Have you ever seen the triangle on the Internet that says one important thing at each of three sides? One side says intelligence, the other says emotionally stable and last says perfect social life- under the triangle it says pick two. Being a student athlete means you can’t pick two of those options, you either do none of those options or all to the best of your ability. Kyjah Coryat is a sophomore on the Ohio State Fencing team. In addition, she is also a member of Her Campus OSU and a marketing/promotions intern at the Midwest’s most popular and live music and entertainment company, PromoWest Productions. I asked her with one word, “how” and she responded with “ I don’t sleep”.
That’s a natural answer back considering Kyjah is from the “city that never sleeps”, New York City. Kyjah Coryat has been fencing since she was 13. It started with her mother showing her a newspaper ad about fencing. She brushed it off. Kyjah labeled fencing as an outdated musketeer sport but that was then. Her mother got her to try fencing by tricking her into going shopping in Soho. Kyjah was excited but at the same time curious as to why her mother made her pack gym clothes and sneakers in her tote bag. She thought that after trying on and buying so many clothes that putting on gym clothes would be more comfortable than the clothes they were wearing primarily, so she did not argue with her mothers command. Her mother dropped her off at a place called the Fencers Club. On Saturday’s the Fencers Club as a program called The Peter Westbrook Foundation that introduces children to the elite sport of fencing for $50 for the entire year. Kyjah was in shock that her mother made her try fencing but by the time when her mom picked her up at the end of the day, Kyjah wanted to go again next week. The more she started going, the better she became; and then she got invited to the afterschool program where she’d train and do fencing during the week.
Fencing is fast and athletic and requires you to train you to not only train your body, but your mind as well. There are three weapons in fencing but Kyjah fences foil. Foil is different from the other two weapons in the essence that points are scored with the tip of the blade on a valid target which includes the torso from the shoulders to the hip in the front, and the from the waist to the back. The off target areas are the arms, head, neck, and legs. Each foil has a blunted tip but the actions still can cause a lot of pain. When asked “Does fencing hurt”, she says “it does but in the moment you don’t feel it because youre so focused but you feel it afterwards like when your in the shower and the water gets into an open cut”. Her equipment bag resembles the shape of a golf bag in the sense that it long and packed to the extent it may look like a body is hiding inside. When I asked her if it was awkward going to practice and carrying her equipment on the subway in New York City she said Yes. Kyjah would tell onlookers when they asked her what it was that it was for “skiing” because one time she got so passionate about talking about fencing with a person on the train that she missed her subway stop and ended up 10 stops away from hers.
Through practice and private lessons she improved her fencing skills and made the national points listings. By the time Kyjah was 15, she was traveling nationally and internationally for fencing. “This is when fencing became my job. Don’t get me wrong, its still fun you just develop maturity about it that a regular person would develop when they turn 18 ”, said Kyjah. When it was time for the college admissions process she looked at Ohio State because she considered the option of being in New York City her whole life and wanted a change of scenery. She decided on coming to Ohio State because they won NCAA’s and saw an opportunity for her to continue getting better at fencing. In terms of balancing school and fencing as a sophomore at Ohio State she meets with a tutor twice a week and does mandatory study hours as mandated by the Ohio State Athletic department. She says, “Every Tuesday our athletic advisor comes in and reminds us about staying on top of things, internship opportunities and study abroad options”. Being a student athlete isn’t easy but it does help one learn how to time manage. “Ohio State has so much to offer its student athletes not just because it is a D1 school but because of the tradition in wanting everyone to succeed” said Kyjah. With regards to her social life she says that being a student athlete makes it hard to meet non-athletes, at first but the more comfortable you get with being at Ohio State it becomes easier. “I’m not saying I don’t like my teammates. We’re all really close. We spend a lot of time together sp its nice to be around other people” says Kyjah. Despite being legitimately always busy, my final question to her was, “ do you get bored”. In the New York City fashion of things she says, something’s always going on, if you feel bored its your own fault”.
Sources:
Instagram.com
USFA.com
Ohiostatebuckeyes.com