Fairfield's Kendra Landy Loves Hoops, Makes Transition from Soccer Field to Hardcourt

Her mom always told her, “You have to find what you love.” So Kendra Landy did it all: Gymnastics, soccer, swimming, track, softball, and basketball. The Fairfield University incoming freshman has had her taste with nearly every sport before her high school days, giving her a wide range of experiences.

“I get bored easily so it’s nice to have something to do,” Landy said. “I was excited to play basketball every time it came around because it was one of my favorites.”

Basketball might have been one of Landy’s favorites growing up, but it was not the sport she always focused on. At Mercy High School, Landy was one of the best soccer players in the area, being named a three-time All-State selection for the Tigers. During her career, she would tally over 50 points with 18 goals and 15 assists as a midfielder.

“I always like to play more than one thing because it keeps your head off pressure,” Landy said. “If I just played basketball I would be under constant pressure with myself to get better. Soccer was always a stress reliever.”

It was not until her sophomore year that Landy thought basketball could be the sport she would play in college, being helped by her coach Tim Kohs.

“I never really thought about playing college basketball, it was always just soccer,” Landy said. “My coach kind of pulled me over to the side and said ‘you could play it’ and behind my back he was calling coaches.”

Landy was starting to get noticed by the college basketball coaches. After all, she was a point guard with “great vision” and an “excellent on the ball defender” as coach Kohs describes her. Those were the skill sets that made Fairfield interested in the crafty point guard.

Right from the start Landy felt at home at Fairfield, not just because of the distance away from her hometown of Durham, Conn., but because the coaching staff gave her a sense of familiarity.

“The coaches reminded me a lot of my high school coach who is the one who made me fall in love with basketball in the first place,” Landy said. “So the playing style, the coaches, and the school in general are the reasons I chose Fairfield.”

Landy will now have the ability to focus on a single sport for the first time in her life.

Although she might not be able to compete on the soccer pitch in college, like she thought she would for the longest time, Landy has used all her experiences through sports to find what she loves. And she chose basketball.

Her mom might have been right after all.