A work-life balance is a very common struggle among people. For Kian Kelly, he endures that same struggle, but with the games he loves. Kian Kelly, a senior at HSE, is a standout cornerback in the fall for the football team and a prominent guard in the winter for the boys basketball team. And with these two time consuming sports, the transition between them is full of emotion, energy, and dedication. I conducted an interview with Kian Kelly about the transition from playing football in the fall to basketball in the winter.
When asked about how it felt stepping into basketball season after such an emotional football finish, Kelly responded, “After the football season stepping into basketball almost didn’t feel real, it still felt like I was going to be having another game under the lights in front of everyone.” Kelly continued, “Truly it still doesn’t feel over yet, however because of how hard I pushed my body in football it caused me to sit out a couple weeks to fully recover.” The royals finished the football season on a sour note with a Sectional loss to Fishers. This left Kelly with motivation for his next mission, basketball. Because of his determination in football, Kelly needed to lay back in order to prepare for basketball, but his mindset kept telling him to come back fighting herder.
When asked about what the biggest difference in your mindset between the end of football and the start of basketball has been, Kelly said, “The biggest difference in my mindset is switching my brain to understand my role.” Kelly continued, “With football and basketball being 2 completely different games, it means I have to understand what I am good at and play to my strengths, which is different in basketball than it is in football.” The sport of basketball requires much more versatility than football. There is little time to rest in between play like football and requires a lot of improvising on the spot. Kelly underwent this heavily. And with this transition, he needed to understand his role and transition his mindset.
When asked about how his football experience has helped prepare him for basketball, both physically and mentally, he responded, “My football experience helped me prepare for basketball by enforcing a team first mindset. In football, it takes all 11 players to perform on all play, however basketball by nature can more a more selfish sport.” Kelly continued about basketball by stating, “Being super connected in basketball can make us hard to guard. So, bringing this over will not only help me, but it will more importantly help the team.” Kelly has always been a ‘team-first’ athlete. He’s selfless and will always put his team before himself to win games. It’s important to him that the team works better together than just his performance. So, transitioning that aspect of football to basketball, Kelly hopes it will elevate his team to the next level.
When Kelly was asked about how has it changed from being with a coach for years on football, to going into a team with a brand new coach on basketball, he stated, “Although it is Coach Allen’s 1st year, he has very similar standards that Coach Kelly does.” He continued, “Because of being surrounded by good coaches at HSE it allows the switch to not be as impactful as one might think.” Although many would think Coach Bobby Allen would bring in an entirely new culture, Kelly says there’s not much difference than how both Coach Kelly and Coach Allen operate their programs. And to Kelly, this is a very big positive for his tough transition.
To play both football and basketball, two physically and mentally challenging sports, is tough enough as it is. To play them in back to back seasons brings even more challenge. However, Kian Kelly finds a way to be one of the most productive athletes at HSE and complete a full transition from football to basketball. Even in all the chaos and turmoil of the transition, he still fonds a way to have some fun. “My most memorable moment from football was our Homestead game this past year. In basketball it was my full court shoot at the Event Center against Fishers.”
