Hi everyone!

My name is Kelsey Griffin, and I’m from Eagle River, Alaska. My life’s journey took me from all the way up north to the middle of the country in Nebraska, and now to Connecticut.

Many of you probably don’t know much about me, so here are some details that might help you understand my life’s ambitions beyond basketball.

Being born premature – with doctors not knowing if I would ever be able to run, let alone play competitive sports – started me on the road to overcoming obstacles. As I became older I began to appreciate more and more how amazing the human body truly is.  

In college I battled mononucleosis, vocal cord dysfunction, a broken rib and two ankle surgeries. In spending just as much time in the training room as I did on the basketball court, learning the capabilities of the body first hand was inspiring. It was through my early trials that I really began to see the career path I wanted in life.

So I geared my college courses towards biology, and with my love for science, I gained a whole new appreciation for biology beyond the human body. With courses like biology of viruses and microbiology my understanding for the realm of biology grew as well as the knowledge that I only wanted to study the human body.  

In taking these classes I met several people who shared my goal of becoming a doctor. These students spent hours working and volunteering in hospitals, but my job was basketball.

Playing basketball for Nebraska helped me grow so much as a person over the past five years.  Through my injuries and working with people from all different walks of life, I have grown in ways I didn’t know I could.  

Because I started as a freshman, I was thrown into leadership roles almost instantly. I had upperclassmen looking up to me and counting on me. With leadership comes responsibility. I was not able to make the same mistakes as others, and I had to learn quickly no matter what situation I was thrown into.

In order to be an effective leader, I had to become a great communicator. Communication is one of the most important skills on and off the basketball court. I had to become a great communicator with my teammates, coaches, fans, and even my own parents. The ability to communicate helped me to mediate between coaches and players, which in turn, helped keep team chemistry healthy. My goal as a captain and leader of our team, which went 28-0 in the regular season on the way to a Big XII Conference championship this past season, was to make it so my coaches would never coach effort, only technique. Also, I wanted me and my teammates to have the time of our lives while doing our best to meet our coach’s expectations.

I think if you were to ask anyone of them if this happened, they would say, “yes!”

My experience in the classroom helped me find another passion in my life besides basketball, and that is medicine; in particular, encouraging the miraculous human body to heal. I have been blessed with athletic talents that have allowed me to play at a high level. But it also took hard work, leadership, determination, perseverance, competitive spirit and the ability to have fun and get the most out of life.

I believe all of that experience will ultimately help me achieve my goal of one day becoming a Doctor of Osteopathy.