Each Thursday, the sports team at 13WMAZ turns our spotlight on one central Georgia athlete who is excelling on and off their field of play. This week, one Mount de Sales tennis player caught our team's eye. Meet Jordan Bowie, our Athlete of the Week.
"She has lost one match since I have been coaching her," Mt. de Sales tennis coach Adrienne Hixon said.
Bowie began playing number one singles on the Cavalier girls' tennis team as an eighth grader. That equals out to one loss in four years, and well, she takes it in stride.
"School tennis is different than tennis outside of school," Bowie said. "I travel for tournaments and stuff around the south."
Bowie is an elite player. The United States Tennis Association has her ranked 245th in the 16 division. She just moved up to the 18 division, so her ranking has dropped to 349.
"She's a fun personality, hard worker," Hixon said. "I've never seen anyone so dedicated individually how she is. Ever."
Bowie pours that work ethic into the classroom, too. She can boast about a perfect 4.0 grade point average, but that's just not her style.
"I have a 4.0 GPA and I guess I'm not naturally smart," Bowie said.
With her grades and skills, Bowie had to make a decision, a reality check of sorts. Bowie figured she has talent, but not the kind that will make one a household name.
"When I realized I wasn't going to be on the tour, I realized getting my education would be what was making me money," Bowie said.
"I feel like there's been a transition this year of accepting some of that and being okay with it, like knowing she will have the opportunity to play in college," Hixon said. "(Bowie wants to) have success, but now is more career driven."
Bowie wants to go into the medical field.
"(I love) Gray's Anatomy," Bowie said. "I watched all eleven seasons and that's when I decided."
She might change her mind on that, and she has time, but she is steadfast that all of her hard work will pay off.
"I want to play in college," Bowie said. "But, I'm more focused on becoming a nurse anesthetist. That goes before tennis, so I want a full ride wherever I go."
"She is narrowing it down to who has the best program for nursing, which is great because she understands that it will end one day and she will need to have the education."
An ace decision in any book.
At the high school level, tennis is a team sport, so even though Bowie has an amazing record, she can't win an individual state title.