ATHLETICS REVIEW
Aysia Cortez : “ Keep Pushing Forward ”
Student-Athlete , Life U Women ’ s Wrestling
As Aysia Cortez prepared to graduate from Life University with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree , she was looking to her future career — including plans to compete as an MMA fighter .
The California native has been a member of the Women ’ s Wrestling team since coming to LIFE in 2016 . When she started , the team was small .
“ Since we ’ re still a new program , we ’ re still finding tweaks here and there ,” Cortez said . “ Obviously throughout the season , some girls get hurt . Things mess up , but we ’ re adapting to all these little changes that are happening . We ’ re still growing .”
According to Cortez , the team spirit is strong .
“ I love my team this year . It ’ s like a sisterhood ,” she said . “ It ’ s like those annoying little sisters that you never really asked for , but they ’ re still there — those little sister type relationships . I ’ m one of the older ones , and sometimes you have to have those little sister talks . I love my team — they ’ re awesome , and they ’ re always there supporting me .”
Cortez comes from a martial arts family . Her father
76 Alumni . LIFE . edu | 2020 and brother are both black belts , and so is she . One day , she hopes to open her own martial arts studio .
“ I was always around sports . I grew up with martial arts and everything , so I knew what I wanted to do , but I didn ’ t know what kind of degree would help me get to certain areas of my life ,” she said .
One of the ways Cortez said she thinks about Lasting Purpose is to help others . She plans to offer selfdefense classes for women at her future martial arts studio .
“ Bringing women together to teach them the skills they need to know to make safer choices , to incorporate all that … that ’ s how I want to give back and to help each community that I can ,” explained Cortez .
Cortez said she wasn ’ t planning to seek a four-year college degree until she was offered wrestling scholarships . Once she visited LIFE , she knew it was the right place for her .
“ I feel like you know when you come here , and you just have that feeling like , ‘ This is home ,’” she said .
Cortez said being a student-athlete is a full-time job , but she also balances academics and a job at Starbucks . Her day starts at 3:40 a . m . and doesn ’ t end until wrestling practice concludes at 8:00 p . m . One thing that she likes about LIFE is its small class sizes , with a 16:1 student-faculty ratio .
“ Especially for business , the classes are very small , so you get to really know your teachers . Throughout the years I ’ ve been here , all these teachers have gotten really close to me . We have that connection — this is the goal , this is what I want to do , this is the goal for me , and they help me out .”
Cortez ’ s words of wisdom for other students can be summed up by these three words , “ Keep pushing forward .”
“ There ’ s always going to be trials and tribulations throughout your college years . Don ’ t always be too hard on yourself ,” Cortez advised . “ I had a lot of trouble in my freshman year . There ’ s always an easy way out , like , ‘ I don ’ t want to do this — I want to go home .’ But it ’ s part of growth . Being away from family is going to be different . Just keep pushing forward — it may be hard right now , but that ’ s a part of growing . You ’ ve got to learn to be on your own and handle things on your own without Mom and Dad .”