I N T E R N AT I O N A L W O M E N
Committed to Being Great OVERCOMING OBSTACLES AS A FOREIGN STUDENT-ATHLETE AT KU BY DESPOINA VOGASARI
T 12
here seems to be a misconception that life as a college student-athlete is glamorous. And, unless you are one or have been one in the past, it might be difficult at first-glance to wrap one’s head around the actual sacrifices involved, the situations in which we are pushed beyond our limits, and being continuously confronted with testing our breaking point – mentally, physically, AND emotionally. The awards, the scholarships, and the private planes that come along with a successful career remain high-profile and frontpage news. However, the sweat, the tears, the blood, the pain, the injuries, the selfdoubt, and the pressures that go with being a Division 1 college athlete dig in as a stubborn, subterranean reality. My friend and former teammate, Anastasia Rychagova, is a senior on the KU Women’s tennis team. “Nas,” as she is known to her friends and teammates, is an All-American and former #1 player in the nation. She grew up in Moscow, Russia, which some say is the current epicenter of the tennis world today.
Like most Russian youth, she started playing at her local club. By the age of twelve, she’d already shown an aptitude for the sport. But, her parents were unable to provide the financial support she needed, since it costs a minimum of 130,000 Rubles (an equivalent of $2,000) per event to play in tournaments outside the borders of Russia. Even at that young age, Nas displayed signs of a promising career, and her family was able to find a sponsor to help pay for her practice and traveling expenses. At the age of 16, Nas faced her first injury, developing a hernia in her back that resulted in three months of forced rest. When she made her return, it took time to regain her form. Due to mediocre results in those first months back, Nas lost her sponsors. She was left with no choice but to stop playing. She instead focused on her studies and was accepted into a Russian University, where she majored in Physical Education. ”I woke up at 6:20 a.m.,” she said. ”I would drive an hour and a half to The University, take classes from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., then drive an hour to my job. I taught tennis two hours a day for nine dollars an hour. I got
