Since arriving on campus at the University of Hawai'i in 2023, Kennedy Justin has had no shortage of on-field accomplishments.  During her time at UH, she has been named Big West Goalkeeper of the Year, First-Team All-Big West, and been selected to the Hermann Trophy watch list among other honors.  She has been a key player in the Rainbow Wahine defense with her composure and ambition in the goal.
 
Off the field, Justin has been equally as impressive as she majors in engineering with a goal of becoming an electrical engineer.  She shares her experiences from childhood, her life balancing athletics and school, and her goals for the future.
 
What made you decide to attend the University of Hawai'i at Manoa?
Definitely the coaches and the girls. I'm from California and coming to Hawai'i, everyone is super family oriented here, even on the team. The coaches put our lives first, then soccer, and you couldn't really find that in a lot of places. They were also one of the few Division I programs that I talked to that were super open to me studying engineering, and wanted that to be a priority of mine. A lot of other schools kind of steered me away from that and asked if there were any other majors that I was interested in. But the coaches here wanted me as I am, as an addition to soccer. 
 
Why did you choose engineering as your major?
Growing up, my mom worked for an engineering company, so she would take me to a lot of STEM events. Not that it was forced upon me, but they really sat there and pushed me into STEM environments. I wanted to be an astronaut for the longest time, and then I found out it's so challenging. Then I was like, "Okay, what's next best?" So then I went into electrical engineering, which I'm able to still kind of do that stuff if I wanted to, but I've definitely veered away from the space realm. 
 
How do you manage the workload from school and soccer?
At UH we have the (Nagatani Academic Center) which is a student-athlete center for tutoring. I got a lot of tutoring from there. But definitely time management. The coaches are on us, if you miss an assignment, you're going to get a text. Obviously, I do want to be successful as much as I am competitive on the field. That's how I am in the classroom as well. I just want to be the best at everything that I do. So just holding myself to that standard as well.
 
How was your experience as an engineering intern this summer in Texas?
The internship was great. It was definitely a different experience obviously, like going to Texas by myself. I think I've been there once before. But just living alone and having to put my feet on the ground and take initiative to everything. There was no one to tell me to get up and go train or a set training time. Like having to reach out to coaches and find a gym. Just having to start from ground zero makes you think, "Why am I doing this?" and "How much do you really want it?" It really pushed me there for sure.
 
Do you think being a goalkeeper helped you develop skills that you use in engineering, or vice versa?
Definitely both ways, like playing with goalkeeping you have to take initiative, but you also need to take into account people's feelings. Just being able to think in high-pressure situations goes both ways. I think as far as engineering coming into goalkeeping, in engineering we ask a 'why' question to everything, and I think that makes me see the game differently. I'll always say I'm super analytical and I'm like, okay the ball is going here, so this person needs to slide here, and it helps me keep the field organized and just make sense of the game as well.
 
When growing up playing soccer, did you always want to be a goalkeeper?
No. My dad tells me this funny story from when I was younger. Basically, how I decided and became a goalkeeper, they would say, "Okay, who wants to be goalkeeper?" and obviously no one raises their hand, so then they said, "Who wants to wear a different color?" and then I raised my hand, so then I became a goalkeeper. But throughout my soccer career I've switched in and out of goalkeeping. It wasn't until late in middle school when I had to just stick with it. 
 
How would you describe your style of play?
I think I'm pretty composed compared to most goalkeepers.  But then, this is definitely contradicting, but ambitious. If I see something and I think I can go get it, or sometimes the ball will look high and out of position to some people, but then I trust my athletic ability to compensate for that. I guess I'm ambitious, but then also calm because I think that if I'm anxious, then everybody around me becomes anxious. So just trying to keep my team level-headed as well. 
 
What is the most challenging part of being a goalkeeper?
I think for me, it's directing people. Because if I can position people well, then I don't have to do anything. In prior years I've always played with Eve Bleam or Jacey Jicha. This is the first year where neither one of them are here, and they both are pretty talkative. So this year it's kind of me taking on that additional responsibility, to be able to now direct the defense more and the positions above me. Being able to balance that while managing myself, it's what I've been working with the coaches. You need to cover what you are responsible for first, then you can help out the team. 
 
In what ways have you grown as a player and person since your freshman year?
As a player, doing things that I'm uncomfortable with. Obviously, as a Division I athlete you want to do everything really good and perfect. I would say the biggest jump from playing club to college is that in club, your practices don't matter as much as they do in college. It was really hard to try things out in practice in college because the coaches are always watching. Just being able to be comfortable and confident in trying new things.  But once I had the coaches' belief in me, I felt a lot more comfortable doing those things since my freshman year. And then definitely the team environment is something that I felt I thrived in.  Like going to UH, where we spend probably half of our season traveling and just being around people all the time. I'm an only child, so I'm pretty used to being by myself. So I think growing as a person I've definitely become more personable and just working on my people skills in general. It's definitely been a blessing in both ways for sure. 
 
What has been your favorite memory or experience while playing soccer for UH?
Definitely winning the conference, that's has to be peak. I really enjoyed being able to experience that with my teammates. Coming off the first few games, we didn't win like six games in a row. And then being able to make a crazy comeback like that for conference was really inspiring.
 
What do you enjoy doing outside of school and soccer?
I like going to the beach, spending time with my friends, and my family when I can. I do golf a lot with my former teammates, so that's kind of like a pregame tradition. We'll hit the range and out of season we'll try to do the back nine when we can find time. 
 
Do you have a goal for yourself that you want to achieve before you leave UH?
Before I leave UH, it's a goal to go to the NCAA tournament. We've won the conference before, so that was once a goal. Being able to just compete in the NCAA tournament would just be a dream of mine. 

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