The CT Softball Blog

STAMFORD—It has been a whirlwind year for former New Canaan High standout pitcher Gillian Kane.

After graduating last December from Springfield College, where she had a solid five-year career for The Pride, Kane returned to her hometown to help coach her alma mater last spring.

Wanting to give back to the sport even more, Kane also started her own travel program, the CT Raiders, which quickly got swallowed up by the Rhode Island Thunder and retooled as the RI Thunder-LFC (Lower Fairfield County).

This month, Kane has also landed her first varsity coaching job when she was hired to coach at the King School in Stamford, a private prep day school and a member of the Fairchester Athletic Association and New England Prep School Athletic Conference.

“Every coach wants to win and every team wants to win,” Kane said. “I’m one of the most competitive people in the world. I want to win in everything. But for me it comes down to creating a space for these girls, a place where they can come to after school and know they belong. I want it to be a place that is enjoyable, where they can step away from academics or from what is going on at home. For me, I love to win. And I want that to be a priority. But team chemistry is always first.”

King has traditionally been a solid team in the FAA and when Lauren Hurd announced she was stepping down to further her education, the Vikings didn’t have to look too long or too far to find their new leader.

“Gillian’s positive and supportive approach has allowed her to quickly earn the trust of the King players , and as a skilled communicator and motivator, she will do everything she can to put each player in position to be successful,” King Dean of Athletics Micah Hauben said. “She strives to create an engaging, competitive, and fun atmosphere each day to help the athletes enjoy practices, stay more connected, and get the most out of every session. She is all about development and understands there are many ways to measure success. Her experience playing in high school helped to shape who she is today, and she wants to provide the same opportunity for her players. … Coach Gillian will be a tremendous addition to the King softball program and we are thrilled to have her on board.”

Kane, who is a middle school physical education teacher in Ridgefield, did eye the currently vacant job at Ridgefield High School, but a visit to the King campus opened her eyes.

“It was an interview like I’ve never had,” Kane said. “I met with Micah, trainers, counselors, the girls had questions for me. I toured the facility, and all those resources, it’s like a mini-college. I didn’t even know high schools did this.”

Once she was offered the King job, she accepted without pursuing the Ridgefield post any further.

“Gillian is a very good coach. She gets the kids to work hard and cares for them. She pushes them to get better each day,” said Joel Geriak, New Canaan High’s co-head coach, who coached Kane when she was a Ram. “She has grown from the freshman pitcher who was trying to help the team anyway she can to a leader and a dominate player in the FCIAC. She worked hard and got to play at Springfield and was a great player there, as well. She learned to lead and be accountable. She should do a good job at King.”

As she gears up for her team’s winter workouts, Kane is also settling into her role with the RI Thunder-LFC squad.

She had been helping to coach the New Canaan Rams town travel program, but the town’s rules weren’t the best fit in building a more competitive, yet also affordable, travel team.

That’s when she started her own CT Raiders program and announced tryouts for August.

 Before those teams could be formed, however, the Rhode Island Thunder rolled in and plans changed.

“I knew softball made me who I was and I wanted to make sure all girls have the potential to play at the highest level,” Kane said. “It was our idea to have a locally based affordable program, and then the Rhode Island Thunder wanted to merge with us. We would take on their name, but we’d still keep control of our team.”

Kane and those around her weighed both the good and the bad before agreeing to the merger, allowing her to start her travel coaching career with an established brand.

“I was the one pushing back on it for a bit, but it ended up working out so beautifully,” Kane said. “So we’ll have a 16U team and three 14U teams for our first year.”

Kane, like so many of her players, played a lot of different sports growing up, but she gravitated to the softball field.

Once she stepped inside the pitcher’s circle, she knew she had found a home.

“(My parents) sent me to the softball field and it was the one sport that I was interested in and I wanted to go to the practices,” Kane said. “I loved pitching right away. I loved the adrenaline and being in control. I feel like I always did my best in pressure situations.”

Her travel career began with the Bobby V Warriors and the Ridgefield Rebels, but it was when she joined the Extreme Chaos that her travel career really took off.

That Chaos team became the CT Legends, where Kane shined and following her New Canaan High career found her way to Springfield College.

“I knew I wanted to teach and I knew it was a school that would give me everything I wanted,” Kane said. “It became my home. It’s where I was supposed to be.”

With her own playing career now behind her, Kane loves being a role model for those who are growing to love the game the way she did.

“I think that is one of my driving factors into why I’m doing what I’m doing,” Kane said. “I got a text last summer, it’s one of my screen savers on my phone: ‘Thank you so much for coaching me, I loved it so much. I couldn’t have asked for a better season.’ It’s a simple text, but this is why I put in all those extra hours. Being a role model to them is super important to me. It’s the reason I got into coaching.”

She’ll lead her own travel program, even if has a different name than she imagined.

She’ll lead a varsity high school program, even though it might be a different one than she ever imagined.

What matters the most, though, is after a whirlwind year Gillian Kane is settling in to a new life and giving back to the sport that gave her everything.

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