A different person from Charlotte Latin Athletics is featured on the first Tuesday of each month with twenty questions to help the CLS community get to know some of our athletes, coaches, and supporters a bit better.
 
Meet Chanakya Ayinala, a two-sport athlete who represents Charlotte Latin in swimming and tennis. While he takes athletics seriously, and has represented both of his teams in the NCISAA post-season, Chanakya is a well-rounded student who also enjoys orchestra, debate, and robotics. An early-morning regular in the Strength Center, and a tennis rep on the Student Athlete Leadership Team (SALT), Chanakya is fully engaged in many facets of Latin life. Read on to get to know a bit more about Chanakya.
 
1. Chanakya, I mispronounced your name for an entire year and you didn't correct me. Why not?
I don't really mind people saying it incorrectly, as long as they try. American phonetics make it tough. My friends call me Chucky, which started back in eighth grade and it's stuck with me. I feel like Chucky represents the more American, more fun side of me. And when I hear Chanakya, I feel like I need to get down to business, stop procrastinating, and get some things done.
 
2. Is that indicative of a difference in American and Indian culture?  
I do think there's a difference in an approach to life. My parents and grandparents worked really hard. They had to work 80-hour weeks to make money to pay rent. Now they get to enjoy life more because of all the hard work that they put in. My brother and I live the American lifestyle. We enjoy hanging out with our friends, going to football games, trying new things. We enjoy life while also working hard. I think in India you're expected to work hard, get married, get a job, keep working hard, and then later enjoy life.
 
3. How did your family end up in Charlotte?
My parents both grew up in India but came to the United States for college. My dad went to UNCC for his master's degree. My mom was in college in Pennsylvania. They actually had an arranged marriage and it's a family legend that my mom spent her senior year spring break getting married while the other students were off at the beach. Dad got a job with General Electric in Charlotte, so Mom moved here when she finished school. They both work for Wells Fargo now.
 
4. Do you have family you visit in India?
Yes, my grandparents and cousins live in Andhra Pradesh. We used to go every other summer but that hasn't been consistent lately. It's an 18-19 hour plane ride. One of my favorite trips was when I was seven because everyone in the family was there at the same time and it was great to be all together.
 
5. You started in Latin in 9^th grade. What drew you here?
I was at Jay M. Robinson for middle school and while I was spending my eighth grade year online because of Covid, my parents told me to put in an application. I didn't understand it at the time, but I was fine with applying. I would've gone to Ardrey Kell and I was fine with that but it didn't matter much to me. Coming to Latin was a big adjustment for me, especially after having a year of being online. I knew two other kids: Nishanth (Gaddam) and Anish (Thota), because they were at Jay M. with me, but I made connections pretty quickly with Tommy Beason, Sam Howard, Miles Miller, and Brooks Casey. I was falling behind in math class, just struggling to adjust to the change in workload, and Brooks helped me out.
 
6. What have been your favorite and most challenging classes here so far?   
I really liked Señor Felizzola's Spanish 1 class my freshman year. I got to meet so many people in that class and it wasn't intimidating because none of us knew any Spanish, so we all looked stupid together. Orchestra is my favorite class, though. We joke around a lot, I've made a bunch of friends from it, and it's a lighthearted class that takes away a lot of the pressures I have. My most challenging classes? It was math my freshman year, just because of the trouble I had initially keeping up, but the past two years it's been English.
 
7. You joined the swim team and the tennis program your freshman year. How did you evolve as an athlete to land in those two sports?  
My parents used to put me and my brother in everything when we were kids and let us pick what we wanted. They were always really open minded. I don't think they had many opportunities for activities coming from middle class families in India, so they encouraged us to try things. I think I started playing basketball in second grade, and I played a lot of AAU ball from fourth grade until Covid hit. I did swim lessons in the summer, but never really got into it, and I did some tennis clinics when I was young. I didn't really get into sports until ninth grade. I felt like I needed to do something active, so I asked my parents about swimming and they signed me up at Lifetime. Then one day I was sitting with Wiley (Spinner) at lunch and he knew I swam, so he was telling me I should swim for Latin and he said, "Let's go to Coach Trimble's office," and now here I am. I started playing tennis freshman year mainly because it's my brother's sport and I thought it might be fun. I was on JV my freshman year and Coach Drury and the team really made it a great experience. We screwed around a lot in practice, but we also won a lot, so it was fun.
 
8. So does tennis run in the family?
Aniketh, my brother, is really good. He went to boarding school at Saddlebrook for tennis and now he plays for the Naval Academy. I did not expect to make the varsity team at Latin last year, that was a surprise, and I really didn't think I'd be starting on varsity by the second half of the season. Tennis got a lot more serious for me in tenth grade. I still found a lot of joy in it, though. The four seniors last year kept it fun.
 
9. What do you enjoy and dislike the most about tennis?
The feeling of hitting the ball and the vibration of the strings is really satisfying. When I hit a shot, there's something that connects in my mind and it just feels right. I dislike the moments when I get in my own head and everything starts to go downhill. I do a lot better when I play loose and am not overthinking.
 
10. Do you prefer singles or doubles?
I think I enjoy doubles more, mainly because I'm not the only one on the court. I tend to get in my own head a lot. I tell myself to calm down, but it never really works. Last year, when I played with Luca (Bravo), something really clicked between us. He knew what to do to calm me down and help me play my best. I don't really thrive well under pressure and I know I need to work on that.
 
11. What are your individual and team goals for tennis this year?  
One of my goals is probably just to improve my volleys. I'm good off the baseline and I can chase down the hard shots, but need to be more consistent and not miss the easy shots that should be put away. I just want to get as good as I possibly can in my four years here. I don't know if I'll play beyond Latin. I'll probably join a rec league or something, but I want to see how good I can get by the end of my senior year.
 
12. What do you enjoy and dislike the most about swimming? 
The feeling of getting a best time and knowing that I did everything right in a race is really rewarding. The thing I dislike is when I don't get a time that I thought I would or when I go all out for a best time and don't get it.
 
13. What are your individual and team goals for swimming this year?  
My individual goal is to go a :58 in my 100 backstroke. I know I can do it. It's going to take work, but I definitely think I can get there. My team goal is to win another state championship. Obviously, we're all gonna work hard for that, but I think another big goal is to just enjoy it. Like on the bus ride back from Asheville last weekend, when we were all singing and having fun together. Enjoy every moment we have together because we don't get to be all together very often.
 
14. You have become a regular in the mornings in the Strength Center. How did that habit start?
Miles (Miller) and Tommy (Beason) got me into it. Miles asked me to come and, oddly, I enjoyed it. There's something about pushing myself to my limits that I really enjoy and it's a great feeling to start your day by getting better. I have already felt the effects of that work in the water. My arms and legs don't get nearly as tired as quickly.
 
15.  What has been your most memorable Latin sports moment so far?
My most memorable tennis moment is not a good one. We were playing Cannon and tensions were high. I don't know why – I mean, it's tennis. But we'd been going for like three hours and only me and Andrew Chen were left playing. We both needed to win for our team to get the win, and I lost. That 45 minute ride back on the bus…the seniors were trying to lighten things up, but I was heartbroken that I lost the match for everybody. My most memorable swimming moment was winning the state championship my freshman year. That was my favorite sports experience and I don't think we'll ever beat that feeling. I remember when Patty (Waldron) told us going in that Ryan (Beam) had created a program to score the meet and it was really close. Everyone went into the meet feeling uncertain but the whole team pulled together and everyone got involved, whether we were swimming in finals or not. It all culminated with the 4x100 free relay when James, Wiley, Aidan and Leo went a 3:08 and they got that state record and it was such a cool moment to watch. Other than my brother, I'd never been around people who are that skilled at what they do. Afterwards, everyone was celebrating and taking pictures with the trophy and they even got us freshmen involved.
 
16. Alright, let's finish with the quick questions. What's on your playlist?
A lot of J. Cole.
 
17. What is a talent, ability or hobby of yours that most people don't know about?  
I guess playing the piano. I've been playing since first grade.
 
18. Do you have a splurge food or favorite dessert?
Anything chocolate. Milk chocolate. Dark chocolate is disgusting and anybody who eats dark chocolate is weird.
 
19. When you were in kindergarten, what did you want to be when you grew up? And now?
A basketball player. And now, I want to be an aerospace engineer.
 
20. Who is a sports figure you admire?
My brother.