Catherine (Kate) Winstanley is a new graduate assistant Strength and Conditioning coach at Smith. Smith’s graduate coaching program allows their students to obtain coaching experience with one of the varsity teams on campus while simultaneously earning their master’s degree in exercise and sports science. Alums of the program have gone on to earn head and assistant coaching jobs from a variety of places, including Brown University, Boston University, Harvard University and even national professional athletic teams.
Before joining the Smith community in August, Winstanley’s own collegiate career started at Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont, where she played ice hockey and lacrosse. She then transferred to The University of Alabama in Huntsville in Dec. 2020, halfway through her junior year of college, to play Division II lacrosse. She graduated last May with a B.S. in kinesiology and a concentration in exercise science. Winstanley was also a strength and conditioning intern with Pennsylvania (Penn) State University’s men’s and women’s ice hockey teams and the University of Pennsylvania’s football team. At Smith, she works in the weight room with Smith’s cross country, track and field, swim and dive and soccer teams
Winstanely’s experiences as a student athlete shaped how she coaches. “My experience has helped me to be the best well-rounded coach I can be this young in my career. I understand how busy my athletes are and how tired they are. This understanding gives me a lot of insight as a coach to how to best communicate with them. I know where they’re coming from.”
According to Winstanley, coaching strength and conditioning includes “being in charge of everything that goes into [an athlete’s] sport outside of the sport.” Winstanley believes that strength training has a larger effect on athletes than just building physical strength. “Strength training teaches an athlete that they are so much more than they think they are capable of. My main focus in the weight room is building my athletes’ confidence in themselves.” Winstanley added, “I believe that if you build athletes who are more confident in themselves mechanically, that will translate over to the mindset side of things and cause them to believe in themselves more.”
Winstanley’s approach to strength training is heavily influenced by her experiences working with Division I football at Penn State. Her methods are focused and driven. “I coach here in the same way that the football weight room was led: it’s high intensity, high energy, the music is loud and we’re working hard, which helps to bring up the culture of the room. Also, the intentionality and level of competition and drive that student athletes come with into my weight room here at Smith exactly reflects that of a Division I football team.”
To Winstanley, the most rewarding part of being a strength coach is not just watching her athletes compete, but also watching their personal development. “Seeing work that I’ve helped my athletes accomplish translate to the playing field is the most rewarding process in the world. But also, I love watching people learn, grow and become the strongest versions of themselves. It’s truly an honor. For the athletes that I’ve worked with here, just watching them grow is remarkable.”
