From Player To Head Coach: Desandis, CC '13, To Make Her Debut Season

Upper West Side NY

27 August, 2021

12:00 PM

Description

Columbia Daily Spectator BY JORGE HERNANDEZ AUGUST 27, 2021 In summer 2020, Katie DeSandis, CC '13, was named the head coach of Columbia's field hockey team. However, due to the Ivy League cancellation of fall 2020 sports, DeSandis' debut season was postponed to fall 2021. As the school community prepares for the return of fall sports, head coaches like DeSandis will be crucial parts of each sport's resurgence. When DeSandis was named as the next head coach of the field hockey team, she was no stranger to Columbia Athletics. DeSandis played for the Lions from 2009 to 2013 and served as an assistant coach from 2017 to 2019. During her time as a player, she was named to the National Field Hockey Coaches Association Division I Collegiate National Academic Squad, to the All-Ivy first team, and to the NFHCA All-Mideast Region second team. As she prepares for the new season, DeSandis is well aware of potential obstacles the team may face. "Any challenge would come when we start to put expectations on ourselves," she said. However, the newly-minted head coach also stressed that a core value of the Columbia field hockey team is perseverance and gratitude. COVID-19 restrictions, which arose last year and have persisted, could also create some challenges. "This past spring was really interesting because we weren't allowed to do any sort of contact, and we had to keep in small groups," DeSandis noted. "As a coach that was actually really challenging because you had to structure your training sessions in small groups, and then also it was only skill instruction we couldn't really play." Despite these difficulties, DeSandis said that neither she nor her team was discouraged. "It really forced me to think, 'How can you relate big tactical concepts to skill?' and vice versa. 'How can you relate the skill back to the big picture even though you can't really do those big picture things?' [From that,] there were actually some really cool progressions." DeSandis traces her personal success as a coach to her time as a Lion. When reflecting on her time as a student-athlete, DeSandis said, "You're given a lot of obstacles and you're given a lot of challenges, but it's because you can rise those challenges and find ways through it. So, I had that feeling that I could do anything at Columbia. Now that I'm back, it's the same feeling as a coach." DeSandis also credits her players with helping build a strong team culture within the program. "I could only do so much, and the team knew that, and they [said], 'What do you need to help with?'" she said. DeSandis is excited that the culture of her players assisting in coaching has persisted past the spring, and she hopes that it will continue to carry on. "It only makes us better because then there's 29 coaches on the field, if you count players. And if you count staff, there's 32 coaches on the field, which is way better than just three." Under the DeSandis staff, field hockey seems poised to make waves in the Ivy League. With the addition of Remy Mason as assistant coach and the return of senior midfielder Kelsey Farkas, who was recently nominated to the USA Field Hockey Team, along with senior goalkeeper Alexa Conomikes, the team appears to be well positioned for the upcoming season. As best encapsulated by DeSandis, "They want [to win], and they are willing to do the work required to get it done." Deputy sports editor Jorge Hernandez can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @jhernandez2001 Founded in 1877, the Columbia Daily Spectator is the independent undergraduate newspaper of Columbia University, serving thousands of readers in Morningside Heights, West Harlem, and beyond. Read more at columbiaspectator.com and donate here.