BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — Kenneth Hilliard says he never imagined his work would be shown around the world.
“When they were rolling it out I was like, ok, this is really hitting it. It’s really taking hold and seeing everybody’s reaction, it’s just an unbelievable feeling,” Hilliard said.
The Baton Rouge native entered a design contest hosted by apparel company SLUNKS and was selected to be the official designer for the U.S. beach volleyball team for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The design was created after two former LSU beach volleyball players, TKN Beach Volleyball players Kristen Nass and Taryn Cross, were selected to be members of the U.S. team.
“I was too focused on this other blue thing they had, so I thought, OK, that’s the blue thing. That’s what they’re going to do, the blue thing. So I had to look back and see, OK. So they did it,” Hilliard said.
Hilliard said she loved beach volleyball as a child and began playing at Louisiana State University.
“It’s been fun. It’s unbelievable to play. It’s a lot of fun. Everybody’s so nice. It’s very competitive, but off the court we hug each other,” Hilliard said.
Hilliard said he has his hands full with other things besides designing uniforms — he has a professional website where he showcases many of his designs, and he’s designed for dozens of businesses across the city.
Hilliard said he doesn’t know how he would have been able to cope with this without creative work.
“They let me do that kind of stuff, which is a lot of fun. If I wasn’t doing that kind of stuff, I don’t think I would know how to approach this,” Hilliard said.
Since gaining recognition, many other companies have offered to help, which he says is the next step after the Olympics.
“We have a few companies looking for shirt designs, some people looking for things for their businesses, so that’s really what we get out of this project,” Hilliard said.
Hilliard said it’s not something you can truly understand until you step onto the sand.
“As soon as they step onto the beach in front of the Eiffel Tower and play in that big little stadium, it’s going to be a real shock. It’s going to be felt. It’s going to be felt a lot,” Hilliard said.
