Katie Keefe
Katie Keefe
Katie has always believed the youngest child has an advantage when it comes to sports. For as long as she can remember, she would play basketball in the driveway with her older brother who blocked every shot and sister who would never play easy on her. She also vividly remembers playing with “Big Bertha” the garbage pail that her Dad set up to practice on when her siblings moved away for college. She credits her family for instilling a mindset to think big, play big and compete big.
Katie earned a total of 12 varsity letters at Avon High School in basketball, volleyball and softball. She was All-Conference for basketball 4 years in row and All-State for two years. She was also All-conference in softball and volleyball and All-State in Volleyball. Katie led Avon to its first ever NCCC regular basketball season league championship, first ever league tournament title and to the semi-finals of the Class M state tournament in her senior season. Katie also set two records during her high school career: Becoming the first girl to score 1,000 points and the first player to score on the wrong basket to send a game into overtime. There is still debate whether those 2 points counted towards her overall total!
After graduating, Katie attended Providence College. Playing pickup basketball with the boys one day, the men's basketball coach saw her and encouraged her to try out for the women's team. After initially declining, the women's coach showed up and also invited her to try out. With sweaty palms and anxious thoughts, she agreed. After a week of early morning tryouts, she made the team. After two years of hard work, she was granted a 2-year full scholarship and named captain for both her junior and senior seasons., earning the hustle award her senior year. Her favorite moment was competing against Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi who played for UConn at the time.
After college, Katie went on to be a teacher in NYC and eventually moved to Europe to support her husband with his professional hockey career. In 2014 and after a 10-year career in teaching special education, she embraced entrepreneurial life. Today, she is a thought leader, entrepreneur, and author of A Simple Seed, a journal of growth, gratitude & giggles. Katie speaks at training events, schools and is developing several business ventures. A Simple Seed has been ranked a best-seller on Amazon and the journal has been featured on The TODAY show, NBC, Entrepreneur Magazine and various podcasts. She was recently invited back to Providence College to share her story with the female coaches from the athletic department. She and her sister, Erin, are currently co-writing a mindset journal for athletes which Providence College plans to help launch. Among her successes, Katie credits her most rewarding role as that of mom to her 4 wild and fun-loving kids and being a fire-wife.