Soccer, Softball
Favorite athlete: Alex Morgan
Favorite team: The Philadelphia Phillies
Favorite memory competing in sports: Going outside and practicing with my dad throughout the year.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: “In general, we are a really funny and embarrassing team. We all just make fun of each other and laugh about it because we are so close. We are all clumsy, and during games, one of us always falls while the rest of the team makes sure they are okay while laughing at the fact that we just embarrassed ourselves in front of everyone. One of my friends always makes up random songs during the game, and we all laugh at her and the reaction of the other team.
Music on iPod: I have a lot of techno, EDM music on my phone because they get me hyped and excited before games and practices. They put me in a good mood.
Future plans: I plan to go to college in the fall of 2015 but still deciding where and if I will be playing soccer.
Words to live by: “Just do it” by Nike
One goal before turning 30: To backpack across Europe
One thing people don’t know about me: I really like nature and being outside.
By Mary Jane Souder
Katelyn Gilinger makes things happen on the soccer field.
Forget the fact that the Springfield senior – who measures in at 5-1 - is small in stature. Numbers don’t begin to take into account the size of her heart. Gilinger is a dynamo and makes her presence felt.
In a recent game against Upper Moreland, the Spartans took a tenuous 1-0 lead into halftime. Gilinger scored a pair of goals in a five-minute span early in the second half. Things were never the same.
“It was like she was on a mission,” coach Suzette Wolf said. “Upper Moreland had a corner kick, and Caroline Pape cleared the ball. The ball came to the halfway line where she won it.
“She beat the first defender, she beat the second defender. It was Katelyn against the world.”
Gilinger took it in for the score, and the Spartans went on to earn a 5-0 win.
“The team rallied around her,” Wolf said.
The Spartans’ coach uses the word relentless repeatedly when describing Gilinger’s style of play.
“She has an aggressiveness that is incredible, and all of her skill doesn’t hurt either” Wolf said. “I think other players must be like, ‘What in the world?’
“She doesn’t stop, and she keeps the ball so close to her body.”
That’s high praise for any player but even higher for the senior striker who is battling bronchiectasis.
“My left lung is really weak – the doctors always thought I wouldn’t be able to breath right or keep up with people, which is really funny because I do,” Gilinger said.
Gilinger was diagnosed with bronchiectasis when she was around seven, and initially, there was talk of surgery to remove the piece of her lung that was a problem.
“We talked to the surgeon, and it’s not that important to take it out,” she said. “I think it would cause more problems than it already is.
“They were telling me that if I had gotten surgery, it probably would have made me stop playing soccer.”
As it is, Gilinger gives no indication that she is battling anything other than her opponent when she’s on the soccer pitch, but as a precautionary, she is taking antibiotics.
“I’m prone to pneumonia,” she said. “When I get a cold or something, we have to really take care of it, or I’ll end up getting pneumonia.”
“Usually in the fall and winter when the weather starts to change, I get more colds. I usually take (antibiotics) at the beginning of the winter because that’s when people usually get sick.
“This year we’re going to try not taking it during the winter because I’ve been doing good. It’s not a problem any more.”
Taking an occasional drink to alleviate the dry mouth caused by the antibiotics is as close as Gilinger gets to tipping her hand that she is battling bronchiectasis.
“We have to make sure her water bottle’s close to the side of the field, and she’ll come over and grab it,” Wolf said. “She has not ever seemed sick, she has never missed practice.”
Gilinger has had an affinity for soccer for as long as she can remember and has been playing since her earliest recollection. It’s a passion she shares with her father, Wayne Gilinger.
“My dad always grew up playing soccer, and he was really good with it,” Gilinger said. “It’s something we bonded with.”
Gilinger has gone through the ranks and continues to play with Montgomery United. She plays softball for her high school in the spring, but that’s just for fun. Soccer has always been number one for the Spartan senior, who transferred to Gwynedd Mercy for her freshman and sophomore years but has been back at Springfield the last two years.
“She joined the team, and ever since – for all of her junior and senior years, she’s just been an incredible addition,” Wolf said. “She’s a team player, a real dedicated kid.
“She’s the kind of kid at practice who never, ever, ever slacks. She’s just 100 percent.”
For Gilinger, who was a swing player at Gwynedd as a freshman and a member of the varsity as a sophomore, the transition between schools was a smooth one.
“It was much easier because I knew all the people since I went to middle school with them,” she said. “Having Miss Wolf as a coach was so much easier because I had her as a teacher, so it wasn’t like getting to know someone all over again.
“When I found out I was coming back to Springfield, I was really excited because I missed all the people there. I loved Gwynedd, but I was really excited to come back.”
In Gilinger, the Spartans boast a player with a non-stop motor.
“She has incredibly quick feet and really strong core strength,” Wolfe said. “She’s got great anticipation. She steps in front of other players at exactly the right time all the time.
“I don’t want to say she pushes people off the ball, but because of her strength, she keeps people from the ball. She has short legs, but her two or three steps are faster than someone’s giant steps.”
According to Gilinger, it all comes down to the strength of her lower body.
“It’s funny – my dad and I always joke about it because I have no upper body strength, so I’m really weak in my arms,” she said. “It’s kind of hard when I’m playing against bigger people because I kind of bounce off them, but my speed – I’m fast, so I think it’s easier for me to get around them.”
Although she is not a captain, Gilinger is an undisputed leader.
“She’s a leader on the field, no question about it,” Wolf said. “She’s by far the best player on the field and is extremely strong.
“She’s very well liked, positive, positive energy.”
Gilinger is hoping to continue her soccer career at the collegiate level and is looking at Division II schools.
“If there’s an opportunity, I’m going to take it,” she said.
She is active in a club at Springfield called Inter-Act, which is part of the Rotary Club. This fall the members of the club are volunteering their time to help with various charity walks.
“Our motto is ‘Help us help others,’ which is really cool,” she said.
Although undecided on a major, Gilinger is considering pursuing something in the business field.
