Sun Devil Writes About Sun Devils

By Marco Salas

Transitioning into a new life can be a lot for first-year student-athletes. For Kennedi Boyd, it’s
another chapter in her story.

Coming from Alpine, Utah, a city 35 miles outside of Salt Lake City, was a huge culture shock for
Boyd once she stepped into Tempe.

“Coming to ASU was a little bit eye opening to me of what’s considered normal in the real
world. Part of the reason why I wanted to come to ASU was to experience things outside of my
hometown.”

What people might not now about Boyd is she was adopted at a young age. She doesn’t know
how old she was, but she knows she was young. From what she says, her adoption story is
“cute.”

“My mom had my two other brothers before me, and they wanted to wait a little bit before the
next one because my other brother was born with an illness and they were like let’s take care
of this. But they tucked my brothers into bed one night and around 11 P.M. and my parents
were chilling and my older brother [Connor] went up to them and was like, ‘when am I going to
get my baby sister?’”

Her parents were shocked by what he had just said.

“When is she coming, I know she is going to be here soon,” Connor said.

Confused, Boyd’s parents didn’t know what he meant.

Sure enough, just a couple days later, Kennedi was adopted.

“The adoption agency called them and was like we have a little girl on the way and want to
know if you are interested,” Boyd said.

Boyd isn’t the only one in her family that’s adopted. Boyd has two older brothers, Connor and
Brendon, who were also adopted.

“My brothers are adopted; we all look different from each other. My two brothers look like my
parents, I don’t because I’m taller than everyone.”

Although they might not be genetically related, Boyd describes her bond with her brothers as
stronger than blood.
“We’re closer than blood even though we’re not blood. There isn’t a day that goes by that I
don’t talk to them or call them.”

That bond has helped her grow her competitive edge.

“My friends make fun of me because like I always take games serious because growing up if I
didn’t take it serious, they would make fun of me or wrestle me. We still wrestle every Sunday;
we get together and have fight night. My mom has tried stopping them but at this point she
doesn’t care anymore.”

Growing up, Boyd didn’t start playing volleyball until she was 13. Before that, her mother put
her in dance.

“I didn’t start playing volleyball until I was 13, because my mom was like this pageant lady. She
was the head cheerleader at her school.”

Dance was her thing until she hit her growth spurt. From there her dad noticed that he should
take his daughter down a different path; a volleyball path.

Her dad sent her to a sports camp where she started playing volleyball. While she didn’t like it
at first, Boyd liked the idea of trying something new.

“I did not want to play volleyball,” said Boyd who wasn’t good at volleyball at first.

Through trial and error, Boyd continued to grow in the sport. After joining a new club, her
coaches told her that she had potential to excel and have her college paid for through
volleyball.

“My club coaches took me under their wing and were like you have the potential to play in
college and have your college paid for. My dad was all for that. But ever since then I fell in love
with the game, even if I hated it at first.”

From there on, Boyd excelled in volleyball. It all came together during her high school career.
Representing her school was the coolest feeling for her; so cool that she wanted to continue
that same feeling at the next level.

And that’s where ASU came into fruition.

Boyd committed to ASU because of three things; education, the level of play and the weather.
Boyd noticed the team was on the verge of becoming a great team after seeing the team
improve year after year.
Boyd had a lot of success this year playing early as a freshman; something that is rare.

“This season went good, but I did get injured halfway through. The season was cool because I
was getting playing time, not a lot of freshman get to say that. Also, playing the high-speed
volleyball was so much fun.

Boyd had partially torn part of her lower abs that had her performing at a lower level. But
something did come out from this.

As Michael Jordan had his flu game, Kennedi Boyd had her ab game where she wore a special
type of spandex shorts that allowed her to keep playing.

“I got these really cute, just kidding they were ugly, compression short that I had to wear to
hold the abdomen in place and I wasn’t allowed to hit during the week, only on game days to
not strain it more,” Boyd said.

Enter the granny panty game. In the week against Oregon and Oregon State, both away, was
the first time Boyd had to wear her special compression shorts, which she called “granny
panties.”

“My favorite game that I played was against Oregon state. It was the first game with my granny
panties, and it was a super awesome game. We won in five and it was their senior night, kinda
sad for them awesome for us. I set my record for kills and blocks that game, so I was pretty
hyped about that.”

While she had many highs throughout the season, Boyd leaned heavily on her teammates to
help her through her freshmen year. One teammate that helped her a lot was Jada Burse, a
senior who took Boyd under her wing.

“Jada Burse was super awesome; she graduated this past year. She’s a senior and she really
took me under her wing. She transferred here her senior year and it was her first year here too.
She knew what she was doing so it was awesome to be around her.”

Outside of volleyball, Boyd has made friends with other student-athletes on campus, who
understand the stress that comes with being a student-athlete. She met all of them her first
summer on campus, when all of the athletes are living together in the dorms.

“I love all the kids I met there; I still talk to them. I talk to them at least once or twice a week.
Being an athlete in school is super fun and they know what we go through. We’re super
supportive of each other and try to go to each other’s events throughout the year.
With a year under her belt, Boyd realizes she has the ability to grow more as a player and a
human being.

“This year helped me realize I have so much room to grow than I thought before,” said Boyd
who is making the most out of her four years in Tempe.

Her favorite moment so far, has come from a practice where they played to 25, a game she
describes as a highly competitive moment in her first year.

“My favorite memory in volleyball was when we were having practice and it was offense versus
defense and it was first to 25 and I think we went to 37-35 before someone won. It was the last
drill of the day; we had done conditioning before and we were winded, but the game kept
going and the energy was so insane, and I loved it because it was my team going against my
team. we were all being loud and obnoxious. Everyone was working so hard; it was so much
fun.”

With COVID-19 halting the world, Kennedi Boyd is eager to return with her team. Recently
getting back into the gym, she is excited to see the potential the team has next season, when
there is a season.