By Zach Persing ’15, Staff Writer

Excellence. Success. Dominance.  All of these words, along with a plethora of other praise, are frequently associated with Jocelyn Willoughby and her Newark Academy athletic career.  Only a sophomore, Jocelyn is widely considered to be one of the premiere athletes at Newark Academy.  Last year, she shined on both the basketball court and on the track.  Willoughby already holds the Newark Academy Girls’ school record for the 100-meter, 200, and 400-meter races, after setting and breaking her own records multiple times.  Additionally, Jocelyn averaged 17.1 points per game and 7.5 rebounds per game as a freshman for the Lady Minutemen basketball team.  While success in multiple sports is always quite impressive, the fact that she was able to accomplish so much in her first year of high school sports is even more impressive.

While Jocelyn’s success on the track is certainly laudable, her true passion is basketball.  She has played on multiple elite teams outside of school. She believes that her greatest basketball achievement was “being invited to try out for the USA U16 National Team Trials.”  She added that the time she spent trying out to represent her nation was “a great honor and experience overall.”  While Jocelyn is still only a sophomore, it seems like she has an extremely bright basketball future in front of her.  She has her own recruiting profile on ESPN’s website, and has already drawn a number of college coaches to watch her games.  Luckily, we will have three more seasons of high school basketball before she heads off to play in the NCAA.

A common stereotype of elite high school athletes is that they become complacent or arrogant — but Jocelyn’s attitude is completely antithetical to this generalization. Teammate and friend Rachel Neiman ’15 paints a drastically different picture.  “The best part about playing with Jocelyn is that she is very humble.  The whole team knows that she is an experienced player.  She isn’t afraid to flaunt her skills on the court but she isn’t cocky or arrogant, either.”  Jocelyn’s combination of talent and humility is a great example of the spirit that Newark Academy strives for.

While Jocelyn is undoubtedly in the midst of a successful basketball career, achievement on the court does not come without hardship and sacrifice.  “Balancing school and basketball can be a challenge, and at times it can be overwhelming, but I think that goes for any student-athlete at Newark Academy,” she said.  Willoughby also noted that while maintaining a social life in addition to all the time she spends on the court and in the classroom can be a challenge, it is certainly doable.

Coming off of a 24-3 season that included a Prep B Championship, with a victory over Rutgers Prep, as well as a conference title, Jocelyn and the entire girls’ basketball team will be facing great expectations come December.  Jocelyn has set a personal goal of scoring her thousandth point this season (on her way to her career goal of 2,000 points).  She, along with her teammates, hopes to “replicate, and possibly even further,” the immense accomplishments the team achieved last season.  While that task certainly won’t be easy with the loss of last year’s senior captains Ahlia Bethea and Ashlyn Heller, with hard work,  Jocelyn and the rest of the team will certainly make it possible.