Longwood University Athletics

By CHRIS COOK
LongwoodLancers.com

WATCH: Longwood University Convocation 2019

FARMVILLE, Va. – In her 22 years as head coach of Longwood University's softball program, Kathy Riley has inspired hundreds of student-athletes to greatness.
 
On Sept. 12, the rest of the student body experienced the wisdom and motivational prowess of Longwood's legendary coach.
 
Bedecked in traditional academic regalia on stage alongside Longwood President W. Taylor Reveley IV and university faculty, the three-time Big South Coach of the Year Riley delivered a pregame charge to the largest audience of her career as the speaker of Longwood's 2019 convocation ceremony.
 
Her message to the more than 1,000 in attendance was one of self-actualization, self-confidence and a stark reminder of the responsibility every member of the Longwood community has to better the world around them.
 
She described her position as softball coach as a facilitator of her players' dreams. She pushed Longwood's student body to pursue social justice and equality. She shared personal details about her life, including why she gravitated toward sports as a child, the lessons she has learned from her lifelong pursuit of athletic excellence, and the perseverance she developed from a lengthy list of sport-induced injuries.
 
Bluntly, she posed the question to the crowd, "Do you believe in you? If so, then you have to fight. Fight for your self-worth and everything that is important. Society will chip away at what you are and what you can become, but remember that you can always repair the damage."
 
Those are words that have long echoed within the confines of Lancer Field and the Longwood softball clubhouse, but for the first time in her nearly quarter-century of leadership at Longwood, the Lancer community heard them en masse.
 
Throughout her 10-minute monologue, she demonstrated her natural talents as a supporter and motivator, elicited laughs from the crowd, and delivered a steady stream of stirring one-liners fit for a locker-room whiteboard or a motivational book about her life.
 
"I'm a person who believes if you can dream it, then you should give it a shot," she said.
 
"Your ability to affect others is your most important currency."
 
"Lay it all on the line. If it doesn't work out, get up and do it all again the next day."
 
"In 22 years, I've learned our greatest strengths are love and service."
 
Saving perhaps her most inspiring words for last, she summarized her entire speech and her most core philosophy as a coach with seven words.
 
"Class of 2020," she said. "We believe in you."
 
The charge was appropriate not only for the seniors in attendance embarking on their final year as Lancers, but for Longwood University as a whole. As the institution enters its 180th year, it, like its soon-to-be graduating class, is on the cusp of a new phase of growth and discovery. For nearly the past decade, or a phase Riley termed a "miraculous seven years of growth," Longwood has erected new state-of-the-art buildings, taken the national stage as the host of the 2016 Vice Presidential Debate, adopted its groundbreaking Civitae Core Curriculum, and, through numerous programs such as the immersive Brock Experience, expanded its ability to mold its students into citizen-leaders poised to impact the communities they become part of.
 
That Riley would deliver the speech to send Longwood into the upcoming year is a fitting honor for a woman who has put Longwood on the map in her own right. Through more than two decades of excellence as the leader of the school's dynasty of a softball program, she has won more than 800 games and five Big South championships. Under Riley, Longwood is nothing short of the premier team in Big South softball – and arguably, the entire conference – with five NCAA Regional berths in seven years as a member of the league.
 
Riley's Lancers have been named Big South Players of the Year, hoisted trophy after trophy, and taken the mantle of flag-bearer for all of Longwood athletics. But the impact she has made goes beyond the banners hanging at Lancer Field and the weighty trophies adorning her office and Longwood's trophy shelf. Her true impact lies in the success of her former players and the inspiration she sows in everyone within her orbit – which most recently expanded to include Longwood's 2019 convocation audience.
 
President Reveley reinforced that point to the Convocation crowd, introducing Riley as "a reminder of the great good that intercollegiate athletics can bring to Longwood an American higher education as a whole."
 
"Kathy stands among the greatest figures in Longwood athletics history," Reveley said. "More importantly, she is a person of extraordinary character and a devoted mentor to countless students and colleagues. She is a shining example of the hard work of nurturing young people to which we all aspire."
 
 
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