From Three Point Line to Side Line: Kayla Burton

From Three Point Line to Side Line

 

Kayla Burton is not used to waking up at 9 a.m. for class every day. To her, this is a luxury. Burton is used to waking up at 5 a.m. to take 100 layups, 100 free throws, and 100 three pointers before even thinking about what’s for breakfast. She just recently finished her career as a basketball player at Lehigh University. What’s next? Should she attempt to make the leap to the WNBA, should she try overseas, or should she just leave sports all together?

               Burton knew she could not give up on a part of her life that has been with her forever. So instead of pushing sports to the side, Burton decided it was time to follow in her father’s footsteps and become a broadcaster. “After growing up watching what my dad has done his whole life, I knew that’s how I would keep sports in my life.”

https://soundcloud.com/user-125111412/kayla-interview-sce

Transcription

M-So can you say and spell your name

K-yea, Kayla Burton and it’s K-A-Y-L-A B-U-R-T-O-N

M- Ok and where are you from

K-So, originally, I’m from a small town called Hopkinton, Massachusetts. Its where the Boston Marathon starts, that’s the only thing people know. Then I moved to Newton, Massachusetts which is about 45 minutes from Hopkinton, for sports reasons, my dad’s job, it was just closer to Boston where he worked and I was always playing basketball in Newton so we moved there during my eight grade year.

M- Where did you go to undergrad?

K- So undergrad I went to Lehigh University, that’s where I studied journalism. I played basketball there for all four years

M-So you played basketball for four years, what’s it like coming from being a division one athlete to now purely being a student?

K-So I now finally understand what it feels like to be a NARP (laughs)…

M-  I’m a little offended by that haha

K- No its not a degrading thing! It’s a wake up call thing. It’s a very different transition, it’s a weird because you would think with playing basketball, I believe d1-d2-d3 I mean I was fortunate enough to play d1 but, regardless what you plan and what division it’s a commitment and its tough and intense so I think that balancing both academics and athletics is already a whole job in itself. I don’t want to say I was overconfident, or had more confidence coming into Syracuse, but this is probably the hardest schoolwork I’ve ever done in comparison to my undergrad with playing basketball and studying my academics at the same time. But this is a master’s program so it is different than an undergrad, so the transition from playing basketball, the time commitment there is a whole other level, but in a way I’m able to translate my work ethic. I’m definitely able to translate my work ethic from playing ball my whole life to my school work now. And just the hours I have to put in for schoolwork I look at it from a basketball mindset, I know it sounds corny.

M- no I definitly feel that when my career ended 14 years ago

K- oh please, hey you got a head start on the real world.

M- Exactly, so what is your favorite memory from you athletic career being in college

K- My favorite memory is we went to Europe. We played three different teams in Europe. Basically the way I say it is one team beat our behinds, one team was mediocre and we beat them by a couple points, and the other team we played wasn’t that great. But it wasn’t even about playing it really didn’t matter that much, we got to travel so much, Rome, Paris, Venice, Nice it was just beautfuil. Being able to do that with some of my best friends, its not necessarily all your best friends, a lot of people think “oh you guys are gonna be all great”. A- you growing up in high school, we were all pretty pretty close, college is difference in a sense where I got a huge wake up call. My freshman year I started and I killed it and I was all rookie this all that then I got my spot completely taken from me my sophomore year. I was furious, I was waking up early, making sure I was working out, but at the same time you can’t get mad at your teammate because it’s the coaches decision to play them and they are just honestly maybe better than you. It’s not that I settled with that, I think I  was angry at first, all this time commitment you’re busting your behind, I’m putting extra hours that coach doesn’t even know I’m putting in, and it wasn’t even a pity party, I just didn’t understand what more could I have done to play more. So that weighed on me for two years, I didn’t really play my sophomore and junior year as much, my senior year I started to play a little bit more but by that point I let go of this is not anyone else’s fault but yourself. And sometimes its not even your fault it just is what it is, once I kinda understood that, was able to enjoy it and enjoy my teammate. I know I just went off on a tangent but I would definitely say my favorite memory was the Europe trip and just growing relationships with people who I really care about

M-So going off that what are you going to miss the most?

K-Well I still miss the game, I really do

M-Do you get out, do you play?

K- Oh yea, matter of fact I visited the gym around here, after two months it felt like a breakup. Out of all the relationships I’ve had with guys in my life, ending with basketball has been like the worst thing that has ever happened in my life. I cried for weeks after, some of my teammates who were also seniors were shocked, they were like, “Kayla its ok” I was like “No I miss it!. I think Letting it go was hard, my family is all a bunch of athletes, there’s so much more to our sports than it just being about the sports itself so I think, “hmm that’s something I talk to my dad on the phone with single every other day.” He always checks in, he rebounded me my whole life. So I think I was scared to have this sport end because, not that I didn’t know how to have a relationship with my family members but, it was such a big part of my life that I was like, “wait what can we do to still bond that’s not maybe basketball?” And I actually like this transition, I’m so content with not playing anymore, I do miss it and now I’m able to let go of the break up and just play for fun which I love, and I think we’re starting a little team over here, nothing serious just for like pick up on Mondays.

M- Absolutely.

K- but yea playing itself I definitely miss, but to trail off of that the games themselves with my teammates. I would say I had four main best friends. Its funny cause you would think getting your position taken by an underclassmen you have to sit on the bench, you would think that just sucks and that’s the worse thing that can happen, but I established my relationship with one of my best friends and we didn’t start talking serious until my sophomore year and now she’s getting married and I’m going to her wedding in like three months. That’s all because I was about to breakdown crying on the bench because I wasn’t playing and she would throw jokes at me, trying to keep spirts up and it started a friendship. And I hate saying this I think it’s so corny but the whole “sports matter more” is real. Its more than the court you’re playing, the stats, the assists, the points and the assists and all you have, I miss the bonding relationships I had with my teammates but it still goes on

M- its bigger than the numbers

K- right

M- so if that’s the thing your going to miss the most, what’s the thing that you are so happy you are never going to have to do again.

K- oh I can go on a rant about that haha. I’ll give you 10 in 10 seconds, no more stadium stairs, no more 24-24, if you know what that is its sprinting up and down 24 times with 24 seconds its just brutal basically. The lifting, I finally don’t have to have a bulky, sweaty, screaming man in my face, my weight trainer, telling me to max out at 130 for bench press. I finally can just go to the gym at my time I don’t have to wake up for 6 a.m.’s. My dad and I growing up would wake up at 5 a.m. and I would have to make 100 inside shots, 100 threes and other stuff, and we’d always have that alarm clock and I kept that at college. Now I set my alarm for class time, which is weird, but those little things, i’m happy I don’t have to be sweaty at 6 a.m., I miss it but I don’t miss the intense workouts at all.

M-Now that you’re a full time student, why Newhouse?

K- So graduating from Lehigh, my dad’s a sports broadcaster in Boston, growing up with him and my mom and my siblings, we were always on the go with sports somedays, my mom would have to drag me and somedays my dad would have to take me to the station and I would watch him do broadcast shows or do some interviews. I always loved it, it was so much fun and he was so conversational I was like “this is his job?” Once I understood it as a teenager he told me to be quiet in the background. Once I got school it was a lot of print journalism no broadcasting but I knew I wanted to do broadcasting. End of my junior year going into my senior year I knew I was behind on the broadcasting part but I didn’t know what to do, because they didn’t have a program. My dad said, “go get some cameras, go film yourself, go ask questions.” I would say it’s not that easy for me to go knock on the coaches door and he literally told me to go do it. So I did my first terrible interview off of that and then I started building up. I actually got a small little internship with the Celtics when I came home. I loved it. I loved doing post game interviews, we did recaps, but that’s when I really decided that I don’t feel as confident as I wanted to feel and I really want to go to grad school. I was looking at Newhouse and Northwestern and once I came to preview day that’s when I decided I was coming here. There’s a difference between the other programs, there’s was an encouraging aspect here that was really tough. I wanted someone to tell me straight up that “you suck at this” or “you can be better” because that’s what I’m used to through coaching. But on the other side I am a sensitive human being and I like encouragement and I think showed that when I came here. I feel like I can build confidence here and go back out in the field and nail it.

M- So really to refine your skills is the reason you came?

K- yes to refine my skills, and to find skills that I didn’t know I had. As an athlete I’m a perfectionist, I need to do this right and that right, coming here so far I’ve learned that even just meeting with Professor Park he said, “don’t be so hard on yourself. Yeah your terrible here but this part isn’t so bad” Its learning to not be a perfectionist in the beginning and taking what you have and run with it.

M-You have siblings

K- I have an older sister, Kendall 25, a younger brother Austin 20, and a younger sister who just turned 18.

M- do they still play sports still?

K- My older sister played basketball at Villanova, my brother plays football at UCLA, and my younger sister just started playing basketball at Northwestern.

M-Do you ever practice interviewing them

K- Actually I have over the past year but they just trash me. Like normal siblings do so we can never get through what I want, my older sister we can but younger siblings no shot.

M- They never let you do what you want

K- Oh my younger brother, if I can get a facetime from him or a phone conversation that lasts more than five seconds without him saying “I gotta go” cause he needs to get to his bro’s or whatever, it’s a blessing haha.

M-Do you ever look back on that first interview you did when you knocked on the coaches door to see how far you’ve come?

K- I haven’t honestly until now, because when you’re here in this program its “I gotta do this better, and this better”. Its your own individual evaluation. But no not until now, you know what though I am proud of my self. I remember the first time after the coach agreed to do the interview with me all the football players were there and I was nervous. Some of them knew me because of basketball, all those thoughts in my head “oh my gosh their judging me, I got to do this perfectly” all these thoughts are in my head. I started off my first sentence saying “hi coach” you just don’t say hi coach. To say I’ve come far from saying hi coach says something. But looking back yes I would say I’m proud of myself and I know there is a lot of growth and a lot of work to do. But I do have to credit myself from where I started a year ago to now. So thank you for sparking that up.

M- Last question what would you say your end goal is after you graduate from this program.

K- I would love to go back to Boston and work as a sideline reporter, a sports analyst, or an anchor. But I don’t mind venturing out, ESPN is a dream of mine but if I’m being realistic, I want to start anywhere where I feel challenged but I know that I can do it. I know it’s going to take some baby steps and growth.

M- thank you