PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Melissa McCarthy has been head field hockey coach at Division III Widener University since late 2019, and was an assistant at the university for five years before getting the head role.
Field hockey has been an incredibly important part of her life.
McCarthy played collegiate field hockey at Millersville University, and then Hofstra. Prior to that, she graduated from Haverford High School where she started to realize the sport really clicked with her.
“I was the only freshman on varsity, so that really kind of raised my spirits and said, ‘Hey, I'm actually really good at this,’” said McCarthy.
“Just the constant push of having to compete against athletes that were potentially better than me, older than me, made me want to be the best version of myself as possible for my teammates, too.”
As a coach, McCarthy said she wants her players to not just be focused on wins and losses.
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“I have girls from my team, girls from other teams, constantly coming into my office just wanting to chat about life,” said McCarthy.
“That's always been my goal as a coach, to not only have you be the best athlete that you can be on the field, but also by the time that you leave university or you leave club [field hockey], that you're just a really great citizen of your environment.”
You can listen to Melissa McCarthy talk about overcoming a serious injury during her college playing career by checking out the latest episode of “1-on-1 with Matt Leon” below.
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