Courtney Daniel sat in third place at the 2023 Region Meet with one throw left. She needed to throw a personal record to qualify in the shot put for the UIL State Championships as a sophomore.

Everything Courtney had worked for was one throw away. Her older sister Kendall knew the pressure mounting.

“You got this. Don’t care about anything else in this moment,” Kendall told Courtney. “You just work on you and don’t worry about anything else.”

Courtney did exactly what her sister told her. When her distance was announced and her ticket to State was punched, Kendall jumped up from her lawn chair. 

Courtney screamed, “Let’s go!” 

Kendall shouted, “Yes, ma’am!”

Courtney turned and stared at Kendall. They each walked toward the rope separating the fans from the throwing sector and embraced.

“I told you, you could do this,” Kendall told Courtney. “This is who you are.” 

* * *

That moment was huge for Courtney, but it was also big for Kendall. A year earlier, Courtney and Kendall’s relationship was completely different. Courtney was a freshman at Kingwood Park and Kendall was a senior at Liberty High School. 

Starting in 2020 during the COVID pandemic, the sisters had a strained relationship. Everything for the Daniel family changed on April 11, 2022.

It was the day after Courtney’s 15th birthday, and she was staying up late studying for an AP Human exam. Late into her studying, Courtney heard her mom call her name. Courtney ignored it, assuming her mom was mad at her for being up so late. But after her name was called again, Courtney detected an unfamiliar tone.

Still unsure of the true issue, Courtney walked slowly downstairs and acted as if she had just woken up. She wanted to avoid a lecture about sleep. When she spotted her mom, she immediately knew something was wrong. Her mom’s face was drained of color, and she was on the phone. 

Her mother, Tracy Daniel, asked Courtney to check if she had Kendall’s phone location. Courtney didn’t think she did, but immediately checked anyway. 

Courtney could hear her sister pleading to her mom over the phone to come find her. Courtney had no idea what was going on as she searched for Kendall’s location. When she found it, she sent it to her parents via text.

“I knew that something was really wrong because you don’t just see your parents running out of the house just because,” Courtney said. 

Courtney and her younger brother Cason were left home for the night with no clue as to what had happened to their older sister Kendall. 

Courtney had trouble sleeping that night. To pass time she Facetimed her oldest sister Kaylyn Daniel, who attended Texas A&M at the time, and made lunch for her younger brother for the next day.

In the middle of the night, Courtney received a call from her mom. Kendall had gotten into a near-fatal car crash after a truck with its lights off crossed into Kendall’s path hitting her head on FM 1960. The truck fled the scene. First responders had to use the jaws of life to remove her from her crumpled vehicle. She was taken by LifeFlight to Memorial Hermann trauma center downtown.

After midnight that night, Courtney received a call from Kendall, who was about to go into surgery. Doctors gave her a few minutes to call loved ones. Neither Courtney nor Kendall knew if this would be the last time they ever talked.

“Having to have that phone call with my sister was probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever done,” Courtney said. “It was such a light bulb moment for me in realizing what she truly meant to me.”

* * * 

Kendall, who had been driving home from a softball game when the accident happened, survived surgery. She found out she had a compound fracture in her right ankle and femur, the strongest bone in the body. She also had a broken wrist and many other injuries. 

The reality then started to set in for Kendall, and her mind focused on only one thing. 

“Whatever I have to do, I am going back [to softball],” Kendall told her parents.

Kendall was hospitalized for a little less than a week. Immediately after she was released by the hospital, she arrived at her high school softball team’s game in her wheelchair. 

Kendall found a new purpose in softball by watching her teammates play.  

“Sports have become, for her, a reason to live,” Courtney said.

Kendall needed a wheelchair for about a month, and Courtney wheeled her everywhere. They formed an unbreakable bond that only strengthened over time. 

The crash and rehab “really showed all of us, especially me, the importance of family and how fast everything can get taken away from you,” Courtney said. “We’re practically inseparable, and so, in a weird way, I’m thankful that it happened. Not because I like the pain that it caused my sister and everyone else, but because now we all have such a deep understanding of each other.”

* * *

Kendall had a hope of being able to walk across the stage at her high school graduation. She worked hard through her rehab, allowing her to walk unassisted at her graduation for the first time. 

She continued rehabbing in hopes of fulfilling her original plans to pitch at Tarleton State University, a Division I school in Stephenville. Kendall loved the weight room, and Courtney often tagged along. While Kendall worked on regaining strength and rehabbing, her enthusiasm for the weight room was contagious.

Soon, the little sister was surpassing the big sister. The strength Courtney was gaining became evident in her throwing events. 

Courtney started to throw shot put and discus in seventh grade. Before she went on to set the seventh and eighth grade shot put records for Kingwood Middle School, Courtney was known in her family for being good at everything she did.

• Courtney joined the orchestra and became first chair cello.
• Courtney started cooking and perfected the cinnamon roll, which she’d often sell to classmates and teachers.
• She was a straight-A student in middle school, and she was Kingwood Middle School’s eighth grade Girls Athlete of the Year.

By the time Courtney started throwing shot put, Kendall believed Courtney was starting a new sport too late in life. Kendall and their older sister Kaylyn, who is now a mechanical engineer for Frito-Lay, both went on to receive softball scholarships. Courtney was already a strong third baseman by middle school.

Her parents never doubted what she might do in track. By the end of middle school, Craig and Tracy Daniel knew anything was possible for Courtney as a thrower.

“She is extremely dedicated and extremely focused,” father Craig Daniel said. “No matter what it takes, even if she lacks sleep, she’s going to outwork everyone. She will not stop until she is the best of the best.”

The initial doubt from Kendall didn’t discourage Courtney. And as the two worked out together after Kendall’s accident, Courtney continued to make big strides her freshman and sophomore years. Kendall was awed. 

“The biggest surprise for me is how fast she grew in her sport,” Kendall said.

* * *

That was why it was so significant when Kendall and Courtney embraced after she qualified for the State Meet as a sophomore.

The two had spent so much time together the previous year that Kendall no longer doubted Courtney in anything she set her mind to.  

She saw Courtney practice through heat waves, rainstorms and freezes. She saw Courtney stay disciplined as she trained with a virtual trainer for her throwing events. The work ethic of Courtney became inspirational to Kendall. 

“She’s taught me that the grind is always worth it,” Kendall said. 

Kendall was no longer surprised when Courtney became nationally ranked for the shot put and discus or when she returned to the State Meet her junior year. Kendall celebrated with the entire family when Courtney reached her dream to throw at an SEC school after she signed with the University of Tennessee. 

While Courtney was reaching her dreams, so was Kendall. Doctors had originally warned her that she may not walk again. She feared she may never run again.

Just like Courtney, she put in the work and set a goal though. Even though she has needed multiple surgeries since the accident, Kendall found her way back onto the field. 

On Feb. 10, 2024, she pitched seven innings for Tarleton State. She threw a no-hitter eight days later and went on to pitch in 26 games as a redshirt freshman. Courtney cheered her on as often as she could, and the two still talk daily.

“Whenever you’re so close to someone like that, when you see their drive to get better, it makes you want to get better,” Courtney said. “What her getting better showed me was that your dreams are possible. Even when all of the odds are stacked against you, even when it almost literally seems impossible, you can succeed.”

Kendall, who transferred to pitch at Sam Houston State this year, will be an 11-hour drive away from Courtney when she throws in Knoxville, Tenn., next year. The two remain adamant the distance will not break their bond. Courtney said Kendall is her rock. 

“She’s kind of mine too,” Kendall said. “That’s kind of how we roll. We built a bond, we probably would have never had.

“We are each other’s hype women.”