By TIERNAN O’NEILL – Viewpoints Editor
Clarke Central High School ESOL teacher and soccer manager Kathryn Erickson is now licensed to support CCHS’ soccer program however she can.
After completing the online Georgia High School Association’s 2015 Soccer Rules Clinic on Feb. 4, Clarke Central High School ESOL teacher and soccer manager Kathryn Erickson can step into any coaching position in the program.
Erickson, now a soccer fanatic, took some time to warm up to the sport. She was forced by her mother to take the sport up when she was nine.
“My mother was coaching my little brother who was a year younger than me,” Erickson said. “She said, ‘Kathy you have to come you can’t be staying home.’ so at the age of nine I started playing soccer with boys. I hated it because I would get kicked in the shins, and I didn’t want to go out there and play.”
Erickson figured if she was going to have to play, she’d be the best on the pitch. She worked to become better than her male counterparts and landed a scholarship to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she won four national championships. So when Erickson started at CCHS in 2001, she knew she wanted to become involved with the program.
“I coached for three years, maybe ‘03, ‘04, ‘05, coaching the girls varsity, however I stopped. I needed to do my masters,” Erickson said.
Although Erickson stepped down from her coaching position, she maintained her presence in the program.
“I feel like she is involved in almost everything we do in some way,” varsity boys soccer player and junior Scholl Wright said.
With her new accreditation, Erickson is ready to continue to support the program.
“The coach has the entire team to work with, maybe I can step in and help here and there… with technical (problems),” Erickson said. “(CCHS athletic director Dr. Jon Ward) has asked me to be game manager at times, at times I’m going to be doing the announcing and step in for coaches.”
