VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Old Dominion hosted the "RenHERssance Listening Lab" Wednesday night as part of their Women's History Month celebration. The event highlighted stories of women in sports, and was attended by a number of current student athletes at ODU.
Dr. Lori Robinson, player engagement manager for the Baltimore Ravens presented as one of the two keynote speakers. The other? A volleyball player who got her start right here in Hampton Roads.
Kayla Cason player her high school volleyball at Salem in Virginia Beach before playing at Norfolk State, eventually transferring to Old Dominion to get her degree in Kinesiology and Exercise Science.
Cason is taking what she learned from her life in sports, and giving it back to the next generation. She's the founder of Drip Athletics Club in Virginia Beach. Everything about the gym was designed to reinforce Cason's message. From the layout to the lighting to the classes and training offered, her message comes through.
"I want them really just to be themselves. I want them to be ok with being themselves. I want them to have that confidence in themselves and their athletic abilities, to go out into the world and know that they're accepted," says Cason. She knows how hard that is for young women and young women in sports. "Feel like that's the time where you're finding yourself. Nowadays there's so many pressures from the outside world to "do this" or "be that." At that time you're just trying to fit in and find yourself."
After beginning training young athletes in the area, she realized her reach goes even further. "Honestly with me bring a black female in the volleyball world, it's a special space for me to be able to reach a specific group of females," Cason says.
She's passing on the most important lessons from her career, grit, perseverance, work ethic, to the next generation of women in sports.