Long Beach State University Athletics
Leading Beyond the Lines
2/10/2026 9:30:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Kennan Ka, 2025-26 Kay Yow Servant Leader Award Recipient, on community, compassion, and why the fight matters
LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Leadership does not always announce itself. It shows up early. It listens more than it speaks. It stays long after the work is done.
That is the kind of leader Kennan Ka has grown into at Long Beach State.
A senior forward, team captain and graduate student pursuing her MBA, Kennan is not defined by a stat line or a single moment of brilliance. She is defined by consistency and an uncommon willingness to give of herself, even when no one is watching. It is why she has been named the program's 2025-26 Kay Yow Servant Leader, an award rooted in the pillars of legendary Coach Kay Yow's character: courage, compassion, and service.
I don't know if I can pinpoint one moment, Kennan says when asked when leadership first mattered to her beyond performance. I think I've always just been someone who wants to stand up for what is right. Someone who takes value in giving to others, whether that's on or off the court.
That instinct has followed her through every phase of her collegiate journey. From a freshman fighting for minutes. To a starter. To being sidelined by injury. To veteran presence and emotional anchor. At each stage, her role changed. Her purpose did not.
To Kennan, servant leadership is simple and demanding all at once.
It's about positively impacting others around you, she says. Being involved in something bigger than yourself. Getting outside of yourself in order to lift other people up.
That mindset has been sharpened during her time under head coach Amy Wright. When Wright arrived at Long Beach State, Kennan was a sophomore. It was also the moment when leadership shifted from instinct to intention.
That's when I really got the opportunity to step into my leadership role, Kennan says. I started thinking about the kind of leader I wanted to be. The kind of teammate I wanted to be.
Wright remembers their first interaction vividly. Her first practice as head coach began early in the morning, with the entire team present. Except for one player.
Kennan wasn't there, Wright says, laughing now. It was the first practice she had ever missed in her life. She overslept.
Kennan arrived apologetic and embarrassed. Wright asked her directly if that was who she was.
She said no, she'd never done that, Wright recalls. And from that moment on, everything I asked, she put her whole self into.
That moment became symbolic, not of a mistake, but of how Kennan responded to one. She owned it and learned from it. She moved forward.
That pattern has repeated itself over and over.
What separates her is that she wants to be coached, Wright says. She accepts fault. She wants to get better. She knows she hasn't reached her ceiling as a player, a leader, or a person.
Leadership, for Kennan, has never been about control. It has been about connection. One of the biggest shifts in her growth came when she learned to lead not just through example, but through emotion.
I tend to see things very black and white, Kennan admits. Coach Amy really taught me to lean into the emotional side. People receive leadership differently. Encouragement looks different for everyone.
That lesson was uncomfortable at first, as vulnerability often is.
She's a crier now, Wright says with a smile. She probably wasn't before. But emotion shows that you care. It tells people what matters to you.
Kennan agrees. Leading with emotion has allowed her to connect more deeply with teammates, especially in moments that do not show up on a scoreboard.
I define success by the impact you have on people, Kennan says. You see it in how teammates respond. How they communicate. That can be more valuable than anything people see from the outside.
Sometimes that impact is quiet, sometimes, in the world of college athletics, it is physical.
She remembers a summer conditioning session late into the preseason grind. Week eight. Sand sprints at the beach. Everyone was exhausted.
We had to finish in a certain time, she says. In that moment, leadership was literally and physically pushing a teammate across the finish line.
The moment was small, but unforgettable.
Beyond basketball, Kennan's commitment to service shows up academically and in the community. She completed her undergraduate degree in just three years and is now earning her MBA. She sees academic discipline as another form of leadership, a way to model balance and intention.
Being that example matters, she says. Especially for younger players who are trying to figure out how to manage everything.
Community engagement matters just as much. Any opportunity to give back, Kennan steps forward.
She doesn't hesitate, Wright says. Whether it's the animal shelter, community events, team impact initiatives, she's there. She serves away from the court.
That spirit of service is why Kennan was a natural choice for the Kay Yow Servant Leader honor.
Kay Yow's legacy was never defined solely by wins or championships, but by a belief she lived every day: A leader is a person who serves. You care about people first, then go about getting the task done. Yow fought a 22-year, on-again, off-again battle with breast cancer in the public eye, using her platform not for sympathy, but for impact, calling on the sports community to help propel a fight that touches countless lives.
The Kay Yow Servant Leader Award honors student-athletes who carry that legacy forward, recognizing those who put others first, uplift with humility, and lead with courage both on and off the court. It is a distinction reserved for individuals whose first instinct is to give, whose character reflects grace and generosity, and whose leadership extends beyond the game into service, hope, and the ongoing fight against cancer.
When I think of Kay Yow, I think of the fight, Kennan says. Not just against cancer, but the fight she showed every day. Giving to others. Being a servant leader.
The connection is personal. Kennan's family has been touched by breast cancer. Her aunt Ruth was diagnosed several years ago and is now cancer free.
You hear about it, but you never think it's going to affect your family, Kennan says. It impacts so many powerful women. It's something we all need to fight together.
For Wright, the importance of the legacy is deeply personal as well. She has lost colleagues and teammates to breast cancer and has seen firsthand the power of awareness and community.
To have a kid like Kennan, who still has that old-school mentality of caring about people first, it matters, Wright says. That's what Kay Yow stood for.
Kennan carries the honor with pride, but also with responsibility.
This award both affirms and challenges me, she says. It encourages me to keep doing what I'm doing, but it also challenges me to be better. To be consistent. To give even when it's hard.
Service, she believes, matters most when no one is watching.
That's when it speaks the loudest, she says. That's the true test of being a servant leader.
When asked how she hopes people feel after interacting with her, Kennan pauses. Then she smiles.
My mom always used to say, live to inspire, she says. I hope to impact people positively. I hope they believe in themselves more than they did before.
That belief, quietly reinforced day after day, is her legacy in motion.
As her collegiate career enters its final chapter and her life beyond basketball begins to take shape, Kennan remains grounded by the same principle that has guided her all along.
The power of a community is greater than any single individual, she says. When we choose to get outside of ourselves and fight together, that's when real impact happens.
On the court, in the classroom, in the spaces no one sees, Kennan Ka continues to lead the way Kay Yow once did. Not loudly. Not for recognition. But with courage, compassion, and service.
