The Unsung Hero of UNC Sports: How Payne Kesler Fuels Student Athletes

Behind every sports program in college, there are many people you don’t see either on the field or the court. They are the unsung heroes who work behind the scenes to get the athletes in the best shape possible.

Payne Kesler is one of those individuals as he is tasked with training many of the sports programs at UNC in the weight room. Kesler, who is a University of Northern Colorado alumnus, serves as the director of sports performance for Olympic sports and has held the position since 2021. He works with a handful of different teams at the school with two in particular being the baseball and volleyball team.

In college, Kesler originally planned to major in history. After learning about the sports and exercise science program, he decided to test the waters and eventually made it his new major.

“I took a couple classes in it and I was like yeah, this is really cool. I made it my major,” said Kesler decked out in UNC volleyball gear. “When I made it my major, I found out you could be a strength and conditioning coach, and I said to myself that I like the weight room, and I like lifting and helping people get better so I started to pursue that.”

During Kesler’s senior year, he had the opportunity to intern at the Air Force Academy and work with the football team. After graduating, he became a personal trainer but felt unfulfilled in that role, describing it as a sales job.

“I always felt bad because these people are coming [to me] because they either don’t know what to do, they think they’re so far gone that they can’t do it on their own," Kesler said. "It’s a hard thing to commit to and people get upset when they don’t see the results they want."

He eventually started volunteering at UNC in 2017, and went back to school to work toward his master's in the sports and exercise science program. He took a graduate assistant position a year later and
worked his way up the ladder through various other positions in the strength training department
that led him to his current one.

Kesler loves his job and enjoys being around the college sports scene. The culture he is surrounded by from the various sports is one of the reasons he gets up in the morning. Outfielder AJ Carter can see it every day with all the things Kesler does at the Empower Center.

“Payne is there before anyone else. Every morning, rain or shine, he has a smile on his face ready to attack the day,” Carter said. He continued on by noting how Kesler will help the athletes with their form or give alternate exercises that still work a muscle group. His passion is visible and all athletes that work with him can see it.

For anyone in the strength and conditioning job field, a change of scenery is always welcome, but Kesler has his heart set on staying at UNC for the foreseeable future.

If you want to walk the path of a strength coach like Kesler, some advice he would offer is to intern at different places and go into it with an open mindset, willing to learn as much as you can.