Kalyn Hundley, a Quinnipiac senior volleyball player, tried her best as a kid not to get involved in playing sports, but it seems as if her fate was stronger than her will.
“I kind of didn’t have a choice when it came to playing sports; both my parents played collegiate athletics,” Hundley said. “I was sort of doomed from the get-go.”
Things seemed to work out well for Hundley despite her aspiration to do more “girly” things as she said, like doing cartwheels and picking flowers in the outfield. Hundley’s father Greg, who later became her teacher and coach at Gulf Breeze High School in Gulf Breeze, Fla. made sure she stayed on track, which meant getting serious.
“My dad would get me outside and we’d go running, or he would get me in the weight room in middle school going into high school and start me lifting,” Hundley said. “Those were definitely things I didn’t enjoy about being a coach’s daughter.”
Despite her father’s “tough love” and strict training, Hundley gained a greater appreciation for the sports she played and was able to better understand her coaches.
During a freshman basketball scrimmage in high school, Hundley tore her ACL and meniscus. “You would have thought I was dying,” Hundley said. “I was absolutely devastated when I found out.” She rehabbed back to full health and returned to playing sports on a regular basis.
Unfortunately, lightning struck twice and she blew out her ACL again as a senior. This time, the injury weighed heavier on Hundley because she was preparing to sign her national letter of intent to come to Quinnipiac.
“I kind of was a little deceitful,” Hundley said. “But at the same time, I had to look out for myself as well.” Things worked out for Hundley who came into her freshman year and was added to the Northeast Conference team and named Player of the Week.
With the desire to keep sports in the mix with work and play, Hundley finds herself working at the Waverly Tavern in Cheshire. She appreciates the energetic sports bar atmosphere, having previously worked at Sidelines in Pensacola Beach, Fla.
“There is a huge Pittsburgh Steelers fan base in Pensacola,” Hundley said. “They would come in with their terrible towels and jerseys on, put their helmets on the table and stay for the entire game.”
Hundley says she does not sweat the fact she is graduating in May and is looking forward to a rewarding future. With plans to attend graduate school in Florida and one year of eligibility left to play collegiate volleyball, Hundley says she would like to pursue a broadcasting career on network television.
“I love the Travel Channel,” Hundley said. “I love how you get to go and experience other aspects of the world that you wouldn’t think in a million years you could see.”
“I think it [broadcast journalism] has opened some great doors for me,” Hundley said. “We’ll just have to wait and see.”
