As the semester comes to a close and their final sports seasons end, many fourth-year student-athletes share how their time in athletics has shaped their Grinnell experience.
Ramona Delborne `26, a forward for women’s soccer, said the thing she learned most was the sense of community and love that grew out of the sport. “Giving and receiving support to and from other people keeps us all going, and you can’t survive without a community,” she said.
“There are practices where it’s cold and it’s rainy, and you have so much homework, and it’s just miserable, and then at our last game, the final whistle blew, and I was, like … wow, this is over. If I could have one more rainy, cold practice, I would take it in a heartbeat.”
A moment that stands out to her was during her first year, when they hosted and won the 2022 Midwest Conference Tournament. The last time they had won the Midwest Conference prior to this was in 2006. After winning the championship on a penalty kick, everyone stormed the field. “We were all dancing around in the field. It was just magical,” she said. “We always joke that we win with the power of friendship.”
She said she wished people would ask what it feels like to be a female athlete on campus. “It’s really special. It’s really unique.”
It’s given me so many things, and at the same time, it’s so heartbreaking and frustrating to not be valued as much as other athletes and teams,” she added. “It’s a hard balance of appreciation and frustration.”
Delborne also said that the team in and of itself is love. “The core of our team is love and that’s the most important thing to me, not the sport.”
Beya VanRheenen `26, a defender for women’s soccer, said she learned resilience from her time playing here. “The first thing I think about is resilience and being able to take the good with the bad and just enjoy all the small things that come with community and sports,” she said. “There’s going to be highs and lows in whatever you’re doing, and just being able to deal with both of those at the same time.”
VanRheenen said she would tell her freshman self not to take anything for granted. “You’ll never know when your four years come to an end, and sports and our team in particular are super special and have been a really large part of my time here. They’ve been some of my best friends, and so just take every moment slowly and enjoy what I can.”
She also mentioned the standout moment of the 2022 Midwest Conference Tournament. “We were in the bottom rankings and so just having all of that like ‘we won the tournament, we’re going to the NCAAs, we worked so hard and we loved each other so much, and I think you could really see that in that moment.”
“There’s something very special about DIII,” she said. “I think you can think about that in a lot of different ways, but I feel like how I’ve thought about it is, don’t overthink, have fun and enjoy every moment. Be the best version of yourself on and off the field.”
Kavya Keshav `26, a golfer, said the most important thing she has learned is that it’s not about winning. “It’s a lot more about the community you form with your team. I’m really happy with how I’ve gotten to know everyone on the team in my four years.”
Keshav said she would tell her younger self that it’s okay to not succeed. “Don’t be afraid to fail at things. Even if I’m taking a class that seems really hard, just go through with it and see what you get out of it because sometimes that’s more valuable than the grade you get out of it,” she said.
Keshav also said she wished she had been asked more about the mental game of golf. “It’s so individual, we have a team, but you’re still out there on your own.
You deal with a lot of thoughts and a lot of perceptions of yourself, and I think that’s a big aspect of the sport.”
Nicole Mlynski `26, an outside hitter for women’s volleyball, said she learned the most from just spending time with the team rather than the actual performances.
“Making sure that you really listen to people in whatever manner they want to be listened to,” she said. “I think you really have to learn how to listen to people and how to respond in a way that actually helps them because it is an honor to have people come up to you for advice and trust you in that way.”
Mlynski said a standout memory for her was the volleyball team breaking the Midwest Conference attendance record this past season with 942 attendees.
“It was so electric. It was the coolest thing I’ve ever done,” she said. “I usually give a little speech on the court right before we start playing, and I was giving my speech and started crying, because it was so overwhelming to have that many people there supporting you.”
Skylar Thomas `26, a forward for women’s basketball, said she learned what it means to be a leader during her time at Grinnell.
“I’ve spent a lot of time throughout the past couple of seasons literally waking up every morning and thinking about, ‘what does my team need today,’” she said. “I can see how that will apply in a lot of other contexts, how it already does and I’m really grateful for that skill.”
She said she wished people asked more about the ‘why.’ “Why are you doing this? Why does this matter to you? What’s your ‘why?’” she said.
Thomas said that Grinnell has helped her build her confidence.
“I think that I’ve gained so much through playing my sport for other people, that I’ve gained so much for my own confidence through that. So family, teammates, friends and what all of that’s done for me as a person,” she said.
Kylie Snell `26, a blocker for women’s volleyball, said the most important thing she learned from her time on the team was that Grinnell is a unique experience. “I learned how to live with and love people who are very different from me and come from very different backgrounds and to work together towards a mutual goal.”
Snell said she thinks non-athletes and athletes should ask each other what they have in common.
“I wish people at Grinnell were asking their fellow student athletes what else drew them to Grinnell because everyone here is a nerd about fun things,” she said. “I think we’re just all so much more similar than we think, because we all had that wonderful opportunity to be kind of selected into this school to create a community that’s very similar, but it still challenges itself to think in different ways.”
Moise Milenge `26, a forward for men’s soccer, said the friendships he has made on the team have been the most important part of his time here.
“It just brings me happiness and so that’s where I go when I need to be happy. I feel like if I’m down, I can play soccer and then it can lift me up,” he said.
