Imagine this: You’re an incredibly talented basketball player for the University of Kentucky who dreams of playing in the WNBA one day. After all, why wouldn’t you? Your uncle played for the Chicago Bulls, and your dad played for Louisville. Your mother also played street ball while she was pregnant with you. Ever since you were 5 years old, basketball has been more than just a game or an escape; it’s been a member of your family, a God-given gift to you. Unfortunately, as you quickly learn, gifts can be taken from you at any time.
This is the story of Kyvin Goodin-Rogers, a 5th year senior who is finishing her master’s degree in sports management and currently plays for the Union University Lady Bulldogs basketball team. She also has absolutely no idea why she is here or how she got here. Her journey to Union has been a long one, filled with pain and heartbreak.
“Nathan, I have absolutely no idea why I am here,” she says thoughtfully with a sincere smile. “Even though I told him many times that I was done with basketball, Coach Campbell never stopped pursuing me and never gave up on me. Now, all I know is that, as of January, I am here. Maybe God has a plan for me that I don’t understand yet.”
When I first met Kyvin on a dreary, sleepy Sunday afternoon on campus, there was absolutely no mistaking who she was. The girl is tall by any measure of the word. She is listed at 6’2 on the Union University website, but in reality, she is an easy 6’3. She has a gentle smile that remains on her face the entire time we are talking (if I were a woman, I’d probably smile too if I was talking to a guy who is 6 inches shorter than me). Her kind eyes reflect someone who has endured fiery trials and come out of them with true humility.
From her freshman year to the beginning of her junior year with Kentucky, Kyvin truly showed that she had it all. Raw talent. Pedigree. Work ethic. Like many members of her family, she seemed destined for basketball greatness. However, injury would soon derail her grand plans for herself.
“I started to have a knee issue my sophomore year during the SEC Tournament in March. I basically had overworked it, and it needed surgery,” she said. Her smile is now gone, and it has been replaced by an angry glare. “But my coach didn’t want to hear it and told me to play on it anyway. Kentucky would end up doing half of my surgery, but it wasn’t until after I got to Western Kentucky that I discovered how bad it was. I did more damage to it, and by the time I finally had another surgery after I went to Western Kentucky, it was already permanently damaged.”
Adversity would come to define Kyvin over her last few years of college. She quickly found that she simply could not perform at the level that she once had. However, her adversity was not merely physical, but also on a deep emotional level. Her journey would include heartbreak and betrayal.
“Before I went to Kentucky, people told me it was a place of family and unity, but they weren’t practicing what they were preaching. I felt betrayed by people there and the way in which I was handled. When I told my coach that I couldn’t workout because of my knee, he told the members of the media that I wasn’t playing because I was lazy.” She pauses. “So, after a game in the middle of my junior year, I told my mom that I couldn’t do it anymore. I transferred to Western Kentucky for my senior season because I had a relationship with their coach.”
Before her knee injury, Kyvin had been a supreme talent who would eventually play professionally. After the injury, she was now just another player for a smaller university–a player who only played in games because it hurt her knee too much to play in both games and practices. Even though she still had a year of eligibility left, she simply wanted to be done after her senior season.
“I felt like that I still had a D-1 mentality, but my body couldn’t perform at a D-1 level anymore. So it was better for me to leave because I do have a life outside of basketball. As far as I was concerned, I was done. I was retired.”
For much of her life, basketball had defined who Kyvin was. Without anything to fill that void, she now felt despair and hopelessness. For the first time in her life, she wasn’t really sure of what to do.
“I’ll be honest, I felt like a failure, and I hated the world for awhile,” she said sadly. “I grew bitter since I felt like so much had been taken from me. I ended up losing like 30 pounds because of it.”
However, Kyvin would not let her story end with her quitting basketball at Western Kentucky. She could have decided to wallow in her bitterness about how unfair her situation was. Instead, she decided to use her story to help and encourage others. In the process, she also helped bring herself the healing that she needed.
“People kept asking me about what had happened,” she says, grinning ear to ear. “So I decided to tell them. I made a YouTube video after I left school where I gave my testimony and story. After all the pain I went through, I had never thought of myself as strong, but all of these people that I didn’t even know were telling me how strong I was. It took the video for me to realize how far I had come. I knew my story wasn’t over.”
Sometimes, greatness is not found in stats or wins. Greatness can be found when people choose to rise above their circumstances and persevere through adversity. Greatness can be found when you realize that your final effort may not be particularly memorable, but you still choose to be excellent anyway. And sometimes, that is enough.
Now, Kyvin is the heart and soul of the Lady Bulldogs of Union University. After joining the team in January, she quickly became an unquestioned leader. She may still not fully understand how she ended up here, but she knows that she is serving a purpose higher than herself. Though she doesn’t get to play much as much as she did earlier in her career, she serves as a mentor to younger players and shows them how to play for each other. Through it all, Kyvin Goodin-Rogers is still a basketball player at heart.
Her coaches understand what she means to the program as well. Assistant Coach Sara Hammond, who is also a former teammate of Kyvin’s, is beyond thankful for her.
“I’ve known Kyvin since we played AAU together back in high school,” she said. “With being an experienced player at a high level, she has provided leadership for our team in a variety of ways. She is vocal and holds her teammates accountable for their actions, and she has every intangible that you can imagine. I’m very thankful Kyvin stepped out in faith and decided to finish her college career at Union.”
I asked Kyvin about what advice she would give to someone out there who is dealing with a similar situation to her own. The smile that had been on her face nearly the entire time only grew larger.
“I would tell them to not worry about outside influences. Play for an audience of One, and everything else will take care of itself. Trust the people around you who love you and have good intentions. Never give up.”
Photo courtesy of UU Athletics
