Southside’s Mekaila Robinson overcomes injury, succeeds on the basketball court - Talk Business & Politics

Southside’s Mekaila Robinson overcomes injury, succeeds on the basketball court

by Buck Ringgold (bringgold1971@yahoo.com) 200 views 

Mekaila Robinson (photo courtesy of Aubrey French)

Mekaila Robinson has grown up around basketball for most of her life. She didn’t really play, however, until she was in seventh grade. Then the following year, Robinson didn’t play due to COVID.

But from there, she was determined to resume basketball and become better at the sport. Now, Robinson is one of the leaders as a senior shooting guard at Southside and has been a starter since her junior season.

“I decided, in seventh grade, that I wanted to start playing,” Robinson said. “I wasn’t really that good, it was really bad, but I did start in seventh grade.”

One vivid memory of her first start was telling her father about it. Robinson had seen plenty of basketball being around her dad, Gosha Robinson, who coached youth basketball and travel ball squads.

“I remember coming home and telling my dad that (I started) and he was like, ‘No, you didn’t, no way you started,’” Mekaila Robinson said. “Then I took a year off in eighth grade due to COVID and all of that, and then I came back in ninth grade and I played and I’ve just been playing ever since.”

It was in her sophomore season at Southside that coaches started seeing the raw potential Robinson had to really turn into a solid player.

Mekaila Robinson (photo courtesy of Aubrey French)

“Kaila went from this girl who as a freshman we really didn’t know how good she was,” Southside coach Robert Brunk said. “Then in the middle of her sophomore year, we’re watching her at practice saying, we have to find a way to get this girl on the floor, we have to find minutes for her in a varsity game.

“There was two or three varsity games her sophomore year she led us in scoring and it’s because of that time she put in with us, doing everything we asked her to do, but even more so the times her and her dad spent alone (perfecting Mekaila’s game) when no one else was watching.”

Robinson then became a regular starter as a junior and again for her senior season. But an injury early in the season had her fearing the worst. It turned out she got a pulled calf as the result of shin splints. Robinson missed the early portion of the Lady Mavericks’ 6A-West conference schedule but finally returned to the court on Jan. 13 against Rogers Heritage.

Though Southside came up short of the victory, Robinson ended up with a season-high 16 points, two points shy of matching her career best in a single game.

“I really didn’t feel anything on the court, but off the court, my legs felt a little sore,” she said. “I just got through (the injury) because if it wasn’t for me going to the trainers, I would have just played through it. I would have just took it.”

After the game against Heritage, Robinson was averaging 10.4 points, shooting 33 percent from 3-point range, and making 19 assists. Entering her senior season, Robinson really concentrated on being able to take care of the ball better.

“I feel like I’ve really improved on my dribbling, and being able to handle a lot of ball pressure,” she said. “Last year, it was kind of rough, like when they would come up and pressure me, it would be hard for me to pass out of it or anything, and I feel like I can handle it a lot better now.”

Robinson also enjoys being around her teammates and believes they have better camaraderie. Robinson, who has received interest from various colleges, plans to resume playing softball in the spring, having made the Lady Mavericks’ roster. She played the sport as a freshman before deciding to fully concentrate on basketball.

For now, though, Robinson’s main goals are to remain injury free and help get Southside in the state tournament, something her and her fellow seniors have yet to experience.

“I’m wanting to go to state, because (my senior class) hasn’t gotten to go to state yet,” Robinson said. “I would like to try and get there.”

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