For Pickett County Bobcats girls basketball player Kylie Wood, basketball has never just been a game. It has been a constant.
Wood enters her 12th year playing the sport she first picked up in a youth league coached by her dad. From those early practices to bright-light varsity games, one thing has not changed. Wood said her parents remain her biggest supporters, rarely missing a chance to watch her play.
Her father’s influence helped guide her decision to continue basketball at Pickett County High School, where Wood has grown from a timid underclassman into a confident scorer and leader on a program known statewide for its success.
“We played for each other for many years and we know what we’re capable of,” Wood said. “We also know what it feels like to not make it to where we should, so it just helps us motivate each other every day in practice.”
Wood said that growth did not happen overnight. Wood said when she first joined the Lady Bobcats, nerves often got the better of her. She played hard, but something held her back.
“I was just always timid and I always tried to play hard, but I was never who I could be,” Wood said. “So I tried to get in the gym as much as I could to improve and it really made a big difference in my game.”
Wood said the turning point came during a film session.
“We were watching game film from freshman year and I noticed I didn’t really like how I played when I did get to play,” Wood said. “So we kind of redid my shot and after a year or two of hard work, I finally began to shoot and become the player I knew I could be.”
Wood rebuilt her form and mechanics from the ground up. But Wood said the physical adjustments were only part of the transformation. She also reshaped her mindset.
Following her sophomore season, when Pickett County captured the TSSAA Class 1A Girls Basketball State Championship, Wood said she realized she needed to evolve. Once content being a pass-first option, Wood said she made a conscious decision to become more aggressive offensively.
Over multiple varsity seasons, Wood has been a steady contributor for the Lady Bobcats, highlighted by games such as an 18-point performance against Stone Memorial during this year’s campaign. Across her career, she has accumulated hundreds of points while appearing in dozens of varsity contests, steadily carving out a larger role each season. But statistics only tell part of the story. Wood said her biggest improvement has been her attitude, replacing doubt with confidence and hesitation with belief.