CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas) — Along with coaching the Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (TAMU-CC) Islander Softball Team this spring, Head Coach Kathleen Rodriguez was named to the reputable position of pitching coach for the French National Women's Softball Team.
"I'm just really pretty excited and humbled I guess at the same time," Rodriguez said. "You get to have the very best in that particular country and working with some of the best coaches in the world, so I'm pretty excited."
“I'm not surprised at all. Mama Coach is incredibly, incredibly talented. Anything she’s done she’s earned in this life and we couldn’t be more proud of her,” Megan DePew said, a redshirt-junior pitcher for the Islanders.
At TAMU-CC, Rodriguez is known as "Mama Coach", for her motherly care for her players.
As Rodriguez heads into her third year on the Island University, DePew said her impact has immediately been felt by the team, after they had back to back 20+ win seasons.
“I'm just such a different player now than I was back then," DePew said. "And not only that, as a person, I'm stronger now, so much more confident in myself. I know the team is more confident in themselves.”
Rodriguez credited the program turnaround to a great support staff and special athletes.
“I think the biggest thing for me is allowing these young women to be themselves, to be authentic and then I am going to work around their talent and their skill,” she said. "Because if I try and cookie cut every one of my ball players it's going to be really pretty frustrating for them."
Rodriguez has coached up players for national team duty but never coached on a national stage. While coaching at University of Texas-El Paso (UTEP), Rodriguez coached standout Stacie Townsend.
Townsend was called into the British National Women's Softball Team. At the time the coach of that team was Celine Lassaigne. Rodriguez and Lassaigne then became familiar with each other. Now, Lassaigne is leading the French National Women's Softball Team and called on Rodriguez to come join her.
Through Rodriguez’s career, she’s started a few softball programs at UTEP and Schreiner University. She’s in a similar situation in terms of the French Team is building up to be a top team in the 2024 European Championships with eyes on the World Championship in 2025
Softball and baseball will not be played at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.
“What they’ve done is they’ve put themselves in a position to be one of the top five teams in the world. And, to just be part of that is again pretty exciting and really pretty humbling to be able to have hands on that type of athlete, as well,” Rodriguez said.
What’s most exciting for Rodriguez is the exposure TAMU-CC will get from her new role, as well as new recruits that may want to be Islanders.
“This is a really pretty special place. I mean, the only place in the nation you get to be surrounded by water when you drive into and onto campus, you look to the left and you can see all of God’s beauty,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez will get her feet wet when she travels to France in December. She'll begin getting to know the French Women's Softball, Men's Fastpitch and Junior Teams.
Rodriguez said she is also working on an agreement to bring the French National Team to Corpus Christi for a training camp in the summer.
The French National Team is awaiting to hear the location of the European Championship.
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