Kathy Meyers has been around softball for more than 40 years, and the Corner Canyon High math and sports psychology teacher will be bringing her experience with the game to the Chargers’ field this spring.

“I have a lot of knowledge and a love for softball,” Meyers said. “I know have something to offer the girls and that I can help be a positive influence for them while helping them learn.”

CCHS Athletic Director Pat Thurman said: “I think Kathy brings a great deal of experience as a softball coach and knowledge of the community. I believe that she will be able to raise the level of softball at the school and help build female leaders.”

Meyers started playing baseball at the age of 8 until she could join the Oquirrh Mountain softball league when she turned nine. She loved “running fast and catching fly balls,” so she stayed on the diamond, while also participating in gymnastics and skiing growing up and playing at Bingham High School before moving on as a centerfielder for the club team at Brigham Young University. A scholarship opportunity to play for BYU–Hawaii came in 1989, so the left-handed Meyers took her outfielding and first-base skills to the islands. Four years later, she was still in the sport, this time on the coaching side. She began as a junior varsity coach at Bingham in 1993 before leaving to open Riverton High School’s program six years later. 

In 2003, she took a step back to focus on her family and eventual cancer diagnosis. After supporting her own children’s sports endeavors with the CCHS mountain biking, soccer and track teams, she has decided to give back to the game again now that her youngest daughter Sunny is attending Utah Tech University where she is on a track scholarship. 

“I didn’t want to screw up being a mom so I gave up coaching for a while to make sure I was there for them,” she said.

Meyers is exciting to get started.

“We’ve been having open gyms for the last few weeks, and we’ve already had a couple of girls show up who have never played ball,” Meyers said. “They are asking me what equipment to get and are eager to try, and it’s really made me think that I can help them learn.”

Seven years ago, Meyers began mountain biking when her children showed interest and joined the CCHS Mountain Biking Club. She has been the school liaison for the club as well as a ride leader and has loved the philosophy she sees in that sport. 

“While it is still competitive, there is the feeling that everybody gets to play, you can participate at your level and everybody has a chance,” she said, noting that she wants to incorporate much of the way they “celebrate wins” into the softball program.

With Corner Canyon playing in the always-tough Region 2, Meyers understands the task ahead of building the program, “starting to make it a thing at the school,” celebrating the wins of hits and fielding balls cleanly and “growing good humans.” 

“Softball is a failure-oriented sport where you are successful hitting when you connect three out of 10 times,” she said. “I’ve learned so much from softball: how to be a good teammate, how to work hard for goals, how to sacrifice for the team’s sake, how to grow from adversity, how to shake off the error and try again and really learn from mistakes. In focusing on the little wins, I can share positivity so we can all learn and grow.” λ