Michigan State graduate student Ella Kubas has done almost every sport under the sun, but she ultimately became a Spartan to pursue her master’s degree in financial planning, wealth management, and athletic career in one of the fastest growing women’s collegiate sports: rowing.
Sports kept Kubas busy throughout her childhood.
“I was involved in highland dancing, football, soccer, volleyball, basketball, track and field, cross country, triathlon, really everything as a kid, and I’m really thankful for that opportunity,” Kubas says. “But it got busy. There were days when I would wake up at six in the morning and go for a swim before school, and then at school for lunch I’d either go for a run, or ride my bike. After school I’d have a volleyball game and then after that I would have track practice.”
She looks back at her busy schedule and there are moments when she thinks maybe she did too much, but she always enjoyed it and that’s what she wanted to do at the time.
“She was never really burnt out,” Kubas’ mother, Carolyn, said. “She worked hard, she was dedicated, and it was quality vs. quantity. She just kept going and never did we say, ‘you have to get up for practice,’ or ‘you need to go to practice.’ Not once ever. Sometimes I had to say, ‘you need to miss practice.”
Kubas grew up in Milton, Ontario, surrounded by a sports family. Her mom was involved in basketball and club football, and her dad played football during college.
“I kind of came from sports and it’s always been in my blood to be athletic,” Kubas said.
Kubas participated in her first triathlon when she was six.
“My parents signed my brother and I both up because we just had way too much energy and they didn’t know what to do with us,” Kubas said.
She ended up going the wrong way on the bike during her first race, but that didn’t stop her from enjoying it and keeping the experience close to her throughout her life.
“She was on this pink fluffy bike, and she was as happy as a clam coming back,” Kubas’ mother says. “She didn’t care. She was like, ‘Yeah, I’m good.’ And then she just kept going.”
Kubas considered traveling to another town to participate in a training program when she got older, so her mom ended up starting a triathlon club.
Kubas attended Milton District High School and earned varsity letters in cross country, track and field and volleyball. During this time, she placed 12th at the Pan American Championships in 2018, finished in the top three at the Ontario Provincial Championships two years in a row and was named the 2018 Junior Athlete of the Year by Triathlon Ontario.
Kubas took a gap year after graduating so she could train more in triathlons and figure out what she wanted to do.
“International tuition was a lot, so I kind of knew that I needed to have some assistance to study here,” Kubas said.
She was recruited by the University of South Dakota, which allowed her to come to the States so she could continue her academic and athletic career.
“I flew out for a visit and the team really just felt like family and it felt really right. I really liked the ability to combine my sports and school at the same time, which I don’t think I really would have gotten to do at the same level in Canada.”
She finished first at the national meet, was a First Team All-America honoree and was an All-West Region member on the team at South Dakota in 2022. She also placed fourth overall in the NCAA Triathlon Championships, which was her final race.
“A memorable moment was when she was able to make and be invited to the national team for triathlon and participate in international events,” Kubas’ mother said. “Being able to represent Canada, an underdog, at the Summer Games was one. That could have been one of the most exciting races I’ve ever seen because of the resiliency between her and her teammates. It’s not medals, it’s moments.”
Halfway through her junior year she started looking into rowing and wanted to pursue another degree. Kubas graduated in Dec. 2022 and started at MSU in Jan. 2023.
“There was a two-week period where I was moving all of my international visa stuff over. It was honestly really scary at the time because I left everything that I was comfortable with and started something new. I really kind of threw myself off the deep end with learning a new sport and meeting all of my new teammates, but I think it was the best way to do it.”
Prior to coming to MSU, Kubas had never seriously rowed, but that didn’t stop her from taking on a new challenge.
“It’s one of the most mentally challenging sports I’ve ever done,” Kubas said.
Rowing is different from most of the sports Kubas had done before.
“For me highland dancing and volleyball were a lot more skill based. Rowing is like that in a way, but it is also very mental. Especially on an erg machine because it’s you versus a screen, and every single motion you do the screen is going to react and you have to be able to handle that. Triathlon races were an hour long but now they’re seven minutes in a boat. It’s seven minutes of pain and not an hour of pain but that doesn’t make it any easier.”
Kuba’s goal for the future is to qualify for Team Canada, aiming for the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics. She was recently selected as an RBC Training Ground “Future Olympian”, giving her financial support for her Olympic training.
“That girl can make the Olympics,” Kubas’ teammate and roommate, Lizzie Johnston said. “She is just an amazing athlete, and she deserves everything that she has earned. She just works so hard. I honestly tell everyone, and she probably gets annoyed with me, but I’m like, ‘She’s going to be an Olympian, I’m calling it right now.'”
Kubas feels like she has gotten to live the best experience twice by attending two different colleges. Having a new opportunity at MSU has allowed her to grow.
“The drive Ella has and the competitiveness, positivity; she’s one person on the team that I found having similar values to me,” Johnston said. “She’s not only physically strong, but her mental game is so strong too. You can’t do anything that will tear her down. With so much adversity that we’ve had on our rowing team, I’ve never seen it get to her.”
She’s learned to take what a sport has taught her and bring it into the next thing she does in life, which has given her a lot of confidence throughout her journey.
“The one thing I’ve tried to engrain in her as a parent is don’t let something define you,” Carolyn Kubas says. “We feel sports has taught her a lot about life and she has learned that things don’t go great all the time.”
Kubas’s plan after college is to look into some part time opportunities within financial service, but she still wants to pursue rowing.
“I have National Team aspirations, so I want to see if that’s attainable. You never know if you don’t try, and I’m still so new to it that it’s a little scary to be like ‘oh let’s just try to go do this even though I have no idea what’s ahead, but I’m also young and I have a lot of support and opportunities, so why not do it while I can.”
Johnston added, “The fact that she’s only been doing this sport for a little over a year, became a captain, and how fast she already is, it’s insane.”
