Do better, throw further, work harder: thrower, dancer discusses balancing it all

Published February 15, 2024, in the Tropolitan newspaper, Troy University, Troy, AL.

For most students, it’s difficult to balance major and minor courses, extracurriculars and social lives. For students like Leah Kennedy, she’s balancing it all.

Contributed Photo - Leah Kennedy

Leah Kennedy, a senior biomedical sciences major and dance minor from New Orleans, Louisiana, is a thrower for the Troy Track and Field team, where she is seated at 10th in javelin, seventh in hammer and fifth in shot put in Troy’s program history.

Kennedy began her journey into track and field at 5-years-old.

“It actually runs in my family,” Kennedy said. “I'm actually the black sheep of the family because I decided to throw rather than run.”

Kennedy’s mother competed in triple jump and hurdles, and her grandfather ran track for the Air Force and was a track coach.

“At five, my grandfather had me on the ladder, which is an agility thing for footwork where you're running up and down the ladder which is flat on the ground,” Kennedy said. “I just loved it, but I was 5, I'm a kid.

“I'm not really sure about plyo-mechanics and speed and foot training. I'm just having a good time jumping on a ladder.”

At around 9-years-old, Kennedy received comments that deeply affected her mental health. Her mother found out and decided it was time.

“She called my grandfather and she was like ‘take her, she needs something and I don't know what it is, but take her,’ Kennedy said. “My grandfather, he takes me out.

“I did the ladder again, and I had that same feeling of ‘this is what I’m meant to do.’”

One week later, Kennedy had her first competition, where she tallied a podium finish in her first-ever outing. After that, she did not lose a competition between the ages of nine and 18.

“I got involved because someone made a comment about the way I looked,” Kennedy said. “Then it became the fuel under me to be like, 'I don't care. I'm big, okay, I'm tall, okay.'“I think around the age of 13, I realized ‘I'm actually really good at this.’ I'm good at it because I'm big and tall.”

Kennedy was recruited by Penn State during the Covid-19 outbreak and transferred to the Troy Trojans her sophomore year after not noticing any improvement with her performance.

During her time at Troy, Kennedy has taken courses for her dance minor, which she advocates for is a sport in its own right.

“Yes, dance is a sport,” Kennedy said. “I don't care, whoever thinks it's not a sport has not taken a ballet class with [Dominique Angel]”

During one of her classes, Kennedy said she had taken some of the other track and field athletes to a dance class, where she states they were “pouring in sweat.” They then limped out of the building.

“My best friend Biniosa Ezuske came with me,” Kennedy said. “After the class, that girl grabbed me by the bra straps - I am not kidding, bra straps - pulled me into her face and said, ‘If you ever make me do this again, I’ll kill you.’”

Kennedy soon noticed improvements in her track and field performance because of her dance classes.

One experience she pointed to was her balance during shotput events improved after taking dance courses.

“I did not know how unbalanced I was until I started taking dance,” Kennedy said. “How I've been standing on one leg to throw a ball since I started gliding when I was 12.”

“What I struggle with in dance actually turns out to be a good thing for track, and when I start getting good at it for dance, it shows in track.”

The Troy track and field team now eyes the Sun Belt Conference Indoor Championships on Feb. 19, and Kennedy says she’s going to focus less on her stats, and more on her improvement.

“My expectations for myself can't be numbers, because it's so easy to be worked up on the numbers,” Kennedy said. “You don't think about the numbers; you don't think about how far it goes; you just think about getting the technique right because the numbers will come with the technique.”