Kirstie King Hawley enjoyed outstanding success as a soccer player at Terry Sanford High School and Meredith College.
Now she hopes to bring some of the skills and lessons she has learned on the field back to her high school alma mater. Hawley, who is the head women’s soccer coach at Meredith, will lead a summer camp at Terry Sanford on July 17-21, joined by Terry Sanford head soccer coach Steven Barbour.
Registration starts at 8:30 a.m. July 17.
The camp will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday with a half-day session from 9 a.m. to noon Friday.
The cost is $275 for full-day sessions or $150 for half-day.
The camp is for boys and girls ages 5-13, kindergarten through eighth grade. For signup information, go to soccer.Meredithsportscamps.com.
Hawley was a multisport athlete at both Terry Sanford and Meredith, playing a rare role as a dual-sport athlete in college on both the basketball and soccer teams for the Avenging Angels.
In her senior year at Terry Sanford, Hawley led Cumberland County girls soccer in goals and assists with 22 and 20, respectively. She scored 54 goals in her career, and in 2015 she helped lead the Terry Sanford girls to the fourth round of the state playoffs.
She continued to excel at Meredith, making All-East in soccer three years, All-USA South in 2017, and first team All-State as a junior and senior. Three times, she was named Meredith’s most valuable defender.
Former Meredith head coach Jen Grubb named Hawley her assistant immediately after she graduated. When Grubb retired, Hawley was promoted to interim coach and eventually full-time head coach.
“When I was applying for the head coaching job at the age of 25, some could have said I was too young. But Jackie Myers, our athletic director, believed in me,” Hawley said. “I am incredibly thankful for all of what Meredith College has given me and now the opportunities I get to give to other players like myself.”
Hawley is optimistic after a rocky 2022 season that saw Meredith go 1-9-3 and 0-6-3 in conference play.
Since Meredith is an NCAA Division III school, Hawley has no athletic scholarships to use in recruiting but she does rely on academic scholarship money available to high-GPA athletes. Also, it helps being able to recruit in a metropolitan area like Raleigh where she doesn’t have to travel far to look at a lot of potential players.
Hawley will welcome 12 new players this fall, two of them graduate students, along with the eight returning players from last year’s team.
“I want the girls to have a great experience, to bond, to create memories, to push each other,” she said.
She hopes to bring the same level of excitement to the camp at Terry Sanford.
“It’s nice to get back to where you came from and bring a camp,” Hawley said. “I just want to share with them the love of the game, teach them skills.
“I want them to have the best kind of experience. I want them to love the game.”
Earl’s pearls
This Saturday, Gilbert will wrap up an impressive debut with the Pittsburgh Maulers of the USFL by playing in the league’s nationally televised championship game at 8 p.m. on NBC.
The Maulers, 4-6 in the regular season, will take on the Birmingham Stallions, coached by Skip Holtz, in the title game. Birmingham is the defending USFL champion and went 8-2 in the regular season.
According to stories written recently by Alex Kozora of Steelers Depot and Alan Saunders of Steelers Now, Gilbert has enhanced his stock considerably with his play for the Maulers and could be reunited with the Steelers when training camp begins later in July.
Gilbert is the cousin of former New York Jet great Darrelle Revis. Gilbert was slowed by injuries in his years at Duke but managed to land a spot on the Pittsburgh Steelers practice squad in 2021.
He eventually made the Detroit Lions roster and played eight games for the Lions, but he wound up playing for the Maulers in the USFL this season. Gilbert led the USFL in interceptions with four and was chosen All-USFL in his first season in the league.
Saturday’s USFL title game will be played on the same field Gilbert played for the Maulers, Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio. The stadium is next door to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Follow Earl Vaughan Jr. on Twitter @EarlVaughanJr.
