May 29, 2008
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Softball still consumes the day-to-day life of Katharine Lang, the former starting centerfielder and two-time Georgetown softball team captain. Instead of tracking down fly balls or swinging the bat, Lang is now teaching the game as a physical education teacher and varsity softball coach at Sidwell Friends, a K-12 Quaker school, a few blocks from the Hoyas home field in Washington, D.C.
"I found out about this job on the Hoyas Career Connect website on the listserve for education last fall," Lang remembered. "I interviewed a few times and was ultimately offered the job in December."
Just a season removed from patrolling the outfield for GU, Lang begins the softball portion of her day at 11:30 a.m. For an hour she teaches softball fundamentals to rotating members of the fifth and sixth grade class. At 2 p.m. she moves on to the seventh and eighth grade team, working on everything from fundamental skills to more advanced strategy. She concludes her daily softball schedule with a two-hour varsity practice from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
"I learned a lot as captain about putting the team before yourself, which I've tried to do as coach for my high school team," Lang said. "I also had to try to discern different ways of motivating my team, which I tried to do on a more individual level as captain. Now, as a coach, I have to find ways to do this on a larger scale for the entire team when things are not going well."
From an outside perspective it could appear Lang, a December graduate from the college with degrees in anthropology and American musical culture, may have an unenviable task of trying to motivate a team of players not much younger than herself. But she has made a seamless transition from player to coach at a young age, a feat not surprising to her former coach.
"From the moment I met Kat, she showed leadership," Georgetown Head Coach Pat Conlan said. "She was always first in line for drills and was the one gathering her teammates together, she was a role model. She also understands the game, was insightful and a true student of the game."
Lang started 63 of 72 career games at Georgetown, forming part of a foundation on which Conlan was able to build the softball program. It is unlikely her name will grace the records section of the media guide 10 years from now, but Lang's contribution at Georgetown will not soon be forgotten.
"Kat went from being our starting centerfielder as a junior to knowing she was going to be graduating in December before her senior season," Conlan said. "But she was still out there in the fall, helping prepare her teammates for the next season. I've never had that in a player and I'll always remember what she added to the team."
Today, Lang brings the same leadership qualities she developed as a Hoya to her student-athletes at Sidwell Friends, as she helped guide the team to a 7-11 finish with one player earning all-league honors.
"My coaching philosophy has a lot of similarities with Coach Conlan's philosophy," Lang said. "The fact that every player should have a role on a team, be it your cleanup hitter or the loudest one to cheer on her teammates on and off the field...My team at Sidwell was very small, with only 12 players, so it was essential that every member was a crucial part of the team. I tried to impart this on them, and in so doing it brought back memories of the same kinds of messages from Coach Pat."
With one season completed, early reviews on Lang's job have been positive, with her new employers at Sidwell Friends happy with the job she has done in her first year.
"She has been outstanding," Sidwell Friends Athletic Director Anne Renninger said. "She has a great rapport with the kids and has a made the practices fun and took it very seriously. She is a very capable and impressive person and I think she has certainly made a difference in how our school viewed softball."
