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GHS ATHLETES OF THE YEAR-
Kim Briggs
Female Athlete of the Year
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Photo by Gwen Stevenson
Kim Briggs was presented the GHS Female Athlete of the Year award by girls’ basketball head coach Brandon Fletcher.
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By Kerensa Uyeta-Buckley
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Perhaps one of the most common images in any sport Kim Briggs participates in is one of Briggs encouraging her teammates and rooting for her team.
Whether she is playing in a game or cheering for teammates on the bench, the Galt High School senior’s most well-known trait is her role as a team player.
Briggs has played softball, basketball and volleyball during her four years at Galt and has been known as a team contributor in all three.
“She’s there day in and day out, being a team player in every sport,” Briggs’ father and her varsity softball coach, Jim, said Friday of his daughter.
“If I told her to play catcher, she’d go play catcher and never ask why. She’s the ultimate team player,” Briggs said.
One thing that drives Briggs is her desire to stay involved with sports.
Briggs watched family members become involved with sports as she grew up, and participated in all three sports at GHS her entire four years.
“I like basketball because it’s a lot more physical, but I like softball because it’s a lot more intense,” Briggs said when asked about her favorite sport.
During the 2008 varsity softball season, Briggs was among SVC leaders in four categories for the overall season, which included non-league games.
Briggs was second in the league with four home runs, was second with a .725 slugging percentage, third with 25 RBIs, and second in on-base percentage with a .536 mark.
In SVC games alone, Briggs was fifth among league leaders with a batting average of .486.
In her last season on the softball field as a high school player, Briggs contributed to a large part of Galt’s success as the first GHS varsity softball team to reach the playoffs in 11 years.
Briggs went 2 for 3 with three RBIs, a double, and one run in a 5-2 win over Union Mine on April 22.
On May 6, Briggs went 2 for 2 with three RBIs, a home run, two runs and a walk in a 5-2 win over Cordova.
When discussing her sports, Briggs added that she enjoys being able to help out her team.
“It’s nice being the one that’s counted on for everything. It’s not pressure to me, it’s just another part of the game,” Briggs said.
As a junior during the 2007 varsity softball season, Briggs had a .382 batting average, 29 hits, 16 RBIs and 13 runs in 76 at-bats.
In her sophomore varsity softball season in 2006, Briggs had a batting average of .413, 15 runs, 31 hits, 18 RBIs and one home run.
Brandon Fletcher, who coached Briggs during the 2007-08 girls varsity basketball season at GHS, reflected on Briggs’ willingness to help out the team.
“A perfect teammate, a perfect player. She does everything you ask,” Fletcher said Friday.
“She hates to lose but at the same time she has this demeanor to where she’s going to be successful. She doesn’t let things get to her,” said Fletcher.
While she has found much of her success on the softball field, Briggs’ venture into sports found her dabbling in baseball like her older sister, Shauna.
Briggs started playing tee-ball when she was approximately five years old and played on a traveling baseball team when she was seven.
“My sister actually played baseball in high school and then switched over to varsity softball and I think that helped a lot just with the swings and stuff,” Briggs said.
The motivation to stay involved with sports has carried over to her college aspirations, and Briggs says she wants to participate in at least one sport-softball-at whichever school she ends up.
“I hope to get into a four-year either this upcoming year or go to Sac City like she did and get a scholarship from there,” said Briggs.
“I’m definitely going to play softball. I’m still thinking whether I want to play two sports or not, but I definitely want to play softball wherever I go.”
Whether she is executing an ace, making a jump shot or hitting a home run, Briggs has always had family to inspire her.
Briggs said that her sister Shauna is her hero, and mom Karen keeps score at GHS softball games.
Jim Briggs coached Kim on the GHS varsity softball team all four years, which allowed the younger Briggs to improve her game with the help of her on-field motivator.
“It’s like having your own little personal trainer,” Briggs said of her father. “Also, they know everything you do and you know how they work and you just work really well together.”
Jim Briggs recognizes his daughter’s passion to contribute to her sport.
“She brings that character, that heart and that desire to win at every sport. She brings it every day,” Briggs said.
One game he remembers in particular is when Galt’s varsity basketball team once faced Christian Brothers High School.
“I could go back to the game in basketball where coach asks her to shut down Brittany Woodard [one of the school’s most talented all-around athletes from the past several years] and she holds her to two points in the whole first half,” said Briggs, who noted that when Kim was brought back into the game in the second half, she held Woodard to two points again.
“I’m really proud of her for that.”
During the 2007-08 varsity basketball season, Briggs scored 100 points, averaging four points per game, 2.4 steals per game, 1.9 assists per game and five blocked shots.
A highlight of the 2006-07 season in which she was a junior was a February game against Cordova High School.
Briggs had a double-double, scoring 14 points along with 10 rebounds, two assists and four steals in Galt’s 72-65 win.
“Kim is one of the most coachable, likeable, most fierce competitors you’ll ever have on any team,” Fletcher said.
On the volleyball court, Briggs was a solid contributor and led the 2007-08 team in four categories.
Briggs was second among team leaders in aces, second with 2.7 digs per game, was third in assists and was second in serves receiving with 2.3 receptions per game.
As a junior volleyball player, Briggs was third on the team with 5.6 digs and was third in serve receiving with 5.5 receptions.
“In my two year tenure at Galt High, Kim was one of the hardest working athletes that I had the privilege to coach,” former GHS girls volleyball coach Eric Weber said Tuesday. “She has strong leadership abilities, a determined desire to compete, and an unquestionable personal character.”
While she is known to be a talented, resourceful teammate on the playing field, the desire to help people may lead Briggs toward the medical field.
She is still unsure of where her interests will take her, however, and says she is also considering being a criminal engineer and being a sports psychologist.
“Nursing I’ve always been interested in, the health field, just to help people and sports psychology. I want to stay in sports with whatever I do,” said Briggs.
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