A Dream Into a Reality
Kelly McKay started her soccer career at a young age. Playing recreation soccer, then moving to club soccer teams and then to a college team, matching all of this interest with a passion for film making.
Growing up, Kelly played on a lower tiered club soccer team. Her teammates were not as invested in soccer as Kelly, so she took it upon herself to try-out for a better team. “I needed to break the mold to show myself that I was able to make and play on a better team.” Once she made the team, she struggled to get playing time. “It was a huge development stage in my life because I wasn’t getting a lot of playing time, but it allowed me to self-reflect on how I was as a player. I pushed myself every-day to be better than I was the day before.”
Going into her freshman year of college, she was not sure what she wanted to do. “I wasn’t feeling ready for the big leap that I knew was inevitable, it also helped that Community College is cheap.” Her older sister Erin was entering into her Sophomore year at Schoolcraft College while playing on the women’s soccer team. Kelly decided that she would tryout- and she made the team.
Going into her season at Schoolcraft Community College she hired Paul Omekanda as her trainer. Three times a week, multiple hours a day, she would train with him, “I can do everything I have ever been able to do because of those training sessions — it was the pinnacle of discomfort.” Needless to say, Kelly was the star of the team. After her Freshman season she was awarded with MCCAA Freshman of the Year, MCCAA player of the year, NJCAA Region XII First Team, MCCAA First team and NJCAA Division 1 Third Team All-American.
Since Schoolcraft is only a two-year school and it did not have the major Kelly wanted, she had to decide to stay, or pursue her Film Making Dream. The head coach at Schoolcraft knew the head coach at SCAD- Savannah College of Art and Design, located in Savannah, Georgia. She was able to visit and try out and was offered a scholarship to join the team. Kelly committed to attending SCAD in February 2014 and the season starting in August.
Playing soccer in college is not easy, especially at SCAD. “I made it through my three years by eating chocolate bars and having frequent mental breakdowns. But SCAD was the dream.” Finishing her senior season at SCAD she was highly recognized. She was awarded with SCAD newcomer of the year, Team Captain (Junior and Senior Year), NAIA Daktronics Scholar-athlete, The Sun Conference All-Region Academic, NAIA All-American Academic Selection, Sun Conference player of the week, Sun Conference 2nd Team All-Conference and Sun Conference 1st Team Academic.
“Leaving soccer was the hardest breakup of my life, I still trained with the team in the spring. I wasn’t sure how to cope with everything, because soccer was my life for the past 20 years.”
She finished her senior semester working on her short film project called, Let’s Be Gentle. In June 2017, Kelly graduated with a BFA in Film and TV production from SCAD.
Recently graduated, Kelly moved back to Rochester Hills, Michigan in June 2017. She was not intending to stay long, and she did not. In November 2017, she moved to Atlanta Georgia. Not having a job lined up, she was ready to experience something new. “I was ready to take it on. I was obviously nervous, but I knew what I was capable of. I was meant to struggle and suffer and question in order to find my truth.”
A few months after she moved to Atlanta she was hired as a location scout for a Natalia Dyer Feature Film, Yes, God, Yes. From there she worked on McGyver Season 2, Godzilla: King of the Monsters- Feature film, Stuber- Feature film, POMS-Diane Keaton Feature, and The Banker-Samuel L. Jackson, Anthony Mackie feature film.
Still having an interest to play competitive soccer, Kelly found a Women’s Premier Soccer League team (WPSL) near Atlanta, so she decided to tryout and of course, she made the team. “I learned a new way to play the game, I loved every second of it. And I got a lot better.” The WPSL team converted Kelly into an outside back, which was new for her, but she was all for it. Over the summer, Kelly played on two summer teams, an all-women’s league and the WPSL team. The WPSL team was mostly made up of current college players who played at top universities in the United States, whereas the all-women’s league was post-graduated players. During her 2018 WPSL campaign she was awarded with the WPSL Southeast All-Conference Team.
Kelly also finds motivation for other types of workouts- not just soccer. “I like the feeling of working out -a healthy lifestyle motivates me. Pushing boundaries and exploring my abilities physically. My next plan is rollerblading to Alabama from Atlanta on the Silver Comet Trail.” Kelly is scheduled to depart on her trip November 26th. It will be a 200-mile trip, and her dad will bike along the side of her.
“Honestly, I have just been mentally preparing, when I can I go out and rollerblade- my range is between 12–40 miles each time I go.”
Aside from soccer, Kelly has won many different awards for her short films. She recently traveled to Hong Kong, to produce a documentary, $30 to Antarctica- where it won 11 different awards. Late in October 2018, she traveled to Berlin, Germany to accept the Red Dot Communication Design Award for her senior film- Let’s Be Gentle. When she found out she got the award she was shocked. “I just laughed. Pretty cool to win an award for something overseas.” She is currently working on another short film How We Cope for Armani.
Looking back on it all, Kelly says, “I wouldn’t have had the capacity to take any advice. I need to experience everything I did in order to grow” and that she did.
Kelly will wrap her current job at the end of this year. Then, she plans to take a nap and shift to a fully organic diet.
*Published as a class project