Born to Run - Kayla Padilla

This story was originally published on The Sideline Post with the permission to re-publish on Bouncing Back.

I never really considered myself to have much of a story. However, I think a big part of who I am and a narrative that might be worth sharing is the story of who I have become and am becoming. Perhaps, even the person I was born to be.

And with the little help of a mere song title, a simple three words, a rock anthem released twenty-six years before my existence, I would find a new lens to shape some of my life’s biggest decisions and change the way I thought about my purpose.

I was born to work. It was not until my first cross-country road trip at the age of nine to play a few basketball games against the nation’s fiercest fifth graders that I solidified the idea that basketball might be something worth pursuing. Yet, from the start I always put academics first and continue to do so until this day. My grades and GPA were not a result of some innate intelligence, but the result of understanding concepts and working out problems until they were as easy as shooting a lay-up. I credit so much of my discipline and work ethic to basketball and the lessons I was taught early on to truly comprehend what it takes to attain maximum results. I was born to work hard for whatever I set my mind to.

I was born to challenge myself. When I began to receive offers to play basketball at the collegiate level, I was fortunate to have opportunities at different institutions across the country. I had options to play twenty minutes from home and options to play over 2,000 miles away. These drastic differences between schools required me to sit down and think about what I truly wanted out of my college experience. Thinking back at how I would answer the question “Why did you choose Penn?,” I would always respond with “I wanted to challenge myself.” I wanted a challenge. I wanted to challenge myself at one of the world’s most prestigious universities, studying at the world’s number 1 business school; I wanted to enter an established and accomplished basketball program and challenge myself to see how much of an impact I could make from the get go; I wanted to be on my own and challenge myself to find independence and responsibility in a beautiful city like Philadelphia. But a challenge is a challenge for a reason. Accomplishing goals is not a linear path, but rather a volatile journey of highs, lows, loneliness, frustration, and feelings of inadequacy and unworthiness. I was born to challenge myself, and for that, I am stronger. 

I was born to represent. I come from a strong Filipino background with my grandparents having emigrated to the United States before my parents were born in search for better opportunities. I possess your typical, loud, but ultra-supportive extended family that somehow all live in the same city. And I love it. I love coming from a tight-knit community with an even stronger cultural heritage that puts family first and has a particular inkling towards the sport of basketball. I knew of the racial disparities and the apparent lack of Asian representation when entering Ivy League basketball. I knew it was going to be a change of perspective going from playing in a predominantly Asian-American community to then arrive in a conference where I was maybe one of five Asian basketball players. However, these disparities are both a blessing and a curse. My wish is for there to be more Asian representation in Ivy League sports, but at the same time, the small group that represents this demographic is able to be role models for little girls that strive to be in our position one day. I have had the chance to speak with younger, female, Asian basketball players who have graciously relayed their hopes to be in my shoes one day and how they admire aspects of my game. While I am humbled whenever these conversations arise, it also leaves me in bewilderment at the thought of how me, a 19 year-old, simply playing the game I love, can somehow inspire someone. Most importantly, these conversations have encouraged me to recognize the position I am in to serve and lead by example. That’s the power of the game. I was born to represent those in my corner and those girls in the stands with dreams of playing on a bigger stage.  

“Though a majority of my life experiences are the results of my ties to athletics, my identity is far from centered on myself as a basketball player.”

Lastly, I was born to be a little different. If you know me, you know I am not just an athlete. Though a majority of my life experiences are the results of my ties to athletics, my identity is far from centered on myself as a basketball player. I am more than an athlete. I am a music lover. Much of my music consumption recycles 70s music and artists who are three times my age. I will unapologetically blast Otis Redding’s “Sittin’ On the Dock of the Bay” or Stevie Nicks’s “Edge of Seventeen” on a car ride to get some coffee. I will indulge myself in instruments, impulsively purchase an electronic drum set out of my price range and commit to being the next Mick Fleetwood in three days time. I am an entrepreneur. I was hesitant to build The Sideline Post at first, fearing failure and criticism to stay in my lane and just play basketball. But the very presence of The Sideline Post is to break the stigma of athletes just being athletes; the stories we have helped publish are stories of real people with narratives worth telling and sharing. I am so very grateful to have this platform to amplify the voices of today’s collegiate athletes who help in pushing these boundaries. This only happened because I realized I was not born to be a bystander, I was born to be someone of whom when they saw an opportunity, they went after it and made it happen. I was born to make things happen. I was born to go out of my comfort zone and be a little different.

If you have gotten this far, you will have thought I was born to do and be a lot of things. However, some things I know I was not born to be are complacent, stagnant, a spectator.

At the end of the day, I believe I was born to run. 

And the Boss is law. So, looks like I’ll keep running.