By Tony Burns
Sports Editor
It’s clear Kaitlyn Goodwin has a good heart because she wears it on her sleeve. The Smackover senior isn’t ashamed to cry but she’d rather laugh. Rarely do her emotions rest in the lukewarm category.
“I don’t have anything to be sad about,” she said. “I have a great family. I’m finally graduating. I’m about to move on to bigger and better things.”
A multi-sport athlete in basketball, track and golf, Goodwin was Smackover’s Homecoming Queen and also boasted a 3.927 grade point average. In about a year, she plans to be a full-fledged member of the workforce.
Goodwin has every reason to be happy which doesn’t explain why she considers herself a crier as well.
“I’m very emotional,” she said. “It’s mainly a build-up of things. After awhile I just feel the need to cry. If I’m super stressed over something, especially school-work, sometimes I just let it out and cry and then get back to business and start working on everything again.
“When stress builds up, you’ve got to let it out, somehow.”
And, she doesn’t really care who sees her cry. Even with her classmates in the middle of a jam-packed McDonalds.
“We all were ordering in there … 85 people… in McDonalds,” she said, pausing for emphasis. “I was just getting so overwhelmed and I just started crying. It was just really loud in there and there were so many people and I was sweating.”
Goodwin laughed as she told the story. She admitted her friends, teammates, coaches and people who know her don’t respond to her tears anymore.
Neither did her opponents, who recognized Goodwin for her toughness, especially on the basketball court. On offense, she had to be coaxed into shooting but, defensively, she liked to get her hands dirty and mix it up physically.
“I felt more confident on defense,” said Goodwin, who averaged five points, five rebounds and two steals per game for the Lady Bucks. She also took seven offensive charges.
“I knew I was fast and I could get to where I needed to. But, I was also energetic. I can’t tell you how many times I fouled out over the last couple of years.”
At 5-foot-7, Goodwin had to move inside and guard bigger players last season after most of Smackover’s post players graduated. She didn’t get much help from the officials. Of course, getting called for fouls made her emotional.
“The refs make me mad sometimes and I just can’t handle it. This year I cried at least three times because they were letting them beat me up. It just made me so mad. And, I didn’t want to get ejected so I just let it out through my tears,” said Goodwin, who said retaliation never seemed to work, either.
“I try and then I get the foul called on me. Coach said to not do that. But, they let it get to the point … it gets so bad that we want to start swinging and fighting with each other. They don’t call nothing. You just get so mad. Letting tears out is better than throwing punches.”
Again, Goodwin laughed while talking about her frustration.
Her tone became serious when asked about her future plans, which include enrolling at South Arkansas Community College in El Dorado. She said she wanted to enter the physical therapy assistant program or the occupational therapy assistant program.
“My mom is a PTA and I love working with people,” she explained. “The physical therapy assistant program is a year-long program. So, I have a year left until I can start working in that. The occupational therapy is 18 months. I take a lot of college classes in high school so I only have a few classes left until I can start.”
In a year, Goodwin said she will have her degree. She would like to move to the Fayetteville area after that because of the job opportunities.
What’s the rush?
“I want to get into the workforce and make money,” she answered.
Goodwin said she enjoyed being silly and goofy at times. But, she knew when to be serious, too.
“I had to work very hard for all of my grades,” she said. “They didn’t come easily. I had to study hard for them.”
Her lengthy list of extracurricular activities, however, was mostly for fun. Basketball was her primary sport. She played golf and ran track for the first time as a senior.
“(Golf) was something new. I wasn’t very good but I liked it. It was fun,” said Goodwin, who finished second in the 3,200 in the district track meet. She was 14th in the 3A state meet but shaved more than two minutes off her time. The state meet was only her second time to run the two-mile event.
“I knew I could run long distance. I’m not very fast, like, I’m not a sprinter or anything. But, I knew he’d probably put me in the one-mile. I did the one-mile for five track meets. And then he was like, ‘OK, let’s put you in the two-mile since you can do the one-mile.’ That’s how it went.”
Goodwin would sample almost every sport offered at Smackover during her career. She played softball as a junior, often entering the game as a courtesy runner. In fact, she made an amazing head-first dive over the catcher to score a crucial run during the Lady Bucks’ regional championship game.
Goodwin was also a cheerleader through the 10th grade.
The only sport she never played, other than football, was tennis.
.“I was debating on whether or not to run track because that would mean I would have a break and I would have time to study. But, I just love sports so much. I love being active,” said Goodwin, who also relished the opportunity to run track with her younger sister, who was a freshman.
“My little sister was going to run track and my mom had always begged me to run track. She said it was so much fun because she used to run when she was in high school. It was a chance for me to play something that I could do with my little sister. And, it was a chance to try something new.”
While some high school athletes devoted their lives to their sports, Goodwin said all of the games were just that to her - games - meant for fun. Her goal was never to be the star of the team.
“No, I never wanted to play in college. It’s never something very serious to me. I just want to go out there and have fun.”
One court where Goodwin did excel was the Homecoming Court and the beauty pageant scene. She’s a former Miss Teen Union County Fair Queen and a former Teen Miss Norphlet. Being the Homecoming Queen was even more special to her.
“What made it even more exciting was experiencing the festivities with my little sister, Paige, who was the Freshman Maid. This was the first year Smackover added the freshman class to the court. So, we made history by being the first set of sisters serving as Queen and Freshman Maid on the Homecoming Court.”
Goodwin’s eyes tell the story of a girl deeply proud of her family. She plans to stay at home with her mom, dad and two sisters for another year while attending SouthArk.
“They were so supportive,” she said of her family. “I can count on my hand how many times I’ve rode home on the bus from an away game. That’s one reason how I got to study after games. I’d be riding with them afterward and I get to turn the light on and do my homework because those away games are long hours. They went to every game. My dad went to my state (track meet) in (Jessieville) and stayed the whole day from eight in the morning until eight at night. And, mine was like the very last event.”
Her family makes Goodwin happy and being happy is important to her.
And, there was one more thing she wanted to make perfectly clear.
“I’m really not that much of a crier,” she said. “The only times I actually did cry in basketball was when I was overly frustrated and I had to let it out some other way. I’d consider it being a normal girl. I see other girls cry. It’s really not a big deal at all.”
And then, she laughed.