Student-Athlete Q&A with Kaitlyn Cozens
11/13/2015 12:00:00 AM | Water Polo
Nov. 13, 2015
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Junior Kaitlyn Cozens is an attacker from Sacramento, California, and is majoring in sport management, and she sat down with MGoBlue.com this week for a question-and-answer session.
Q. Why did you choose the University of Michigan?
A. I always knew that I wanted to go somewhere with a lot of school pride and a big football team. I am a huge sports person. I hadn't thought about Michigan, but I had a cousin who played baseball here. My junior year of high school I got a packet inviting me to junior day. When I came here it felt like home. It immediately stood out as a frontrunner for where I wanted to go to school. It was a perfect fit. I wanted to work in sports, and the kinesiology program here is great.
Q. How did you get started playing water polo?
A. It is a family legacy. My dad, grandfather and great grandfather all played. I started in the winter of 2003 when I was eight years old. I was a swimmer, and my older brother Phillip was playing water polo. I wanted to play too.
Q. Your dad was pretty successful as a water polo player right?
A. He played for Peter Cutino at Cal and won three national championships. He later coached at USC while going to law school and then coached in high school when we moved to Sacramento.
Q. What would you like to do after Michigan?
A. I want to work in sports, hopefully a front office. I am also really big in to community impact and community relations, so how life can change through sports. I have been big into that since Victors Day when we met with special needs kids from the YMCA and taught them water polo.
Q. What else do you like to do with community service?
A. I have volunteered at homeless shelters and go to Mott Children's Hospital. I have also met with former Michigan running back Vincent Smith about helping out with Team Gardens (a group of collegiate and professional athletes that work towards increasing access to healthy foods in rural communities).
Q. What is your favorite place on campus?
A. The law quad as the seasons change. It is so pretty, and if you pick the right times it is very quiet.
Q. What was the last picture you took on your phone?
A. A picture of my friends Ben and Emma.
Q. If you could come out at the start of a match to an entrance song, what would it be?
A. How I Beat Shaq by Aaron Carter
Q. What is your favorite Michigan sporting event to go to as a fan?
A. Hockey. There is nothing like the Children of Yost.
Q. What is your most prized possession?
A. A box filled with important momentos such as a piece of the skirt from my high school uniform, a note from my sister, things like that.
Q. What is your favorite Michigan tradition?
A. The dance students do between the third and fourth quarter at football games or second and third period at hockey.
• Previous Q&A: Julia Campbell
