Senior Spotlight: Karliey Parker

Lady Brave Karliey Parker plays left fielder for Riverside Indian School Softball in Anadarko, Oklahoma.

She also runs cross country and track and plays basketball and slow-pitch softball.

Last year, the basketball team went to playoffs for the first time in several years. The team went 26 and 2 and made it to the semis.

“It felt great, but the environment in the gym was kind of different since we're playing in a big gym, and the background is nothing but nothing back there,” she said. “So, it kind of gives you nervousness, and I was nervous during the whole game, but knowing that I had to step up for my team and for my fans, we ended up winning.”

Parker also attends vo-tech in Fort Cobb.

“I do digital marketing,” she said. “So, I can make shirts, banners, I can make stuff, put it on cups, I can make mouse pads, I can make all those type of things.”

Parker said her college plans are still being worked out, but she does want to be in Kansas.

“I wanted to go to college with my sister, but since I've been with her throughout my whole life, playing with her my whole life, I want to go with her,” she said. “But sometimes I want to experience different. So maybe, I'll still be in Kansas, maybe. I'll still be in Kansas, just not just as her. I might want to go D2 just because I'm looking at this one, but there's other options, so I really wouldn't want to just pick it, so I'm really just waiting for my other options to go.”

Parker said if she gets the opportunity, she’ll play basketball or another sport in college. 

She hasn’t considered her major yet, but she wants to be a lawyer.

“Well, I watch SVU a lot, Special Victims Law and Order. I watch that a lot, and it just makes me want to get into it, but I heard it's also argument stuff, so I got arguing a little bit,” Parker said. “But honestly, it's really interesting. It's interesting to watch, honestly. I like how they go from one thing to another, from one crime to another, and just keep going on, finding clues, but you've got to really be smart.”

Until then, Parker said she’ll miss the bus rides and her teammates.

“No, I wasn't ready for it because it went by way too fast,” she said. “It went from not having a freshman season, barely having a sophomore season, to having a junior, and now I'm a senior.”

Parker also plays softball with her younger sister.

“It feels great, you know, so me as a sister, I can push her to be where she can be to where I was,” she said. “I can actually motivate her and tell her like, ‘Come on, you got this, don't give up.’ Like, she wants to give up, but I tell her, ‘Don't.’ You know, she looks up to me as a role model, so I just tell her like, ‘Come on, you got this, don't give up.’”

Parker said attending an all-Indian school helps her stay involved in her culture.

“Like, there's a thing called Choctaw Club, and like, they have their own stuff, so like, when we talk about our stuff, well, I'll talk about Comanche,” she said. “We don't have a club like that, but I'll still end up talking about it. Like, people ask me, like, make me fill out stuff or whatever, and then I'll sit here and tell them about, like, what tribe am I, Comanche this, Comanche that, like, just little stuff.”

Parker appreciates her family and anyone who has supported her and looks up to her.