Being an elite level athlete has its perks, but it’s taken for granted the person on the inside.
The Journal sat down with USports womens basketball star Kiyara Letlow, MSc’ 25, to talk about her journey with basketball that led her to Queen’s this season.
READ MORE: Kiayra Letlow breaks U Sports rebound record
Born and raised in Toronto, Letlow loved being active and playing sports, and while a stellar basketball player, she found her younger self not on the court. “I did basically every sport, including dance for 10 years, I did not really touch a basketball until I was fourteen” Letlow admitted.
It wasn’t until early in high school that she really gave basketball a fair chance. Due to her brother’s commitment to a basketball program in Toronto, he signed her up for the girls team despite pushback, she ultimately agreed to join.
Starting at the age of 14, she started much later than most of the other girls around her, and Letlow acknowledged that the transition into a new sport was very hard due to her being shy and lack of developed basketball talent. She credits the friendships she made on her first basketball team contributed to her falling in love with all basketball has to offer.
As her basketball game developed, more and more eyes started to identify Letlow as a very good player in the Toronto area. So in grade 11 she made the decision to transfer to a prep school that had been scouting her. Her experience at the school made her realize that she wanted to play basketball at the university level. Letlow emphasized that she “wanted to stay in Canada because I didn’t feel like I needed to go to the United States.”
The decision on where to go for her next chapter wasn’t an easy or quick one according to Letlow. “I went on a bunch of visits, dragging my Mom everywhere, I could tell she was getting sick of it,” Letlow said. She decided on her last campus visit, Cape Breton University where she felt she could reach her goals properly. “I appreciated the honesty about my development and where I need to go,” she continued to say that a key part of her decision was a letter that the coach had wrote her, laying out what her life would look like if she went to Cape Breton. “It’s something very personal that I still have to this day.”
Her first year in Cape Breton was during COVID-19 where she trained her entire year in Nova Scotia in a competitive environment. Her next four years as an athlete for the Capers was dominant, breaking the Atlantic University Sport (AUS) record for career rebounds (1, 022). Having one more year of eligibility left, she decided to transfer to Queen’s to play and continue her to do her masters in Sport Psychology. “I have always been a fan of Queen’s, and everything just seemed to have these little instances where Queen’s came up” said Letlow.
Letlow said that her transition to Queens has been great besides trying to find a seat at Stauffer and sheer size of the campus. It hasn’t stopped her on the court for the Gaels averaging 16.9 points and 11.3 rebounds per game, she’s been an important piece to the undefeated team.
In her limited free time away from the court, she enjoys reading and biking, as well as watching movies. A goal of hers after her time at Queens is to play professional basketball overseas and experience playing in different countries. She’d also like to thank God, her mom and her brother for being the athlete and person she has become.
See Kiyara and the rest of the undefeated Queens Women’s Basketball team at the ARC as they continue their successful season.
Tags
Basketball, Gaels, Get to know your gaels, Kiyara Letlow
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