| C ATA M O U N T S P O R T S
Champion for Justice
Student-athlete’s journey leads to social justice advocacy
BY | THOMAS WEAVER
After injuries sidelined him as a basketball player, Skyler Nash ’21 has focused his drive on effecting positive change in the local community. Opposite page: Nash celebrates the 2019 America East Championship with Catamount teammates.
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UVM MAGAZINE
Skyler Nash came to UVM
in 2017 with his focus on basketball, determined to help the Catamounts pile up victories and develop his potential for a chance at a pro career. Hitting his first collegiate shot, a three-pointer against perennial power Kentucky at Rupp Arena, was an auspicious start on that road. But just nine games into the season, he would suffer a season-ending ACL injury. It was the onset of a cruel cycle of rehab and reinjury that would lead to the end of his playing days during the 2019-20 season, though he has remained part of Coach John Becker’s program, a supportive teammate at practices and on the bench at home games.
A cancer survivor from his high school years, Nash knows adversity and changing paths. In fact, it was in his Chicago hospital bed that Nash was struck by Martin Luther King, Jr.’s words: “Injustice anywhere, is a threat to justice everywhere.” And as his hoop dreams faded, Nash has doubled down on his commitment to acting on the resonance King’s words held for him. He credits Coach John Becker for helping empower his change in focus and staying with it. “He was really the first person who gave me the courage to move in this direction and follow what ultimately was my dream in terms of doing this work,” Nash says. At a point when he lamented not ABOVE: GLENN RUSSELL (2019); RIGHT: BRIAN JENKINS
