By Loyd McIntosh
Photos by Tracy and Travis Frontz

For Jayla Whitsey, basketball is more than a sport. It’s a passion. Even as her senior season faded into the past, the Moody High School phenom still spent several hours every day before and after school, sweating, grinding, dribbling and shooting, before waking up early the next morning to start the process all over again.

Honestly, simply listening to her relate the details of her training regimen can make any reasonably-fit adult exhausted. However, Whitsey understands the hard work will pay off as she prepares for her freshman year with the Lawson State Community College women’s basketball team.

“At 6, before school, I lift weights. I get out of school at 2, so around 2:15, I go to the gym and try to get about an hour and a half in,” Whitsey explained. 

Each day of the week is devoted to specific skills or concepts. For instance, on Tuesdays, Whitsey works on specific moves such as a crossover dribble or hesitation move—a slight pause while dribbling, luring a defensive player to change direction, setting up the ball handler for an open shot.

Wednesdays and Saturdays are typically set aside for shooting, while the remaining days vary.

“Whatever I’m feeling like I need to work on but also trying to make sure that I’m playing as often as I can,” she said. “Playing with the guys, playing with any other girls that I can find.” 

At night, Whitsey works through a speed, agility and flexibility training regimen developed by her father and around 30 minutes of ball-handling exercises. Whitsey finishes her day by wearing Normatec compression therapy devices to massage aching muscles and aid in recovery, all to be ready to put on the Lawson State jersey later this year.

“I’m training every single day,” Whitsey said. “Trying to make sure that when I go to Birmingham in August that I am the best player that I can be at that moment.”

Whitsey is an incredibly well-rounded young woman with a GPA well above 4.0, an ACT score of 27 and an active life in her community and church. However, it’s fair to say that Whitsey’s life primarily revolves around basketball, ironic considering her father, a basketball player himself, did not want her to play the sport.

Whitsey said she idolized her dad and would often watch him play in men’s league games, deciding at an early age she wanted to play too. So, displaying the tenacious attitude that makes her a menace to defenses on the court, Whitsey wore her father down until he waved the white flag.

“I just begged him enough that when I was 7 years old, he eventually let me play basketball,” Whitsey recalled. “So, that was my first year playing, and I’ve played ever since.”

During her first few years, Whitsey played on teams with boys, admitting, “I wasn’t really that good. I was just kind of out there.” Her father pushed the community to create girls-only teams, and before long, Whitsey’s talent became undeniable.

Whitsey spent the first two years of high school at St. Clair County High School in Odenville and was by far the best player on a bad team. After transferring to Moody for her junior year, 2023-24, Whitsey came into her own, amassing an array of personal and team awards, including several All-Area and All-County accolades. She helped lead Moody to a St. Clair County championship in 2025 and led Moody to the Sweet 16 in the 2024 Alabama High School Athletic Association playoffs for the first time in more than 20 years.

She is also the only Moody basketball player, boy or girl, to score 1,500 points in her high school career. However, Moody Girls Basketball Head Coach Rebecca Davis said it was not just Whitsey’s physical talents that impressed her, but her character as well.

“She is a wonderful human being,” Davis said. “She’s going to be where she’s supposed to be, doing what she’s supposed to be doing all the time without somebody having to watch over her or without somebody having to make her do the right thing.”

Davis said that Whitsey is one of those athletes who leads by example. She is the first one in the gym before practice, the last one to leave after practice and always offering words of encouragement to her teammates. Still, what has impressed Davis the most is Whitsey’s knowledge of the game.

“Her basketball IQ separates her from so many. She understands spacing and the flooring of the game, and she studies the game. That’s important to her,” Davis said. “That is not something that’s very common in high school girls.”

For example, Davis said most high school girls basketball players are not terribly interested in studying game film or understanding the sport on a procedural level. However, Davis said her team captain approaches game preparation like a coach, analyzing her opponent’s tendencies and weaknesses and offering potential strategies. She said these attributes will make Whitsey an asset at Lawson State.

“She is so intelligent that she understands that that aspect really can make the difference,” Davis said. “She would go on her own and live scout teams and take notes. This is a kid who would have one night a week off, and she spent that one night a week going to scout other people because it was important to her.” Davis said. “She felt like seeing them in person, seeing them live, was an advantage to her. [Lawson State] has no idea how much they’ve knocked it out of the park with her.”

Whitsey credits her coaches, teammates and most importantly, God, for her success. As she moves on to the next level, she hopes her life on and off the basketball court can serve as an inspiration and testimony to others.

“That’s the main goal in life: to please God and to be the best person that He called me to be and to be more and more like Him every single day,” Whitsey added. “Being a good teammate, being a role model and everything that’s part of who He’s called me to be, impacting the lives of people in a positive way. Basketball is just a part of it.”

To keep up with Whitsey as she moves on to the next phase of her basketball career, follow her on X (@WhitseyJayla).