Keana Reyes on Being a Collegiate Student-Athlete
Before she was even born, Keana Reyes’ family have always been die-hard basketball fans. “My father specifically, loved the game. He never played professionally or anything, but he has grown to love and have a passion for it throughout his life.” So, when she was around 6 years old, her dad introduced her to the game and coached her. “This was a sport I had liked and had fun doing with my dad after school. It wasn’t until I was about 8 or 9 years old that I realized and told my parents that I wanted to play competitively on a team. This is when my passion for the game grew even more.”
When Keana was 12, she vividly remember going to a Stanford Women’s basketball game with her dad after school. “I told him, “I’m going to be just like those girls and play in college.” As I watched those girls play, I knew that basketball was something I wanted to pursue.” She looked up to them and wanted to be just like them. She would always tell her dad that she wanted to be like them and every time he would tell her, “It takes a lot of hard work, dedication, and sacrifice. It is not just going to be given to you.” As a young girl, she always kept that in mind and worked for it tirelessly. People would say to her, “I lived an unorthodox childhood, however, as a young girl I chose that for myself and do not regret it. Yes, I missed out on a lot of things, but I was able to accomplish many things people can’t say they have.”
“So, for anyone who is reading this, I want to reassure you that making your dreams your reality is possible if you set your mind to it and willing to put the work in. Anything is possible!”
Keana was born and raised in Northern California, so Utah, let alone Utah Valley University, was never in her plans. “I have always dreamed of playing college basketball in California to stay close to my family, however, God had other plans for me.”
During Keana’s senior year of High School, Utah Valley Women’s basketball coach contacted her and offered her an official visit to their campus. “Essentially, this is a pretty big deal for high school athletes because this shows that the university’s athletic program is interested in you and willing to pay your trip to visit their campus.” Although they offered her a visit, she still had her mind set on staying in California. “I wanted to be close to home and my family, but my parents suggested I keep my options open “just incase.”” So, she decided to take the official visit to Utah and she was surprised. “Mostly because before going I heard mixed things with the state of Utah. Like, how a lot of people there are Mormon, it’s a different type of culture there. But, I never loved a place so much.”
Keana instantly fell in love with the indoor campus the scenery, how inviting the people were, and the snow. “It was just so different from what California was that I loved it. As I was in Utah, I realized that maybe a change would be good for me. Though, I wouldn’t be close to home or my family, moving to Utah would enable me to have a fresh start and grow overall as a person.” So, when the UVU head coach offered her a full ride scholarship while driving up to the Sundance, she accepted, committed, and never looked back.
As Keana reflects on her college journey in Utah, her four years at UVU had its up and downs. “But, I will forever be grateful for the opportunity that the game of basketball has given me. It allowed me to experience life in a new state, become more independent, and be the first person in my family to receive a Bachelor’s degree.”
As a student-athlete at the collegiate level, Keana says that no one really tells you what it is really like or how to do it. “You have to experience first-hand how difficult it is to maintain your studies, along with perfecting your craft.” As a freshman in college, it takes some adjusting to get used to from high school, she admits. “However, through experience, I found that time management, managing my stress, and maintaining my health were three habits were things I kept in mind and something I followed routinely, in which helped me indefinitely throughout college.” As she has mentioned, these are the habits she found and stuck with, however, everyone copes and manages things differently. “Though if I were to give advice to an incoming collegiate athlete, I would advice them to find and set a routine for themselves, in which will set them up for success in life, in the classroom, and within their sport.” For more on this, Keana has a student-athlete blog which has a whole post dedicated to this specific topic, along with other collegiate athlete’s advice. (https://wordpress.com/view/keanajennelle.home.blog).
Keana’s blog for aspiring athletes who want to play at the next level and whoever is interested in the journey of a collegiate athlete. “At first, I started this blog because it was mandatory for one of my marketing classes in college. In this process, I was in debate with myself because I was unsure of what I wanted my blog topic to be, but when I sat down and really thought about it… this is something I wish I had and could reference as a little girl.” She believes by choosing to blog about this specific topic can educate and prepare aspiring athletes for what it is like at the next level. Though this was a project for a class, she decided to continue blogging for the benefit of her readers and having something to look back on. “I mention this within my blog, but my hopes for this blog is to provide relevant and useful information for my readers, along with being someone they could look up to and aspire to be like.” Here is the link to her blog: https://wordpress.com/view/keanajennelle.home.blog
Along with her passion for basketball, Keana grew a passion for Marketing once she got to college. This passion all began when her Women’s Basketball coach, Cathy Nixon, had created a Mentor program for athletes. “She created this program to help and set us up for success after graduation, which was great.” She had gathered almost 20+ women who were strong and successful in their career. “The mentor I was paired up with was Annie Cutler Davis, who is currently the Content Strategy Director of Marketing and Communications for Nu Skin Enterprises, in Provo, Utah. She has an extensive background within her field; however, she is the main reason I grew a love for Marketing. I was just so interested in her job and how much she enjoys it that I decided to major in it.”
Once she decided to major in Marketing and have a minor is Business Management, she stuck with it all four years. “As my senior year was coming to close, I found it necessary to take part in an internship for experience.” This is when she decided to ask my universities’ Athletic Department if she could do an internship with their Marketing Department. “They were thrilled to have me, in which made me decide to do a whole year internship opposed to just a semester.” Within this internship, her title was “Digital Media Intern,” however, she eventually grew into being called the Social Media Specialist because it all just came natural to her and she had a niche for that type of stuff. “Throughout the duration of my internship, I had quite a few responsibilities. These responsibilities included: Weekly staff meetings to learn new skills, manage assigned sports social media accounts, work with social media team to analyze social media performance, engage with fans via social media accounts as an authorized user, research new ways to create fan engagement, work with student-athletes on assigned sports to distribute photos and videos.”
As an intern with Utah Valley University Athletics, she had experienced and gained many valuable skills that she would be able to apply within career in the near future. “Along with the valuable skills I’ve learned, I was able to put some of my work in a portfolio, I would love for everyone to check it out: (https://keanajennelle.wixsite.com/portfolio)."
When asked where she sees herself I five years, she says that if she was asked this when she was a little girl or even a few months ago, she would have said that she would be playing basketball professionally overseas somewhere without a question. “As a little girl, I liked being known as the ‘athletic girl’ or ‘basketball player.’ This is a perception she defined herself as and took pride in because the game of basketball has been her life for such a long time. “However, the past couple months of my senior year in college helped me realize something huge. I’ve realized I am more than just that ‘athletic girl’ or ‘basketball player.’ I’ve realized there is more to life than the game of basketball. I’ve realized I am a woman who is capable of anything she sets her mind to.”
As Keana reflects on her hopes and dreams for the next five years, the few things she hopes to have accomplished or be involved with are to have a stable job as a marketer with a successful business, completed her MBA with an emphasis on Strategy or Management, and she hopes to be a part of something basketball related, whether it’s within social media, coaching, or training.
“However, my career isn’t the only thing I have my mind on within the next five years… I hope to be a part of something bigger than myself, I hope my society overcomes these difficult times that has been weighing on many people, I hope for peace, love, and happiness for everyone, genuinely.”