Photo by: Mississippi State Athletics
Kiki Edwards’ Dancing Shoes
May 03, 2020 | Softball, HailStateBEAT
by Brian Ogden, Assistant Director/Communications
STARKVILLE – In the midst of a busy move-in day, Mia Davidson grabbed a box and began lugging it up the stairs to her new teammates' dorm room. She set it down and headed back for more, but this wasn't just any box. The 4-by-4 box held a surprising collection.
After Mississippi State's softball team had finished moving her boxes in, Kiki Edwards began unpacking in her new home. She opened the box Davidson had carried up, and her roommate couldn't contain her surprise.
"Are you serious right now?", Desiree Lewis asked.
Inside were dozens upon dozens of shoes.
Edwards unashamedly considers herself a sneakerhead. It's the first thing she notices when she meets someone new.
"I look at your shoes before I look at your face," she said "It tells me if you have shoe game. That's it. If you have re-released shoes, you might be a sneakerhead. But if you have some multicolored shoes that are newly released, you're not really a sneakerhead. You just like them for the color."
She owns more than 80 pairs of different footwear options. In high school, she once tried to wear a different pair to class every day, but she got tired of trying to find outfits to match each of them.
Unlike some collectors, she genuinely wears most of her shoes rather than keeping them pristine in their boxes. But she does have a few rules.
"Just don't throw them," she said. "I don't like my shoes being creased, so I have to put the insert back inside of them, and I have to clean them after depending on what shoe it is."
Unfortunately, sometimes cleaning isn't enough and Edwards has to admit she's ruined a pair. There was that time she wore a pair to a concert in the rain. The mud did those ones in. She had slept in line for them, but now it was time for them to be retired.
"That was the craziest thing I've done [for a pair]," she said. "I want to say four hours, and I still didn't get them. I had to order them online. It was me and my parents. They were really mad, and the fact that they cost more online was bad too."
She gets her obsession honestly. It runs in the family.
"Both of my parents were sneakerheads when they were younger, so they don't really think anything of it," she said. "But they get mad because I have more shoes than them. They did this to me. I'll look at baby pictures and see my shoes and think since birth I've been like this."
When she's not hunting down her newest pair of kicks, Edwards is almost always dancing. It's another hobby she credits her family for. Her uncle always seemed to be dancing when she was growing up, and she followed along.
"I danced everywhere," she said. "I even danced in class, while sitting in a chair just moving around, anything with my arms."
She's one of the Bulldogs' many habitual TikTokers. She's spent up to two days before trying to perfect a dance she saw on the new social media app. Edwards breaks the dances down, mastering them in segments before putting the whole routine together for her camera.
Her teammates have their own methods, but they consistently post clips of their newest moves.
"I think it goes Chloe [Malau'ulu], Fa [Leilua], Kenley [Hawk], Aspen [Wesley], then me," she said, ranking the team's dancers. "You have to be entertaining, and you actually have to know how to dance. If you don't know how to dance, I don't know what to tell you."
While her teammates back her up on the small screen, her family always has her back on the field. The Edwards family is a staple at ballpark, making the trip down from Virginia nearly every weekend.
Edwards' grandparents helped raise her while her mother was finishing college. They've never missed a game, even the fall scrimmages. They load up their RV with food for the weekend and make the 13-hour trek to Starkville for every home weekend.
She may not see them until after the games, but Edwards always knows they're there on the outfield deck.
"I can hear them," she said. "'Let's go Dawgs! Right here, right here!' or he'll be like, 'You're pulling your shoulder out kid,' to anybody. That's his favorite go-to line."
After the games, she looks forward to her grandmother's cooking. The family has always said she should open a restaurant because the food is so good. Edwards' favorite is the macaroni and cheese, but she's been too impatient to learn when the recipe has been offered to her.
Edwards has been a Bulldog for a year now, and her grandparents got a new bulldog puppy just before the season began. Harley comes along on every road trip, traveling as far as Texas to see State play a fall scrimmage.
"It lets me know that they actually care about me, and they want to be there for every moment I have," she said. "It's all the same. They're there no matter what."
STARKVILLE – In the midst of a busy move-in day, Mia Davidson grabbed a box and began lugging it up the stairs to her new teammates' dorm room. She set it down and headed back for more, but this wasn't just any box. The 4-by-4 box held a surprising collection.
After Mississippi State's softball team had finished moving her boxes in, Kiki Edwards began unpacking in her new home. She opened the box Davidson had carried up, and her roommate couldn't contain her surprise.
"Are you serious right now?", Desiree Lewis asked.
Inside were dozens upon dozens of shoes.
Edwards unashamedly considers herself a sneakerhead. It's the first thing she notices when she meets someone new.
"I look at your shoes before I look at your face," she said "It tells me if you have shoe game. That's it. If you have re-released shoes, you might be a sneakerhead. But if you have some multicolored shoes that are newly released, you're not really a sneakerhead. You just like them for the color."
She owns more than 80 pairs of different footwear options. In high school, she once tried to wear a different pair to class every day, but she got tired of trying to find outfits to match each of them.
Unlike some collectors, she genuinely wears most of her shoes rather than keeping them pristine in their boxes. But she does have a few rules.
"Just don't throw them," she said. "I don't like my shoes being creased, so I have to put the insert back inside of them, and I have to clean them after depending on what shoe it is."
Unfortunately, sometimes cleaning isn't enough and Edwards has to admit she's ruined a pair. There was that time she wore a pair to a concert in the rain. The mud did those ones in. She had slept in line for them, but now it was time for them to be retired.
"That was the craziest thing I've done [for a pair]," she said. "I want to say four hours, and I still didn't get them. I had to order them online. It was me and my parents. They were really mad, and the fact that they cost more online was bad too."
She gets her obsession honestly. It runs in the family.
"Both of my parents were sneakerheads when they were younger, so they don't really think anything of it," she said. "But they get mad because I have more shoes than them. They did this to me. I'll look at baby pictures and see my shoes and think since birth I've been like this."
When she's not hunting down her newest pair of kicks, Edwards is almost always dancing. It's another hobby she credits her family for. Her uncle always seemed to be dancing when she was growing up, and she followed along.
"I danced everywhere," she said. "I even danced in class, while sitting in a chair just moving around, anything with my arms."
She's one of the Bulldogs' many habitual TikTokers. She's spent up to two days before trying to perfect a dance she saw on the new social media app. Edwards breaks the dances down, mastering them in segments before putting the whole routine together for her camera.
Her teammates have their own methods, but they consistently post clips of their newest moves.
"I think it goes Chloe [Malau'ulu], Fa [Leilua], Kenley [Hawk], Aspen [Wesley], then me," she said, ranking the team's dancers. "You have to be entertaining, and you actually have to know how to dance. If you don't know how to dance, I don't know what to tell you."
While her teammates back her up on the small screen, her family always has her back on the field. The Edwards family is a staple at ballpark, making the trip down from Virginia nearly every weekend.
Edwards' grandparents helped raise her while her mother was finishing college. They've never missed a game, even the fall scrimmages. They load up their RV with food for the weekend and make the 13-hour trek to Starkville for every home weekend.
She may not see them until after the games, but Edwards always knows they're there on the outfield deck.
"I can hear them," she said. "'Let's go Dawgs! Right here, right here!' or he'll be like, 'You're pulling your shoulder out kid,' to anybody. That's his favorite go-to line."
After the games, she looks forward to her grandmother's cooking. The family has always said she should open a restaurant because the food is so good. Edwards' favorite is the macaroni and cheese, but she's been too impatient to learn when the recipe has been offered to her.
Edwards has been a Bulldog for a year now, and her grandparents got a new bulldog puppy just before the season began. Harley comes along on every road trip, traveling as far as Texas to see State play a fall scrimmage.
"It lets me know that they actually care about me, and they want to be there for every moment I have," she said. "It's all the same. They're there no matter what."
Players Mentioned
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