team to a district title this season, just like she did on the volleyball court.

The Lady Wolverines have only known success during Hayden's time in the varsity program, but it looked a little different this season.

For one, they were battle tested. First-year head coach Jessica Boyington made a point to crank up the intensity of their regular season schedule. She didn't want to see another year when EC cruised through the first round of the playoffs only to lose to Branchville again in the second round.

So, EC lost a few times in the regular season. It was an important test for Hayden and her teammates, but she was happy to take some early lumps if it meant playoff success was in their future.

"She was definitely my kind of coach. She pushed us every day in practice to be better than we were the day before," Hayden said of Boyington. "We definitely had ups and downs in games, practices even sometimes, but in games that it mattered, we knew we had to dig deep and push through and stay focused so we could win and be region champs. That was definitely one of our biggest goals this year, and we accomplished it."

First came a stressful region title, which was eventually determined by points thanks to a three-way tie on top between Johnsonville, Carvers Bay and the Lady Wolverines.

After an easy win over Military Magnet in the first round, EC lined up against the team that knocked them out of the playoffs in each of the previous two seasons: Branchville. This year was different, as the Lady Wolverines took home a 3-1 win in a tense match on their home court. For Hayden, it came with a sigh of relief.

"We played them before in the Wilson Hall tournament and we knew what they were like, so we practiced specific things that they did the day before in practice," White said. "We knew their tendencies, we focused on certain things that they did, and we executed that in the game, and that really helped us to push past Branchville. After we had that win, we definitely felt accomplished because that's the furthest we've been, at least since I've been here."

Unfortunately, their magical season came to an end in the next round. East Clarendon made the trip up to Lake View in the third round and got out to an excellent start. They won the first set and led in the second, but after the Gators came back to tie the match at a set apiece, everything started to spiral.

"We were up, and then mistake after mistake kept happening, so it was kind of like a domino effect and kept going downward," Hayden said. "I tried to keep encouraging our team, but at that point, I knew that it was within ourselves if we wanted to win or not. I knew for myself, I wanted to, but I couldn't speak for my other teammates."

While the season ended sooner than hoped, it was an excellent final run on the volleyball court for Hayden.

"I was definitely excited to know that I ended my senior year with my best year yet," she said. "It was definitely the funnest year I've had especially with my teammates because we definitely got along better than any team I've had in the past."

SOFTBALL

Hayden also took part in a dominant softball season last spring. The Lady Wolverines shined alongside the EC baseball team, as both squads made it to the lower state tournament. Both teams eventually fell to Lake View, the girls in the early stages of the tournament, while the boys fell 3-2 on a walk-off in the lower state championship game.

"It was definitely an accomplishment for all of us," Hayden said. "I knew the baseball team would come and support us, and we will come to support the baseball team because we all support each other. It is a family to us at this school, and we all push each other through playoffs, and we know that we all have the same goals of going farther. It's just a matter of being there for each other, and we were."

Softball season is always interesting at a small school like East Clarendon. Some schools on their schedule for basketball would line up to be opponents in the spring, only to not have a softball team at all. Region foes like Scott's Branch and Hemingway regularly fail to put a squad together, leaving gaps in their schedule.

But that opens doors for new tests. East Clarendon regularly has to have larger programs to fill their schedule, which Hayden sees as a way to prep for playoff success.

"I think playing bigger schools always helps; it pushes you with competition, you see faster pitching, the balls are going to be hit harder at you, so it'll make you tougher," Hayden said. "So, when it comes down to region play and playoffs, all the things that are hit at you, you've already seen it before."

BALANCE

While Hayden loves each of the three sports she plays, she tries to avoid letting all three consume her at once.

Each season, she makes a point to keep her attention on the sport at hand. She thinks she owes it to her teammates, and her body, to put up blinders in each of the three seasons.

"When it was volleyball, I was focused on volleyball, and I knew I had to be my best volleyball player. Come basketball season, I knew I had to show up for my team and stay focused on basketball and not even worry about softball until I hit that field. When softball season comes, it'll be softball season," Hayden said. "I try to make very distinct time periods with volleyball, basketball and softball because they're three different things. I use the same skill sets, but it's for your team why you set those standards to be there for your team and not just focus on something else.

"Sometimes I'll do things for other sports, but most of the time during that sports season, I focus on that sport and being better in that sport. Just because it's so much going back and forth, and I also don't want to get hurt."

During the summer, all bets are off. All three sports practice regularly during the time away from school, and Hayden often spends her entire day splitting time between each practice.

"My summers consist of hitting the weight room during our weight room times. I would have volleyball practice, and some days our gym would be open for basketball practice, even softball practice, so I might have three practices in a day," Hayden said. "I make time out of my day to go do all three of those things if I have to, which is busy. But it's also worth it, especially when you start winning throughout the season. All that hard work pays off."

The key is knowing your limits. Hayden has done this long enough that she knows when her body needs some time off.

"I try to take breaks through the summer. If I can't make days or if I'm hurting too much, I'll stay at home to rest my body and my mind," Hayden said. "But I also like being busy, so I like to come in and having something to do, something to get my mind off things if I'm going through something.

"During the summer, I don't work just because of sports, so I put all my focus on sports during the summer, so I don't really have anything else to worry about."

Quan also sees the importance of athletes like Hayden at a 1A school like East Clarendon. She's an example for all of the young hopeful female athletes who want to thrive in multiple sports. Quan compared her to Caitlin Timmons, who led the Lady Wolverines to basketball and softball state titles before Hayden made the jump to varsity athletics.

"What it really shows is that you don't have to focus on one sport to be great at it," he said. "So many kids are told that they have to focus on softball or volleyball, but what Hayden is showing them is that you can be great at all three sports if you put in the work and time.

"She's what I call a true example of a student-athlete. She's very academically inclined, near the top of her class, and she takes college courses. She takes care of her body, eats good. The other thing she does is when she needs help, she asks for extra help. Before practice starts, if I'm out there early, she'll take extra groundballs, or if the JV is on the field, she hit in the cage with us. It's the little things like that where she's trying to polish her craft. Volleyball is the same way; if there's time to get extra work in, she's there. She's a gym rat, and she really cares. She wants to win."

LIFE AFTER EC

Hayden is talented enough to make the jump to college athletics in volleyball, basketball or softball at some level, but she decided that she won't pursue an athletic scholarship. Instead, she wants to attend a larger university and focus on her education. While that means her final seasons at EC come with a few extra tears, she isn't shutting the door on athletics.

"It's definitely sad. Volleyball was probably my hardest, basketball is definitely going to hit and softball, but I know in college they offer other sports like intramural," she said. "I definitely want to play something like that to have something to go back to. It'll be my last time here, but it won't be my last time ever."

One day, Hayden hopes to come back to the high school level and give back as a coach. She's learned from so many great coaches during her time at East Clarendon and wants to feed that knowledge back to the next generation if given the chance.

"I've definitely thought about coming back to coach," Hayden said. "It might be years from now, even after I finished college and get a job, but I know I'm going to want to come back at some point."