My name is Kamryn Bennett. I am Bilagáana, born to the Tódich'ii'nii clan (Bitter Water clan), of the Diné, or Navajo people. I was a student-athlete at the University of California, Berkeley from 2014 to 2018 as a Legal Studies major. 
 
From the time I started participating in sports, I have always felt a strong sense of support within the Native American community back from where I was born in Page, Arizona. I believe sports have become a favorite pastime for different tribes and communities all over the country.
 
One of my confessions about being on campus was I never really felt like I had a lot of time to explore my own ethnic background. I was always stressed as a student and could never find the balance of the student-athlete workload. I did take multiple Native American Studies courses that I actually thoroughly enjoyed, and there were professors who inspired me with their passion to explore Native American backgrounds. But I never got active enough in the campus community to further explore the different clubs and support groups Berkeley had to offer. 
 
One of the major driving factors that kept me motivated while pursuing my major and meeting the rigorous demands of playing football altogether was my sense of pride in my Native American roots back home in Arizona. Page is considered a small border town where everyone knows everyone, with a population of around 7,500 people where the majority are of Native American or Caucasian descent. My parents moved there during their childhoods so most of my family and family friends are rooted there, and just like the rest of the town, my family takes tremendous pride in athletics. 
 
Page High School is the only secondary school in the town, and around the state, PHS is known for its dominance in sports such as basketball and cross country. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends travel all over the state of Arizona from the Navajo reservation just to watch their kin compete. My father taught me from a young age that sports were a way to bring family and friends together to watch them compete at whatever level they may be performing. Therefore, during my time at Cal I always had a heavy sense of support and pride from Page, even from cousins and friends I had never met. They would tell me that they would all get together and tune into my games and even order Cal gear online. Hearing some of these stories from back home always gave me a boost whenever I felt discouraged.
 
I was grateful for my experience and support from the Navajo community during my career and I will continue to share some of my experiences and support to current and up and coming Native American athletes.

Kamryn Bennett was a football student-athlete at Cal from 2014-18
 
--
 
DEIB BeLOnG Blog Editor's Note: 
Cal Athletics and the Cal DEIB Office are pleased to have recently produced a Cal Athletics' Land Acknowledgement video that was created as part of our 2021 Indigenous Heritage Month efforts. The video was played for the first time at our men's and women's basketball games in November--and during halftime at the Cal vs USC football game on December 4th, 2021. This video will be played at future athletic games and events, as part of Cal Athletics' commitment to #AccelerateDEIB.