Those on the outside might see his journey to collegiate tennis and Student-Athlete Advisory Committee presidency as random chance, but for Kevin Lynch, the entire experience has been a journey. Though it wasn’t the path he originally saw himself taking, he wouldn’t trade his experiences at Seattle University for anything.
College is a time for you to “come into your own,” Lynch reflects. “I feel like everyone has their own path. I chose a rougher path and sometimes that’s what it takes. Some people come in [to college] knowing exactly what they want, but knowing people is the biggest thing you can do for yourself. Know people, find ways to get involved.”
Lynch was near the University of Wisconsin with his dad towards the end of his high school career when they just happened to go into the Badgers’ Nielsen Tennis Stadium.
“The coach was rolling balls back and forth and the guy is going back and forth to the trash can and getting sick and the coach is just harping on him like ‘You can’t miss that ball!’,” Lynch remembers, “and I said ‘Dad, I think I want to play tennis.’”
Whatever it takes to make a future student-athlete realize their dream.
Lynch would take a year off school, going to a tennis academy where they would travel around the country playing the game they love and visiting different colleges and universities. At first, he was not sold on Seattle U.
“I made friends with a guy on the tour and we just sat in the back of the room saying ‘We’re not going here, it’s not the school for me’. Thankfully I was wrong.”
After a rocky start, Lynch realized that playing for the team and getting involved would be two of his biggest assets. During his senior season, he led the Redhawk men’s tennis team to their highest win total since the rebirth of the program, also serving as SAAC president.
“The best thing [about being a student-athlete] is the team feeling. Being part of a team is great and the school is small enough where you know everyone. Honestly, it’s like a family. The program here is so different and so unique to any program out there – the brother and sisterhood of it.”
During his involvement with SAAC, his favorite part was getting “to meet so many other kids from different teams, something you wouldn’t otherwise do. I might not have otherwise been friends with guys from swim or girls from volleyball and they turn out to be great people.”
A culmination of his entire college experience, Lynch was named the Eddie O’Brien Male Student-Athlete of the Year in May 2014 at the annual Athletics Awards Show.
“I was very surprised. I thought I had no chance against someone like Dylan Burnett, who is breaking school records and was at NCAA’s. It was like five years of work finally paid off. It was pretty cool.”
He also co-hosted the awards show with Karina Smyth, a student-athlete from the SU softball team, and also a recent graduate.
“I was in front of the library on the first floor and [assistant athletics director] Erin Engelhardt walks by. And you know how she walks – super fast and with a mission. And I see her and go ‘Hey Erin’ and she beelines it over to me and says ‘Do you want to be a co-host of the athletics awards show?’ and I said ‘Oh I don’t know about that. Who’s the other person?’ and she says ‘Karina Smyth’ and I’m like ‘Ok. Done deal. Too easy.’”
Earning First Team All-Conference this year was “cool to know that I wasn’t doing it for any awards. I know the team’s potential and how good they were, so I just wanted to bring that out of them. They finally have something to build upon. Getting First Team All-WAC, I think that’s awesome, but it’s just part of the process in leading the guys in what they could potentially do.”
Lynch plans to move to Southern California and play professional tennis for as long as he can before starting his own business and working for himself.
“I just cannot be in the corporate world working my way up. That’s just not how I am. Something different, I’ve always done that. I’ve always taken the road less traveled.”
No matter where he goes, Lynch will take the principles and lessons he learned during his Seattle U career with him always.
“The biggest thing is that I’ve come into my own as a leader. I have to be in that role; I can’t follow. I think that’s the biggest quality I learned about myself – leadership. I prefer to be a trailblazer.”