By Vanessa Mavie Hofer
All the way from Hawaii, Kristen Silva, the new Head Coach for the McPherson Softball team travelled quite a long way to make it to the small town of McPherson, Kansas. Granted, she had some pitstops in between reaching her final destination.
Originally from Kahului Hawaii, Silva, before everything, she played Baseball until she was told she wasn’t allowed to anymore, then settled for Softball. After attending High School in Hawaii, Silva came to the United States and went to college in Grand Junction, Colorado, where she was part of the Softball team.
Once graduated, she got into high school coaching but quickly upgraded to the college level. She moved to Tacoma, Washington, where she was an assistant coach at University Puget Sound for three years. After her time in Washington, Silva decided it was time for a big girl job – the head coach position. She moved to Lamar, Colorado, where she coached at for seven years.
After taking a short break, she got back into coaching at Seward County Community College in Liberal, KS. Because she knew the former head softball coach, Abby Bolton, as well as some former players, the opportunity offered here in McPherson was perfect for her. With solely her two dogs, she moved to McPherson in October. “I love the small-town environment here, everyone is so friendly and welcoming”, is Silva’s answer to the question of how she likes the ‘boring’ McPherson so far. “I know it is tough to have a new coach coming in in the middle of the year”, Silva explains, “but it has been really nice. The girls are awesome”.
A competitive atmosphere and maybe even a conference title – that’s what Silva wants to achieve and is mostly excited for, “my goal is to always have a better year than last year”. Even though her first few weeks at McPherson College went by quick, Silva has been enjoying it. She stays busy trying to catch up on everything and preparing for a successful season starting in January.
