“She’s an irreplaceable part of our team.”
That’s how new Muskogee High School girls’ basketball coach Bryan Bunch describes senior point guard Jakayla Swanson.
“She puts us in the best position to be successful and she does everything that I can imagine for a point guard to do for us this year,” said Bunch.
Although she’s averaging double figures in scoring for the Lady Roughers, it’s the leadership of Jakayla, and fellow senior Bianca McVay, that have been the biggest pluses for the new coach this year.
“Through her experience she has learned how to talk to each individual player to make them be the best they can be for the team,” said Bunch. “That’s an invaluable asset from a leader’s viewpoint because a lot of times you have leaders who only know one way to lead. She’s very mature for her age and though she leads mostly by example, make no mistake about it that on the court she puts everybody in their place with ‘hey, you’re in the wrong position’ or ‘cut here’. She truly embodies the ideal that the point guard is the leader on the floor.”
For Swanson, who began playing basketball in middle school in Fort Gibson (“but I wasn’t very good in sixth grade,” she laughed), becoming a team leader is probably one of her biggest strengths.
“I think my leadership has been my biggest area of improvement in the last couple of years. I wasn’t a very talkative person before, so I’ve had to learn to speak up. I think a good leader doesn’t necessarily just tell someone what to do but is able to communicate with them on their level without coming across as being bossy,” said Swanson who is also a two-time state qualifier in track for Muskogee.
Growing up. Jakayla says one of her role models was WNBA player Skylar Diggins-Smith.
“I like her drive and feistiness and her desire to win. And she’s left-handed like me.”
Breaking in a new coach this year has had its challenges according to Swanson.
“We’ve had to learn a whole new system and coach Bunch really pushes up but he also brings more discipline to the team and I think things are starting to come together.”
Jakayla says she would like to attend Wichita State after she graduates and study business and hopefully play basketball.
