Name: Kristle Wolcott
Position: Assistant Softball Coach for Minnesota State University; Faculty Correspondent for the Student Athlete Advisory Committee
Kristle Wolcott is one of the most encouraging and empowering women you will come across on campus at Minnesota State University. Her upbeat and positive attitude is contagious to anyone who crosses her path, and she has an innate talent for building relationships with individuals, especially student athletes. You immediately feel welcomed walking into her office. She is quick to greet you, offer you candy from the jar on her desk, and ask how your day is going. Kristle’s coaching background is extensive and impressive. She began coaching high school softball in her hometown of Clear Lake Iowa at the age of 19. After coaching at the high school level for 5 years she moved on to coaching at the University of Northern Colorado. Next, Kristle moved back to Iowa and spent a few years coaching at her alma mater. Finally, she transitioned to Minnesota Sate University, Mankato, to begin coaching the 2010-2011 season and has been here ever since. Minnesota Sate is lucky to have Kristle; she is an important asset to our school and brings numerous positives to our campus.
HC: What do you love most about coaching?
KW: “Relationships. Really in our day we spend fifteen percent on X’s and O’s. The other eighty five percent is the relationships with our kids. You’re teaching these young women to be independent at this point in their life where there’s no one around telling them what to do. Watching our girls go from freshmen to seniors, and that transition, the focus from ball and their academic life to their careers is pretty amazing. But, that relationship part of going about listing to their day. We let them know that we are human, I want to know about their families, their significant others, anything they love to do, because when they feel like they’re in this family together, with some strict rules, they play harder.”
HC: What are some characteristics and values you look for in an athlete?
KW: “Attitude, that’s number one I want to see, a positive attitude. Team players, we like high-energy kids. I need someone that can be bubbly and out going. Respect for the game, sportsmanship is huge. At any point during the recruiting process if I see any un-sportsmen like behavior I don’t care how good they are, we do not tolerate that. I don’t want that on our team. Effort is a big part too; I want the kids that are willing to do everything they can to make it work.”
HC: If you could implement one new rule at MNSU what would it be?
KW: “I think what first comes to mind, and this is more for the females, is that a self-defense class is free. At any point in their four years it’s a freebie and they receive credits for it. Just the numbers and stats out their about sexual assault. Obviously I’m always thinking about my kids, and when they’re out on campus I think it’s very safe here, but there are times in your life that any kind of training would be beneficial. Also a dance class, because of self body awareness. Knowing where your body is, how you land, and how you stop I think is critical to all sports.”
HC: Title IX is a comprehensive federal law that was implemented 40 years ago that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any federally funded education program or activity. What are your thoughts on title IX, and in your opinion has it had an impact on women in sports?
KW: “Yes, I think it’s something that needed to be done. It’s still not fully implemented at some universities; they’ll tell you it but it doesn’t actually exist. At MNSU it does exist. For me it would be really hard to leave here because of how they take care of us and how they take care of my female athletes.”
HC: What do you think are some of the most important lessons a female college athlete learns?
KW: “Number one is time management, multitasking, balancing acts. We tell our young ladies that if you think you’re busy now this stuff will seem like nothing when you got two twins on your hips, a four year old that you got to get to preschool, making lunches, and then if you want to be a career woman on top of that. All of this right now will make that feel very easy. It’s important for you to know that you CAN get all that stuff done. This is the best time of you’re life, you’re never going to have the ability to take a nap during the middle of the day once you leave college.”
HC: What advice would you give a female student athlete just starting college?
KW: “Number one, observation is key. I think you need to think before you talk or do, and observe. Latch your self on to an upperclassman on your team, because they’ve been through the ropes and they’re going to help you. Freshmen need to realize that all these people got through it, so they can too. It’s going to be okay. So get with an upperclassman, it will be like night and day.”