This feature originally appeared in the Summer edition of the Cal Sports Quarterly. The Cal Athletics flagship magazine features long-form sports journalism at its finest and provides in-depth coverage of the scholar-athlete experience in Berkeley. Printed copies are mailed four times a year to Bear Backers who give annually at the Bear Club level (currently $600 or more). For more information on how you can receive a printed version of the Cal Sports Quarterly at home, send an email to CalAthleticsFund@berkeley.edu or call (510) 642-2427.




The night before the Malibu Half Marathon in 2010, without any training or preparation, sixth-grader Cubbie Kile decided she wanted to participate in it.
 
And so she did, because she's Cubbie Kile.
 
Kile and her seemingly endless reservoir of energy recently graduated from Cal after a four-year career as a coxswain on the Golden Bear women's rowing team and highly successful stint in the classroom. Kile won the Neufeld Award for having the highest cumulative GPA of any graduating female student-athlete, and earned the Haas School of Business Departmental Citation for Outstanding Achievement.
 
Her work ethic, energy and commitment are undeniable, and they were apparent when she had barely outgrown diapers.
 
"I used to train for marathons and I had a treadmill. When she was 3 or 4 years old, I'd put music on and run for four hours, and she would come in and use the Sit 'n Spin and just spin endlessly the entire time," said Kile's mother, Robyn Cahill. "She literally kept going and going until I got worried and said, 'OK, you're going in circles too much.' She would have stayed longer. Her energy is off the charts."
 
From horseback riding at age 2, children's theater at age 3, hockey lessons at age 4 to later running half-marathons and appearing on the big screen, Kile has almost always been the most motivated, energized person in the room. It carried over when she started rowing in high school, and it helped her squeeze every ounce out of her Cal experience.
 
"I love being busy," Kile said. "I literally plan my days down to hours and minutes. I love having the structure."
 
There actually were enough hours in the day for Kile to execute her daily plan during her time at Cal, because sleep was apparently elective. In addition to her rowing demands, Kile served as a team manager for the Bears' men's swimming & diving team, interned for Cal's football operations and compliance office, and also served as a tutor for her fellow students.
 
And then there was the running.
 
"I would get up at 4:30 a.m. and run 10-12 miles," Kile said. "I really love running. Trying to fit classes and everything in, it was way too hard to try to do it at another time."
 
During a two-year stint that was her utmost busiest time at Cal, Kile would immediately go to rowing practice after her morning run followed by men's swim practice or a trip to the Simpson Center to ride the stationary bike (while studying), depending on the day of the week. She'd spend the rest of the day attending classes then go to afternoon rowing practice, followed by a couple hours of tutoring.
 
She'd spend the majority of her weekends studying – except for the 18-20 mile run, of course.
 
"She was really tuned in to everything going on at Cal," head coach Al Acosta said. "She didn't isolate herself or put herself in a bubble. She networked with other coaches and other professors. It's really impressive how she kind of navigated this campus and turned it into her own."
 
Before Kile began testing the 24-hour limit to the day, she needed a name. While Cahill was pregnant with her daughter, older brother Richard was infatuated with the children's video, "Wee Sing Train." Turns out the train's caboose in the video was named Cubbie, and Richard made it very clear that's what her sister would be called.
 
"When I was expecting Cubbie, he was watching 'Wee Sing Train' 20 times a day," Cahill said. "He came to me one day and said she needs to be named Cubbie. When she was born, he came to visit and started calling her Cubbie. It was one of the cutest things you can ever imagine, and it stuck."
 
While sports ruled at a young age, Kile took a break after stumbling upon a children's acting class. After spending one day at a youth sports fair, the family walked by a children's theater classroom. Richard asked if he could participate. Like many younger siblings, Cubbie wanted to emulate her brother, so she signed up as well.
 
Kile ultimately ended up with an agent, and was cast in the 2003 film Bruce Almighty with Jim Carrey at the age of 3. Kile went on to appear in television shows
 
'Hannah Montana' and 'Side Order of Life,' as well as some commercials.
 
"I really wanted to act," Kile said. "I loved it. It was super fun. But sports eventually took over."
 
Rowing, in particular. As she was heading into her freshman year at Malibu High School, Kile decided to attend the Learn to Row summer camp at the San Diego Rowing Club with a family friend. When she returned home, she joined the Marina Aquatic Center rowing club out of UCLA but was initially disappointed when she was told she was too small to row.
 
And that's how a coxswain career was born.
 
"It was kind of disappointing," Kile said. "I love working out so much. I wanted something active. I was disappointed but I knew how much I liked the sport."
 
Kile ultimately learned to love coxing, so much so that she credits her experience with rowing as "life-changing." She saw limited competition time during her Cal career but still helped the Bears win the 2018 NCAA championship, and left a legacy of commitment and academic success that is well-respected within the program.
 
"I think the team really has a strong respect for her work ethic," Acosta said. "Cubbie challenged herself every day and really earned the respect of her peers."
 
Even with Kile's multitude of activities and commitments at Cal, her studies always rose above the rest. While school was important to her from a young age, she admits she was unsure how she would fare with her challenging academic workload.
 
"Knowing how hard Cal is, I really, really didn't think it was possible," Kile said. "I felt like it was luck that it kept happening every semester. My very first semester, I got three A-plusses and one A, and it was addictive. I wanted to do it again."
 
She did. Every semester. And now she embarks on a career in private equity – she already started her first job at Altamont Capital Partners in Palo Alto shortly after spring graduation. Kile still plans on pushing the boundaries of activity – mostly with work commitments, but she also has already found a pool near her office to go lap swimming each morning – at 5 a.m.
 
"I am so in awe and so proud of her," Cahill said. "I can't even put it into words. She loves life so much. She truly embraces everything she does, and it's no different with academics.
 
"Everything about Cal was a positive, wonderful experience. She loved her classes, her professors. She's grown so much. I'm excited for what the future holds for her."