School: Central Bucks South
Field Hockey
Favorite athlete: Kerri Walsh (Volleyball) – Great athlete – I always thought we were related!
Favorite team: Philadelphia Eagles (My Pop-Pop’s favorite team)
Best memory competing in sports: CB South Field Hockey memories – our team spirit, two-mile fun runs, music on Fridays, defensive work with Coach Riley, decorating our buddies lockers, the most amazing pasta parties, bus rides, and “Shabooya…roll call.”
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: When I was 10, in a playoff game, 2 outs, bottom of the sixth, bases loaded and I was up. I hit a grand slam and ran around the bases. Everyone was screaming and cheering, I was so happy. Then the umpire called me out for throwing the bat, and we lost. It was not the way I wanted my first and only grand slam to end.
Music on iPod: Rascal Flats, Carrie Underwood, The Script, and Matt Walsh (my Dad)
Future plans: To graduate college and become an English teacher and field hockey coach
Words to live by: “Give 110 percent effort in everything you do.”
One goal before turning 30: Travel to Europe
One thing people don’t know about me: I love all forms of arts and crafts, inspired by my Aunt B.
Katie Walsh is everything that is good about high school sports.
The Central Bucks South senior isn’t the star player on a Titan squad predicted by many to make a run at the state title. As a matter of fact, Walsh didn’t break into the starting lineup until this year, but it doesn’t take long to understand why coach Christina Ford places such a high value on her senior defensive back.
“She’s just one of those girls everyone wants to be around,” the Titans’ coach said. “She’s a hard worker in practice, and she’s so positive, and she uplifts everyone.
“She faces adversity with a positive attitude and inspires others. You want 11 Katie Walshs out there, not just one. She’s just a great girl.”
Perhaps that doesn’t sound like anything out of the ordinary, and maybe it’s not. Until you consider Walsh’s circumstances.
Two years ago, her father, Matt Walsh, lost his courageous battle with cancer, and it was the inspiration of her father that kept Walsh plugging away even when things weren’t always going her way.
“My dad always taught me to work hard, and I think that’s why I actually pushed for field hockey more because I knew I could do it,” she said. “I wanted to spend time on something and work hard to achieve my goals.”
When Walsh decided to try out for the high school team, her father served as her trainer.
“He worked with me every day to get my mile time under seven minutes,” she said. “I don’t remember exactly what it was, but I was one of the faster girls, and he pushed me through that. So every year I have been working to keep up with that.”
Walsh played junior varsity as a sophomore and last year bided her time on a Titan squad loaded with talent from top to bottom. She saw limited varsity time off the bench for the league and district champions, who advanced all the way to the state semifinals.
“Last year, our two captains were our right and left back,” Ford said. “We had a successful team, and I didn’t change the line-up that much.
“She is one of those positive girls – always encouraging her teammates, always pushing hard even though she wasn’t getting a lot of time. She has a great attitude and spirit about her.”
Mention the Titans’ ride to the state semifinals, and Walsh cannot hide her excitement.
“It was amazing,” she said. “I knew that even though I wasn’t as talented and maybe I wasn’t starting – it was still so much fun to watch the other girls improve and myself improve during practices. We all worked as a team.
“During the games, I made sure they kept their heads high, and I did anything I could to help them. It was so much fun, and I’m so happy to be involved in it.”
Last year, by vote of her teammates, Walsh received the team’s Most Spirited Award.
This year, she earned something even better - the starting nod at right defensive back.
“She worked and stuck with it,” Ford said. “She didn’t quit, she didn’t give up. She never complained and now she’s earned her time. She’s definitely earned her time. It’s not – ‘Oh, we don’t have anyone else to put there.’ She really has stepped up and is doing great.”
Walsh – who has been playing hockey since third grade – admits it wasn’t always easy riding the bench last year.
“I would see myself trying so hard and maybe others looked like they were being handed it, but looking back, it was the right choice the coach made and the team made to have those girls in there,” she said. “It made me work harder over the summer and just kept in my mind there’s a chance I could still be sitting on the bench, so I had to keep working at it.”
Hockey has been Walsh’s passion since she picked up a stick in third grade when – at the encouragement of a friend – she began playing community hockey.
“I had just moved the year before, so I didn’t know too many people,” she recalled. “A girl that had been nice to me and became a really good friend of mine told me I should try it.
“It was new, but it was a lot of fun. I actually loved it. Maybe just the fact that it was different – I would kick a soccer ball around, but I wasn’t coordinated enough to do it with my feet, so the fact that I could dribble the ball (with a stick) and run around the field – that was a lot of fun.”
Walsh also played softball but dropped that in ninth grade when she opted to make hockey a year-round sport. She started playing club hockey for former coach Meg Hutchinson’s Central Bucks United squad and last year switched to FSC, a club program run by St. Joseph’s University coach Michelle Finnegan.
“I have always loved hockey,” Walsh said. “But the past couple of years are when I picked it up, and I really started to work harder with it and make it something I could possibly do in the future.”
During the upcoming Thanksgiving break, Walsh will travel with her FSC squad to the National Hockey Festival in Arizona.
For the past three years, Walsh has volunteered her time to coach hockey with the community program, and she has been with the same girls for all three years.
“it’s helped me learn a lot more about myself and the game because I can see things they were struggling with and even in games that my team or myself struggle with too,” she said. “I think it would definitely be a lot of fun to coach.
“I know my high school team is really close with our coaches, and they’ve inspired me to do a lot with that.”
These days, Walsh has committed her time and her energy to a Titan squad that is at the top of the Continental Conference standings.
“It’s amazing,” she said. “Sometimes I will just watch the girls if I’m standing on defense, and I feel like I can help them now get to that goal and achieve it.
“It’s definitely rewarding to be playing with these girls. It’s worth every minute I spent working.”
Walsh acknowledged that she was considering attending a private school when she entered ninth grade.
“I’m sure for a few of those schools I could have probably played and started,” she said. “But I know if I did, I would not be where I am today. I would not have worked as hard and been given as many opportunities.”
Ford points to Welsh’s effort against North Penn in a 0-0 tie as an example of the passion and desire she brings to the field.
“There were a couple of times where she dribbled out of the defensive end all the way into the circle area,” the Titans’ coach said. “She did that a few times, and that’s something that will drive her teammates when they see Katie Walsh coming up from the back and really pushing forward.
“It’s going to inspire my whole team to step it up a bit. She’s so positive and is a real leader out there.”
Walsh is a leader off the field as well.
An honors student who is in the National Honor Society, she is a member of South’s student governing body, Titan Council, as well as the Key Club.
She is active in her church and is one of two senior Altar Servers, and she is also a pre-school Sunday School teacher.
Coming as no surprise, she plans to pursue an education major at college, and she also hopes to continue her field hockey career.
“If given the opportunity, I would love to play,” Walsh said. “I’m looking into playing at Immaculata University. If not, I’m looking at going to Penn State and playing club.”
Wherever she goes, Walsh promises to be a welcome addition, bringing with her a positive attitude she may have inherited from her mother.
“My Mom is my rock, my best friend and my biggest fan,” she said. “She’s helped me to always see the positive in life.
“Even with losing my Dad, my Mom reminds us of how lucky we are that we had such a wonderful father and that we have so many family and friends that love and care for us. She is a special lady.”
Not a whole lot unlike her daughter, according to her coach.
