Staying in the Game: Jayhawks in College

Many people come to the School for a great educational experience. After all, it is considered one of the best private schools in California. Even though there is a focus on education that doesn’t mean athletics aren’t important too. 

It would be impossible to walk around the Upper School without hearing a conversation about the NBA or NFL. At lunch, students frequent the gym: shooting hoops and honing in on their craft. There are also students who always play on the field (at least in past years), kicking around a soccer ball or throwing a lacrosse ball. With this seemingly increasing athletic interest, it’s not surprising that the School has produced some D1 athletes.

“My Head-Royce athletic experience taught me a lot about leadership and self-advocacy,” Essie Atherton ‘19, a women’s lacrosse player at Brown, said when I asked her how Head-Royce helped her prepare for college athletics. Learning self-advocacy at the School helped her become the student-athlete she needed to be to play sports in the Ivy League. While the Schools’ athletes can be pretty serious about sports, it is still only a Division 5 private school. 

“The biggest difference [between high-school and college] is probably the intensity,” said Atherton, mentioning the huge increase in hours spent on Lacrosse from high school to college.  

However, Atherton’s college experience has been drastically changed by the coronavirus pandemic. “Because I’m a spring sport, the pandemic meant I lost both my freshman and sophomore season.” 

Luckily, Atherton will get those two seasons of eligibility back.  

We can only hope that Covid-19 stops affecting college athletics in the near future. 

I also interviewed Duncan Kekker ’21, a freshman soccer player at Division III Vassar College. 

“The hardest part about the transition for me was keeping my body fit through the first month,” said Kekker, “In college ball, the speed of play… is much higher, so taking care of your body on and off the pitch is super important.” 

While the grueling schedule has been the hardest part of the transition, he told me, “[his] favorite part about playing in college is the intensity of play. Every game is a tough matchup and a lot of [the] times it will come down to who wants it the most.”

Kekker has even scored 2 goals so far, and he said that the celebrations are really enjoyable.  

Finally, I asked Kekker about goals for his college career. He said, “I want to win the Liberty League, qualify for [the] NCAA and then win the NCAA Division III tournament.”   

In conclusion, despite the School’s academic standing, it still produces some fantastic athletes.