Langara basketball player is winning in academia and sports
Kadyn Brown, from the Falcons basketball team joins province-wide award winner list
BY RICK GOODE
Between honours level grades and linchpin position as centre on the school basketball team, Kadyn Brown performs a difficult balancing act.
“He’s like the epitome of what a student athlete is,” said Cassidy Kannemeyer, head coach of the Langara Falcons.
Kadyn has been recognized by the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) with the National Scholar Award, which the association has given out since 2004 as a way to recognize academic excellence in student athletes. Students who are eligible must achieve honours level grades while being a part of a registered team associated with the CCAA. This is the fifth consecutive year that Langara College students have been awarded.
Complementing study life with sports
Brandon Stone, CCAA’s interim chief executive officer, says that sports should be there to “enrich the lives of students” as opposed to distract.
As one of only two Langara students this year to win the award, Brown’s determination, both on the court and in the classroom is paying off. He is currently studying kinesiology and plans to follow that path into physiotherapy.
“It’s pretty tough you know,” he said. “It’s the time you put into it. Anyone who studies for five hours a day isn’t going to get bad grades.”
Kadyn said the hardest part is keeping up with the athletics, as the physical toll for him is much harder to overcome than the mental toll of studying.
Finding time for others
Despite spending long hours in school and with his team, Brown still finds time to coach youth basketball as a way to give back to the community he comes from.
“I think it’s a good way to get to know the kids that are coming up from the area you came from,” he said. “I enjoy it in the moment.”
The Voice also reached out to Maddie Murray from the women’s basketball team, who is also an NSA recipient, but she declined an interview.