Prospect Spotlight: Kennedy Harvel (2023)
Coming off a tremendous season, Floyd Central is primed to be good for a long time. Along with Abby Maggard (who we featured previously), Kennedy Harvel is another big time talent who is already making her mark on the Floyd…
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Continue ReadingComing off a tremendous season, Floyd Central is primed to be good for a long time. Along with Abby Maggard (who we featured previously), Kennedy Harvel is another big time talent who is already making her mark on the Floyd Central program before starting her first high school class. Harvel averaged 4 points and 2 rebounds for a talented Floyd Central team and is already working on raising her game up a notch or two to be ready for a bigger role next season. I caught up with Kennedy recently to talk about her game and her future.
Kennedy is listed as a point guard on the KHSAA roster but she is capable of playing multiple positions on the floor, with and without the ball. Regardless of position, Harvel knows exactly what she needs to do to succeed, “The most important thing to me is my effort. I always make sure that I work the hardest that I can, whether I work out for 5 minutes or an hour. I take open shots when I can and if a teammate is open I try to get them the ball. When I am trying to get to the goal, I make the contact first with the defender. I also try to keep the offense from scoring when I’m on defense. I take defense personally.” While she is still an 8th grader, Kennedy is already working to improve her all around game. She told me, “My strengths are my shooting ability, defense, speed, dribbling and aggression while driving. I’m focused on improving my ability to finish and rebound and also need to improve my footwork.
Harvell played in all 30 varsity games this season for the Lady Jaguars and was very pleased with how the season went. “My high school season went well. We had a great record, and we really got close this year as a team. I was pleased with the way I did this season but I wasn’t satisfied, I knew i still would have to work.” Kennedy still hasn’t found an AAU home for this season yet but that hasn’t altered her expectations for her 14u AAU season, “My expectations will be to give my teammates a good pass for an open shot, shoot it when I have an open shot, and play good, solid defense and aggravate my defender until they loose the ball, and make the contact first.”
College is a very long time away for Harvel but she projects to become a surefire college prospect over the course of her high school career. In the short term, Kennedy has set some goals for herself. As part of her training with On Point Ballers, she is working to raise her game up a couple of notches, ” I hope to achieve my goal this summer of getting my body stronger, getting my core in good shape, improving my jumping, footwork, and finishes.” Beyond that, Harvel has some solid career goals for her time at Floyd Central, “In my high school career I would want to achieve going to state tournament, scoring 1,000 points and getting 500 steals.” Regardless of how things turn out over the next 4 years of high school and AAU basketball, Kennedy Harvel is thankful just to have the chance to play the game she loves. Kennedy asked to end the interview by giving thanks, “I thank God everyday for giving me the ability to play this sport. All glory to him.”