This week’s Athlete of The Week goes to Kyndall Renae Nicholas. She is a junior Biochemistry major, Psychology minor from Severn, Maryland. On her downtime Kyndall loves listening to music, watching Disney movies, and reading psych journals. Kyndall is in the chemistry club, is a member of The Gamma Iota Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and a middle blocker for our school’s volleyball team.
HC: How long have you been playing volleyball?
KRN: Since freshman year of high school, so this would be my seventh year.
HC: Why did you choose volleyball?
KRN: I love that it is a team sport and that it is different from other team sports. There can never just be one-star player because everyone relies on the people around them. I also love playing volleyball because it is a non-contact sport, but it gets super aggressive emotionally. It is more of a mental game than a physical game.
HC: What song gets you in your game mode?
KRN: This going to sound so stereotypically, but I love the song “Love on Top” by Beyoncé. The song is just such good vibes; it makes you happy and does not make you think about anything sad.
HC: What has the title captain taught you?
KRN: It has taught me that whatever happens amongst your team falls on you like even if it has nothing to do with you. You have to learn to work with people, for example my co-captain and I have two different personalities and our styles in leading are very different, so we have to come to a consensus before we speak to the team.
HC: What is your greatest accomplishment so far as an athlete?
KRN: As a middle, you do not get many balls you just close the block, so my greatest accomplishment was getting the most kills in a game.
HC: Favorite team memory?
KRN: My favorite team memory is when we did a lip sync battle amongst our classes and it was super fun because all of us were being goofy and none of us have rhythm.
HC: Favorite music genre and artist?
KRN: R&B and I really adore India Arie
HC: Celebrity Crush?
KRN: Ryan Gosling
HC: Favorite food?
KRN: Crab
HC: Greatest strength?
KRN: My greatest strength is my ability to not let pressure make me fold. Especially during game time, pressure only makes me work harder.
HC: Name some aspirations you have in life?
KRN: I aspire to have my faith show in everything I do and I want to be a sports psychologist. I think it is very important that people look at the minds of athletes. People think that sports are only physical, but being involved in sports for this long I know it is also mental.
HC: What is your favorite quote and why?
KRN: “The consequence of the single story is this: It robs people of dignity. It makes our recognition of our equal humanity difficult,” – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Basically, this whole quote discusses how you cannot take one side as it always is. Someone’s story will always be their story and you have to look at it from their perspective, but recognize it is not the only story.
HC: Life lessons you live by?
KRN: “To be comfortable being alone,” before I used to hate being alone it made me uncomfortable. Now I love it, being alone allows me to self-reflect, and I have learned to be greater alone.
HC: What motivates you day by day?
KRN: The fact that I am blessed, healthy, and have the ability to think. I am able to go to school when some people cannot.
HC: Biggest accomplishment in life?
KRN: One of my biggest accomplishments in life is that I was able to get an internship with the Neuroscience department at NYU this summer with no research experience on my resume. It was so significant for me because I did not know what I was getting myself into. I was extremely proud of myself at the end of the internship, and it inspired me to get my Ph.D.
You can follow Kyndall on Instagram @kyndallini!