Soccer player dedicates time to helping others achieve their full potential

FEBRUARY 13, 2023 — UTSA kinesiology major Kendall Kloza was born and raised in San Antonio in an athletic family. Her mother retired from a 30-year career teaching dance and her father serves as the head football coach at Robert E. Lee High School. From gymnastics and dance to volleyball and basketball, Kloza has been involved in sports from the moment she took her first steps. Today, she is one of the top soccer players at UTSA and a competitive Valero Alamo Bowl Community Partners Scholarship recipient.

Originally a student-athlete at a university in Virginia, Kloza felt something was missing. During a visit to UTSA, she fell in love with the community and the positive team culture in the athletics department—a missing part of her experience on the East Coast—and decided to transfer and move back to San Antonio. Now in her fourth year as a Roadrunner, Kloza’s supportive coaches and teammates continue affirming that she made the right decision when she returned home to Texas.

“All of the coaches here have made me the player that I am today and the person I am today, and I mean that whole heartedly. I am so glad I chose to come back to San Antonio for UTSA,” Kloza said.

“I really want to say thank you to those that invest in us students. I hope they realize how much scholarships help us and how much easier they make the lives of all student-athletes.”

Highly involved in campus life, Kloza has been a recruiting assistant for Roadrunners Football for the past two years. In this role, she accompanies prospective student-athletes on campus tours to answer any questions they have and spends time with their families downtown to make their visits to the city more comfortable and comprehensive. She also leads the university’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes, where she attends weekly leadership meetings and conducts Bible studies in community meetings with other members on the soccer team. Her extracurricular activities and excellent athletic and academic performance earned her the Valero Bowl Community Partners Scholarship, which is allowing her to continue working hard without the burden of financial stress.

“My scholarship has given me so much peace of mind. First of all, to receive a scholarship at a Division I university really acknowledges all of the hard work I’ve put in over the years. It also shows me that I’ll be taken care of while getting a full UTSA college experience without financial stress,” Kloza said.

Kloza is dedicated to helping people grow in their fitness, personal and spiritual goals and plans to continue on this path after graduating this fall. She spent this past summer interning at a family-owned gym in San Antonio, LivingStone Athletics, where she enjoyed coaching CrossFit. Her experience opened her eyes to the idea of professional coaching and the possibility of opening up her own gym after receiving her degree.

“I really want to say thank you to those that invest in us students. I hope they realize how much scholarships help us and how much easier they make the lives of all student-athletes. Their support opens up doors of endless opportunities.”

— Jordan Allen