Family tradition helped Roy form competitive edge

This is the last in a series honoring outstanding high school student athletes during the 2014-15 school year.

Student athletes were nominated by representatives of their schools in the categories of Scholar-Athlete, Most Inspirational, Leadership and Community Service. A panel of Tennessean editors and reporters selected the winners in those categories, as well as Male and Female Athletes of the Year.

Jenny Roy is good at winning.

It didn't take long to figure that out.

"It came pretty young because I'm a really big competitor, and I'm a part of a really big family," Roy said.

Roy is the youngest of three sisters and has 38 cousins between her two parents.

"At any event like Thanksgiving, we've always played football in the backyard and everything, so I always knew I didn't like to lose," Roy said. "(It) helped me develop my love for sports and be a competitor my whole life."

That love for sports led to Roy being the centerpiece on a Brentwood volleyball team that won two state championships and earned her the title of The Tennessean's All-Midstate Player of the Year in 2014. She also competed in the high jump at the state track tournament and helped the girls basketball team get to state sectionals.

Multiple sports

Roy started with soccer in first grade, picked up basketball, started volleyball in fourth grade and added track in high school.

Susan Roy, Jenny's mother, said her competitive spirit started very early.

"She doesn't like to lose," Susan Roy said. "... She's always been competitive, and she was just born with a love for sports."

Barbara Campbell, Roy's coach for her two volleyball state titles, said it is Roy's competitive spirit that makes her the kind of player a coach can build a team around.

"She makes her teammates feel like they can't lose," Campbell said. "Jenny is just an elite and talented athlete. The last couple of years, she made a huge contribution, not only as a player, but as a leader. You don't win championships without leadership, and Jenny is just a fabulous role model."

Fortunately for her, her family and her friends, Jenny has the ability to tone down that competitive spirit when she isn't playing sports.

"When I was younger, my sisters kind of drove it out of me, so I'm not competitive 24/7," she said. "I have a good downside to me, so I can flip on that switch and become a competitive person; but if it's just a regular day they usually don't have to tell me to tone it down."

"She is really kind spirited, and loving and generous, and she has a real soft side too," Susan Roy said. "She loves to live every day to the fullest."

Her favorite way to spend her limited free time is with the ones she loves.

"I love being out with my friends. I love to watch movies and hang out, and I'm also involved with church and things like that," Roy said.

Roy did a good job of balancing sports and her personal life, but adding track in high school created challenges.

"It was really tough," Roy said. "I didn't have a lot of free time, but I'm thankful because it taught me how to manage my dedication and discipline. I'm thankful for the things that it taught me that I can now use for the rest of my life. It gave me the opportunity to make friends and unforgettable memories."

Now as a Belmont basketball signee, Roy will have the chance to do something in college she has not done since a very young age — focus on one sport.

"She's just one of those players that doesn't come around very often," Campbell said. "She's the whole package."

The Jenny Roy File

• Sports: Basketball, volleyball, track and field

• College plans: Signed with Belmont to play basketball

• Family: Dad Don; mom Susan; sisters Alison, 21; and Lindsey, 20

• Favorite sport: Basketball

• Favorite team: Oklahoma City Thunder

• Favorite athlete: Kevin Durant

• Best high school memory: "My tops sports moment would have to be winning state in volleyball my junior and senior year. I know the feeling of losing, so winning back-to-back was unforgettable; and nothing will ever take that way."

• Favorite food: Chicken pot pie

• Favorite music: Anything country and pop

• Summer plans: "Finishing classes and practice at Belmont during the month of June; enjoy some time off in July and then a mission trip to Rio in early August."