Her friends on the Lady Wildcat soccer team call her “Twinlet,” but Gina Gossett doesn’t mind. “My sister and I are very close,” she says referring to twin Erin, profiled here on the sports blog last week. “Once, in fifth grade, we switched places at school. It was fun, but we did get caught.”
Gina says the best thing about playing LHHS soccer is the close bond between the girls on the team – “we’re close off the field too.” She calls her dad, John, her biggest role model. “He always gets me through tough times,” Gina says. “He encourages me.” And Gina reflects that positive attitude to the team. “I like to cheer people up when they are down. I enjoy getting the team pumped up to play.”
On game days, she listens to a band called The Rocket Summer on her ipod, and she always braids her bangs and wears a ponytail. “It started out as a way to keep the hair out of my eyes, but now it’s my lucky charm.”
She says her biggest honor was being named first team all-district last year, and she credits last year’s senior Avery Atkins for being her inspiration. “She makes me want to work harder,” Gina says. “She’s an amazing player.”
Gina is multidimensional, also dancing as a Wrangler on the country & western dance team. Last year about this time she was performing at President Obama’s inauguration, where she recalls seeing Samuel L. Jackson on the streets of Washington, D.C (she’s shown here at the capital with soccer and Wrangler teammate Grace Devaney). She played softball and volleyball when she was younger, “but I had to give that up to focus on soccer.”
Like her sister, Gina expects the team to make it to the playoffs. “We’re looking good so far, and we’re playing well as a team.” Also like her sister, Gina will attend OU in the fall where she plans to study to be a dental hygienist. And – lucky for us – she hopes to settle back here in the neighborhood. “I like how Lake Highlands feels like a small town.”
