Ward Sutlive, sports editor

Katherine Brown, head coach of the women’s soccer team, graduated from Berry in 1995 after playing soccer for the team throughout her college career. Brown returned to Berry in 2020 to continue her career.

Brown’s interest in Berry began when she witnessed Berry’s women’s soccer team play against South Florida State College. She was impressed by their performance and overall camaraderie, with a major standout being the chemistry between the players.

“The girls looked as if they loved playing together and the chemistry was nice,” Brown said. “From there I did my research and I was later recruited to play here.”

When it came time to apply to colleges, she knew exactly what she wanted. To Brown, the more time she spent at Berry college, the better she felt about continuing her academic studies here.

“What I loved about Berry way back then was the people and the community,” Brown said. “It’s a very welcoming campus, and I feel like none of that has changed.”

Brown saw the opportunity to return to Berry when an opening for the women’s soccer coach became available.

According to assistant coach Jordan Crawford, Brown implements certain team building events for the players, for the players to strengthen their bonds with each other. An example of these activities include a hike up to the reservoir during their preseason. 

“She has a lot of team bonding activities where she believes in the idea of the holistic group, where the team is together and united,” Crawford said.

At the reservoir, Brown had her players write out their fears and insecurities on rocks to then toss into the water. Crawford believes that the symbolism of throwing out intrusive thoughts and other arbitrary worries was beneficial for the team in the long run.

“I think the exercise let the team know to be in the present and not take outside noise and bring it inside when we prep for games because that tends to take away from the beauty of being cohesive and successful,” Crawford said.

According to Berry alum Mia McDougal (26C), Brown’s coaching style is straightforward and direct. During her first year on the team, McDougal had very little time to play on the field. Eventually, it got to the point where she went to Brown’s office in search of advice on how to improve as a player in order to better contribute to games. While she was empathetic and understanding with McDougal, Brown did not mince words. 

“She didn’t sugar coat it, and told me what I needed to improve on,” McDougal said. “I really appreciated her for that because it allowed me to improve and become a good coachable player who takes criticism.”

McDougal believes that Brown’s driven coaching style contributes to the overall atmosphere of the team. She has seen firsthand that the players her former coach has worked with have shown a greater desire to grow and improve under her own supervision. A major contributing factor to Brown’s connection with her players is that she is equally invested in them as people. McDougal believes that Brown excels at balancing compassion and criticism.

“She’s going to sit with you and care for you during those difficult circumstances, but she’ll also encourage you to continue to fight and work hard,” McDougal said. “[Brown’s] really good at empathizing, but still encouraging you to work hard and be better everyday.”

Brown looks back fondly on her career as a player, retaining a great deal of core memories from the experience. Now she looks toward the future, where a different season is in store.

Despite the amount of newcomers, Brown is optimistic and believes that the training the new players have gone through will help them adjust more quickly to the intense games that they will play in. She said that her players are already off to a good start, as they have won against the LaGrange and Covenant Colleges, two vital games that will contribute towards the team participating the Southern Athletic Association Conference. She hopes to keep that momentum alive as the season continues. Whatever happens, Brown plans to keep moving forward and growing both as a coach and a person. “As I’m growing older I don’t ever want to be stuck in what worked back in the day because life is moving too fast,” Brown said. “So I’m constantly changing and I think I have good core values of who I am what I do and how I operate.”