Athlete Spotlight: James Wood Girls’ Basketball Player Hannah Arnold

Posted: December 1, 2015

James Wood High School 17-year-old junior

Sport: Basketball

Position: Center/forward

Parents: Christie and Terry Arnold

Hometown: Corpus Christi, Texas (moved to Cross Junction in 2005)

Nicknames: I get called “Hannah Banana” a lot, and my dad calls me “Nannie.”

What do you love about basketball: My teammates. I just like the whole team environment. I like spending time with them and getting to know them better.

Most memorable moment in basketball: Every away game, I sit next to Grace on the bus. We take really ugly pictures of each other, and it’s just really funny. It’s just fun to make memories.

Three people you can have dinner with, dead or alive: [Colonels assistant track coach and Arnold’s Frederick County Middle School basketball coach] Jamie Carr; he’s a person I can talk to about anything. He was my first actual coach outside of my dad. He took the time to understand each one of his players, which I really valued. I have a temper when I play. He learned how to get around that and calmed me down. Adolf Hitler; it’s [incredible] that you can get so many people to believe what you think in such a short period of time, so I’d just like to talk to him about that. Summer Ostinato [who died at 14 because of leukemia]; she was my best friend, and she passed away almost three years ago. I just think it would be really nice just to catch up with her.

If you were stranded on an island, what’s the one thing you’d want to have with you: I would say music. If I got scared, I could just listen to the music in my ears.

Favorite teacher: [James Wood U.S. history teacher] Reba Funkhouser. I think when you’re a history teacher you have to be really good at telling stories, and she does a really good job at that.

Favorite athlete: Maya Moore

Favorite team: Boston Red Sox

Best live sporting event you’ve been to: I went to a WNBA game two summers ago, when the Connecticut Sun [hosted] the [Indiana] Fever. It was really cool to see top players up close.

Favorite movie: “American Flyers”

Favorite book: “Night” by Elie Wiesel

Favorite song: “Jack and Diane” by John Mellencamp

Favorite website: Instagram

Plans after high school: I don’t know specifically where I want to go to college, but I want to go into nursing. I want to help people become healthier. It would make me feel better to make others feel better.

— Compiled by Robert Niedzwiecki