Katherine Wertheimer, an English teacher at WHS, was a star athlete growing up. While living in Westfield, Wertheimer immediately fell in love with soccer, which she played at both the travel and club level before taking her talents to high school where she played all four years.
Wertheimer, who graduated in 1998, originally started playing basketball and running track on top of soccer. However, she decided the best option for her athletic passion was to quit basketball her junior year to instead run track during the winter and spring.
This decision would change her athletic career forever. Wertheimer didn’t know much about track until attending WHS. She quickly made progress. After countless races, she realized she could compete at the collegiate level, which pushed her to start the recruitment process.
“I played with some girls who went on at the collegiate level—both Division III and Division I—which led me to think that I could play as well,” she said.
Rather than commit for soccer, Wertheimer decided to seek recruitment for track since she wanted to play a big role on a team for a sport she believed was her strong suit. In today’s world, many athletes looking to play at the collegiate level have access to programs that help with the recruitment process, however Wertheimer had to do most of the work herself. “My high school coach helped a little bit, but I had to do some of the leg work on my own,” she said. “I tended to reach out to schools I thought that my athletics would help me get into.”
After looking around at different colleges, Wertheimer focused on the value of education and decided that Colby College, a private liberal arts college in Waterville, Maine, that performs at the Division III level, was the perfect fit. “I was choosing it for what I liked about the school and not so much about the athletics themselves,” said Wertheimer. “I really liked the school, it was something academically that I knew was a good fit for me, and in addition, I connected with both coaches really well who gave me the chance to play.”
While attending Colby College as an English major, Wertheimer had a great experience as a collegiate athlete since she had a group she could fit in with and felt like she had a family away from her home. However, after running track for both her freshman and sophomore years, she decided to quit because it was just too much. Instead, she studied abroad her junior year and focused only on soccer, which she played for all four years of college.
After college, Wertheimer centered her attention on English, motivated to become an English teacher. Instead of playing sports professionally, she decided to keep up her athletic interests in adult leagues for fun with WHS alumni and didn’t want to risk any injuries. Wertheimer also is now an assistant coach for the WHS girls varsity soccer team.
Many years later, Wertheimer still carries the values and lessons she learned from being a multi-sport collegiate athlete, using them to help student-athletes become successful.
When asked about what stuck with her the most, Wertheimer said, “I think balancing athletics, academics, and [my] personal life has carried with me the most. The drive to push myself to my limits and having a team to motivate me to do that has also been a great part of my experience so I am always encouraging students to push themselves further both academically and athletically.”
Wertheimer is grateful for having the opportunity to play at the collegiate level and wants to use her experiences to motivate student-athletes to pursue their potential collegiate careers. However, she still wants student-athletes to understand the consequences that come with the recruiting process.
“My biggest piece of advice is make sure you go somewhere where you want to go and not just for athletics. Make sure the school fits you so you don’t end up hating your college experience.”
Fortunately, Wertheimer’s college experience allowed her to not only enjoy participating in collegiate sports, but to receive a quality education many desire. Now, she is able to push the next generation of students to be as successful as herself.
