Korvick Finding Identity in Life After Sports

Overcoming a pair of injuries early in his swimming career guided South Carolina senior Kyle Korvick on the path for his academic career and now his future ambitions in medicine. Korvick graduates on Saturday with a degree in biological sciences, and after taking some time to shadow medical professionals, he intends to go to medical school.

“I’ve always been good at life scienced, and I want to be able to pursue a career that involves helping people,” said Korvick, who stood out in the freestyle events for the Gamecocks. He registered 11 top eight finishes last season. “I knew I wanted to get into the medical profession since high school.

“During my career I had this Os Trigonum bone, which is a bone that some people have in your heel, that in my case didn’t fuse properly, and it was gradually wearing away at my Achilles tendon. I had to get it surgically removed, and it was a long process that was physically and mentally taxing. I had doctors that got me on the right track. It was very interesting to me. Ever since then, I was fascinated that there was so much about the body I didn’t know about. I also had a herniated disk in my back during my senior year of high school. I got a lot of help to manage that. When I got to South Carolina, I had it all sorted out, and that was sort of magical because when you think of a herniated disk, you think it will cripple you. I haven’t had any serious repercussions from it.”

Swimmers often keep odd hours with early morning workouts to go along with practice later in the day. Balancing all of that with a challenging major isn’t easy.

“Time management is important,” Korvick said. “With 20 hours in the pool every week, plus everything else, studying for exams can be tough. There are a lot of moving parts all the time. I had to teach myself to hold myself accountable and stay focused on what was important. As much as I cared about my spot on the team, I’m here to go to school. That helped me stay grounded on my studies and set me up for success when applying for medical schools.”

Korvick began swimming competitively at the age of 11 and was hooked right away.

“It’s one of the more physically and mentally taxing sports because you’re in a pool and you’re basically alone with your thoughts,” Korvick said. “When you’re in a rhythm it is really fun, and the swimming community is really great when you’re in the right place, especially at South Carolina. The camaraderie you build is amazing. It’s unlike anything else I’ve experienced.”

The Miami, Florida native decided South Carolina would be right place for him athletically after his former club coach from his youth swimming days, Jeff Poppell, went on to become the Gamecocks head coach five years ago.

“I reached out to South Carolina my senior year of high school when I heard that Jeff Poppell was going to be the new head coach,” Korvick said. “I came up on a visit and loved everything about this school, from the well-rounded academics, the swim program, the campus, and everything else. I committed two days later.”

In addition to a great fit for him athletically, it turned out to be the right fit for him academically. Korvick was named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll all four years, and this past year he was nominated for the H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar Athlete Post-Graduate Scholarship which is presented by the SEC to the league’s top male and female scholar athletes at each school. He looks forward to using the $10,000 award to offset medical school costs.

“That will be a big help! I feel so honored to have been nominated for that,” Korvick said. “I can think of a better note to end my swimming career on.”

For now, he is excited to walk across the stage to receive his degree.

“It hasn’t really fully sunk in yet,” Korvick said. “I think that’s because I’ll be staying in Columbia through the rest of the month of May because I’m currently shadowing a doctor at Prisma Health right now.

“I’m going to take a couple of gap years because the swimming schedule with practices and training makes it difficult to get hours in shadowing (medical professionals). So, I’ll do that for a couple of years, and ideally, start medical school in 2028. I’m not sure what path I will take yet, but I feel like I will have a better idea after I get more hands-on experience.

“The most important thing for student-athletes at this level is to take the time to learn more about your identity without the sport. No matter what sport you do, it takes up a huge chunk of your life. It’s part of your everyday life for a long time. To be able to move on from a sport, I need to learn more about myself without swimming in the equation and what I really want to do. You can’t fully adjust from the student-athlete lifestyle without learning more about yourself as an adult. I’m excited to do some self-discovery.