The sign of a great athlete is being able to compete in just about any sport you choose to do.
To find someone with those traits you have to look no further than Romeoville's Abby Smith.
Smith, a sophomore, was on the Voyager Media All-Area basketball and softball teams and her performance in both helped her to be named the Voyager Media Multi-Sport Female Athlete of the Year for the 2010-2011 season.
In middle school Smith also ran track and played both volleyball and soccer but had to cut the list down to two for high school.
"I played five sports in middle school," Smith said. "I don't want to sound cocky, but they told me I was good. I had things though that I needed to improve on in all of the sports. It just comes naturally to me. It's in my blood. I'm pretty happy with the sports I picked. Having to pick between track and softball was a hard one, but I like softball and I like my team. I think I could do better in softball than track, so I think I made a good choice."
Playing two sports and being good in both is seldom seen these days with the specialization of single sport athletes and the time commitments. However, Smith has been able to do both exceptionally well so far, even though her favorite sport is basketball.
"It's pretty hard (to play two sports)," Smith said. "Sometimes I have basketball games and softball games on the same day. I think I'm getting used to it now. It's not that hard, but it's something that my teammates and coaches had to help me with. I do a lot of both every day in the summer."
After a solid freshman season in both sports, she took it to the next level this past year.
She averaged 11 points, five assists and more than three steals per game while leading her team to 21 wins in basketball and batted .530 in softball, one of the top averages in the area.
"Since this was my second year, I had a little more experience," Smith said. "Freshman year helped me out a lot and coming into my sophomore year I worked on a lot of things I struggled with. My sophomore year I felt like I had to step it up a little bit."
Her great batting average can be attributed to her coaches.
"I have to thank both my school coach and my travel coach," Smith said. "They saw how my freshman year I was only an average batter and they helped me out a lot. They helped show me where each person is in the infield and outfield and to find a place where to hit the ball."
With all of her accomplishments the past year, she is most proud of those basketball wins.
"The 20 wins in basketball is my highlight," she said. "Everybody didn't believe in us and coming out with 20 wins changed everyone's mind. My junior year we're going to have more teams wanting to beat us and I want it that way."
Smith plans on continuing to play both sports her final two years of school.
"Basketball is my No. 1 sport, but softball is something I've played for so long it's hard to give up," Smith said. "I don't want to stop playing it until I have to. My goal for basketball is to be conference champions and for softball to have at least double digit wins."
