PARKER, Colo. — Parker native Anna Kennedy has always been an athlete.

“I play football, dodgeball, softball, soccer, anything I can,” she said of her college intramural career. “I love to play any team sport.”

Soccer was her first love and she continued playing from her youth days until her years at Legend High School in Parker.

“I remember running around in the little gym, and then I played it every year through my senior year in high school,” said Kennedy.

But admittedly, the sport didn’t always love her back.

“First, a broken collar bone, and then I tore my MCL and my meniscus, and then I had a six-month concussion,” she said of the injuries sustained during her soccer career.

When it was time to choose a college, she also made the choice of which way to take her athletic career — trading a sport that can be physically taxing for one that is a mental challenge like no other.

“It’s been a lot more of an emotional ride than any sport ever has,” Kennedy said. “There are so many ups and downs and I’ve had many in my collegiate golf career.”

Kennedy credits her family and coaches with keeping her grounded through it all, but her career at Brigham Young University has had plenty of highs. She’s been part of two conference championship teams, and she’s now gearing up for her senior season with the Cougars.

“My goal for this year is just to live in the present,” she said.

But Kennedy also thinks about the past and the path that ultimately led her to dedicate herself to golf.

“I think about the people that I’ve met through BYU and golf that I wouldn’t have otherwise and the experiences that I’ve had, and just how much I’ve come to love golf. I always wanted to go to BYU, so to be able to have that chance has been more than satisfying and more than anything that I’ve ever dreamed,” she said. “I know I made the right choice.”