Innovision Spring 2019

24 | INNOVISION MAGAZINE At KU, Kristopher is the Vice President of his fraternity Phi Sigma Pi in addition to being the Alumni Chair. Kristopher’s association with Phi Sigma Pi has been a great experience. “We teach other members of the fraternity how to do things that we’re good at,” he said. He has learned how to play tennis, crochet, sew letters onto a shirt and rock climb. A fraternity wasn’t the only thing Kristopher joined. He is also the treasurer of the KU Health Ambassadors club. He is a member of SASPA (Student Alliance for Suicide Prevention Awareness) and was involved with the “Big Brothers Big Sisters” program. Kristopher did as much as he could to get involved on campus and help support others. Today, Kristopher is the head coach of the Reading YouthOrganization and runs his own wrestling club and weightlifting facility located in the garage behind his house. People drive more than three hours to receive training from Kristopher. Most of them are there to learn Kristopher’s forte, grecko (throwing people.) For 15 years, people would ask Kristopher why he wasn’t a personal trainer. His answer was simply, “I’m not certified to do it.” Kristopher finally became Personal Training certified and Group fitness instructor certified. He obtained his personal training certification through a class at KU. “It’s great that my major is Sport Management and getting that head official position assignment is basically connecting my hobby with my career at the same time. It’s going to be an experience where I can put my knowledge of the usage of facilities and planning to something that I love to do.” Another hobby of Kristopher’s is to hunt and fish and tend to his massive garden for most of his food. Kristopher does all of his own butchering and processing as well. “It always tastes better when you make it yourself,” he said. He finds it to be healthier as well, enabling him to keep up with the young athletes while officiating matches. “Strength and conditioning and wrestling is pretty much my life. I love being on the mat.” He wants to share that love with others by opening his own “Beat the Streets” program in Reading. He wants to help get youth off the streets and give them an opportunity to use their time constructively on the wrestling mat. He also has his heart set on opening an Olympic training facility. That’s when he isn’t officiating the Northeast Regional Tournament, Pan Am trials, or the U.S Open. But that’s Kristopher. Always moving. Always involved. Always grappling to get to a better place. STUDENT FEATURE People who know Sport Management senior, Kristopher Gelsinger wonder how many hours of sleep he gets, if any at all. Kristopher says, “I get eight or nine hours a night. I’m usually in my bed or in my chair falling asleep by nine o’clock. I wake up at 4 in the morning, do homework for an hour and a half. Sometimes, I have someone come over at six o’clock that I train. If not, I work out. I go to class, come home and do homework for a couple hours. After that, I either go to practice or my internship.” In a way, Kristopher seems to always be moving, involved and grappling to the next level of life, but his motor didn’t always run that way. Kristopher graduated from Schuylkill Valley high school in 2000. “I was an elite wrestler at that school. At that time, I had no care in academics. I was really smart, I just didn’t care,” he said. But he came to the conclusion that he wasn’t living up to his potential. Choosing Kutztown is something that Kristopher will never regret. Kristopher learned thatKUwas one inonly13COSMA(Commissionon SportManagement Accreditation) schools in the entire country. KUwas only 15minutes away fromhis father’s homewhich solidifiedKristopher’s choice, and after he got more involved, the better Kutztown got. KRISTOPHER GELSINGER ‘19 Kristopher Gelsinger is a senior Sport Management major with a minor in Fitness Administration. During his time at KU, he has been a part of many organizations while finding the time to develop his own.