Anyone who knows Kayla Lewis is aware of the importance she places in her faith.
Faith in the process the Gators women’s basketball team is going through, and faith in her teammates.
Florida’s final regular season game is Sunday at home against Georgia in what will be Senior Night for Lewis, the lone senior on the Gators, and a redshirt one at that.
But away from the basketball court, Kayla Lewis places her faith in a higher power: her Christian beliefs.
Lewis is a devout Christian whose faith will define what she does after college, and possibly for the rest of her life.
"My goal and my hope and my prayer is to go right into vocational ministry after the season is over," Lewis said. "Outside of my wedding in May, I’ve been sticking to ministry opportunities in Michigan and also in human services."
Lewis’ fiancé, Christian Norman, is an intern at a church in Michigan and the couple plans to work together at the ministry and pursue their faith.
It’s no surprise that the couple selected May as the month of its wedding.
May holds a special place in Norman’s heart – it’s when he decided to give up football for faith.
Norman, a former linebacker at Michigan State University, seemed destined for a career in the NFL before a career-threatening elbow injury in the team’s Capital One bowl game in 2011 against Alabama changed his plans.
While rehabbing from his injury, Norman attended a Christian camp for athletes on May 24 and he saw people like himself that loved Christianity as much as they loved athletics.
Lewis and Norman met later that summer at the Ultimate Training Camp in Fort Collins, Colorado, when Lewis was interning with Athletes in Action.
"It was not love at first sight, but it might have been love at our first conversation," Lewis said. "I’m an avid reader and I’d been reading this book called ‘The Gospel according to Jesus’ and he was currently reading that book and it was kinda like, not a lot of people read that book. It’s a really deep, theological book. To know that he was reading it, to me it just sparked to me that we had similar interests and he was someone I really wanted to get to know."
Despite the distance, the two became serious about their relationship. Norman even drove down from Michigan just to ask Lewis’ father for permission to date his daughter.
As excited as she is about her future, Lewis admittedly doesn’t like to think about the end of the season. It still hasn’t hit her, but she knows it will when she hits the court at the O’Connell Center on Sunday for the last time.
Coach Amanda Butler, who recruited Lewis more than five years ago to leave her friends and family in Georgia and head south, said that Lewis’ faith is inspirational to the team.
"When I think Kayla is leading at her best and playing at her best, it’s just so inspiring to our team," Butler said. "I think there’s so many parts of Kayla that are special and inspirational to the team off the court as well. She’s our spiritual leader. She’s someone who is very gifted in the way that she speaks. I think that she has a heart for people. So I think that her teammates really want to play well for her. In particular, we want to finish out on a really positive note and in a strong fashion to really honor Kayla."
Lewis knows there are things bigger than basketball — although she doesn’t plan on giving up basketball in any sense. She still plans on using her talents to teach others, by coaching at the ministry where Norman interns.
"They have a girl’s basketball team that isn’t doing that well and are really excited about the fact that I’m coming and the help I could possibly bring there," Lewis said. "From a coaching perspective and also just trying to figure out where I can fit in at the school… you know athletically, spiritually and from an academic standpoint."
At the end of the day, winning and losing do not define someone. Experiences do.
That’s why Lewis cares more about the meaning of the moment and how she can help others, not how Florida’s season plays out.
She cares about how these final games define the teammates around her, the people who have seen her laugh and smile through wins and hurt after each agonizing loss.
"I think you can become paralyzed instead of just embracing the moment that this is the last opportunity you get to be on the floor with these girls, this is the last time this team will be assembled and play together," Lewis said. "I’m more thinking about the impact that I’ll leave on my teammates versus the games that we’ll actually play."
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Kayla Lewis prepares to shoot during Florida’s 64-56 loss to Tennessee on Feb. 8 in the O’Connell Center. Lewis is the lone senior on the Gators’ roster this season.
