Parents enjoy watching their children participate in sports. They cheer for them when they win and encourage them when they lose. While she is thankful that her daughter plays sports, Jamie Maples says that she is also glad for all the life lessons her daughter learns from playing sports.

“I think she learns so much more from softball than how to be a good softball player,” Maples said about her daughter Brinly. “She learns teamwork, how to handle not only success but also disappointment. She learns how to win humbly and how to pick herself up and work harder after a loss. She has learned how to accept criticism and use it to make her better. She has learned how to be a good leader, and how to work with others. All these skills will help her be successful in life, which is why making her sports career a priority is important to us.”

Jamie is a graduate of Westmoore High School, where she played softball and was a part of three state championship teams. Her daughter Brinly is a senior at Southmoore High School. She is a member of the fastpitch and slow-pitch softball teams. 

A sixth-grade teacher at Moore, Maples says that she enjoys impacting the lives of the students. 

“This is my sixteenth year of teaching,” she said. “I really enjoy working with the kids and making a difference in their lives. In my free time, I love watching Brin play softball. We also love going to the movies.”

Maples says that they try to be as involved as they can with Brinly’s sports. 

“We stay involved in Brinly’s activities by being at every game and being her biggest cheerleader,” she said. “We work with her at home and until she started driving, we took her to lessons each week.”

Jamie says Southmoore is a great district and has been great for her daughter.

“I love Southmoore,” she said. “For the friends and the family atmosphere that it has given Brin. She has made some great friends there. The softball coaches truly care about the kids, not just as softball players, but as students. She feels believed in and because of that she is willing to give her all to them.”