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After Unique Upbringing, Johnson's Scott Makes Early Splash In Pool
It was hard to miss San Antonio Johnson freshman swimmer Jada Scott during the 2019-2020 high school swim season because she earned a pair of top eight finishes at the 2020 UIL 6A girls state swim meet, but there's an interesting backstory that many people are not aware of.
She and her twin brother Luke, who are of Samoan descent, were born in a Hawaii hospital. Their biological younger brother, Lionel, was also among the 12 kids that Madonna Scott adopted.
"I find it pretty cool," Jada said of her unique family.
Madonna, who said adopting was "her purpose" in life, doesn't have any biological children.
"I always wanted children [and] I lost four children," Madonna said of how everything came to be.
Madonna wanted the best for her family members and tried to provide them as normal of a childhood as possible. One way she executed that was introducing her children to sports at an early age and encouraging them to find athletic activities that they enjoyed participating in. For Jada, that was swimming, and she has experienced many years of joy and success because of it.
"I've been a competitive swimmer since I was six," said Jada.
Almost immediately, her coach at the time encouraged Jada to make the move to club swimming because she possessed the necessary qualities to be a great swimmer. His projection played out, and the Scotts pursued the opportunity when she was seven years old. It prepared her so much for the competition at high school and national meets that she recorded an eighth place finish in the 200-yard individual medley and a second place result in the 200-yard freestyle relay at this year's UIL state meet.
Jada always likes her chances in shorter events, but doesn't want to stop there. She is currently working with her club coach and former Olympian Doug Gjertsen to improve her standing in other competitions.
"He put me in a distant group," said Jada. "I had no endurance, but I'm getting better at the 200."
Jada admitted that she "didn't take swimming as seriously" when she first started, but she now feels right at home in the pool. The turn of the tide started to occur when she started developing strong friendships with other swimmers. They are now some of her strongest supporters. Some go to rival North East ISD schools, but that didn't stop them and others from voting over 28,000 times for her in the recent VYPE San Antonio Girls Swimmer of the Year poll win.
"A lot of friends, even from [San Antonio] Reagan, were voting for me," said Jada. "I have so much fun with other people, even though they're on other teams. They're my closest friends and push me a lot."
Madonna has even noticed her daughter's love for swimming emerge over the years. She said when Jada isn't swimming, she "misses the water" and the "southing comfort" of the activity.
Jada knows she's ahead of the curve after one high school season and plans to have a swimming role for decades to come. She wants to follow in the footsteps of Gjertsen by becoming a college and Olympic swimmer and ultimately a club swim coach for high school athletes.
For more sports coverage, follow Thomas (@Texan8thGen) and VYPE (@VYPESATX) on Twitter.
Looking to get more involved? Check out ShopVYPE for fresh gear that supports local schools and the VYPE U Ambassador Program. To sign up for the VYPE U Program, apply at VYPEU.com.
Galvan's 2022 UT Offer Arrived At Perfect Time
Around this time in 2019, Rylan Galvan was beginning his high school baseball career at Sinton High School. He had no idea how far it would go over the next three months.
It started with Galvan's quick development from freshman player to varsity leader, and continued with Sinton's second 30-win season and second UIL 4A Region IV Semifinal appearance in three years.
"I earned the upperclassmen respect by simply proving [to] them that I could play and hang with them, and also playing to a very high level that they didn't believe I could play at," said Galvan. "What I do to be a leader on the team is that I lead by example. Showing [teammates] the right way to play the game, and that's with class, respect, sportsmanship and [competing] at 100 miles per hour at all times. I also lead by being very positive with my teammates."
Sinton's 2019 season ultimately concluded with a series sweep defeat against Liberty Hill, but Galvan was able to quickly turn his attention away from the disappointment. That's because he received an offer from his dream school the following day.
"I received my official offer [on] May 26th, 2019," he said. "I was extremely honored and blessed with the offer because, growing up as a kid, I idolized The University of Texas baseball program and had dreams of being able to one day wear that burnt orange and white."
Galvan has obviously admired UT for a long time and expects it to be a good fit.
"I feel that Texas was the right choice for me because the coaching staff and the whole baseball program made me feel at home," he said. "I connected with them very quickly and felt like they could help me take my game to the level [that] I'm trying to reach. Academics is also something [that is] very important in my life and I felt like there was no better place to receive a degree from than The University of Texas."
Galvan is still two years away from stepping on The Forty Acres as a student, but there's an experience that he's already looking forward to.
"Being able to attend a Texas football game is probably what I'm looking forward to the most because I hear the atmosphere is like no other," he said.
In the meantime, Galvan wants to continue Sinton's great baseball legacy. He is familiar with the program's three UIL state championships from the 1988, 1989 and 2002 seasons and nine UIL state final four appearances from the 1975, 1988, 1989, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2014 and 2017 campaigns, and wants to experience a similar run for himself.
"We are a very different team than last year," he said. "This year, we are a very young team, but with a lot of talent that is very capable of making that deep playoff run. We plan on building off last year's season by just upholding that Sinton Pirate baseball tradition and continuing to do things the right way, just how the guys that came through the program before us did. Our goal this year, as it is every year for this program, is to bring a state championship back to the town of Sinton."
For more sports coverage, follow Thomas (@Texan8thGen) and VYPE (@VYPESATX) on Twitter.
Looking to get more involved? Check out ShopVYPE for fresh gear that supports local schools and the VYPE U Ambassador Program. To sign up for the VYPE U Program, apply at VYPEU.com.