RJ Craig | February 2, 2024
The transition from high school to college can be difficult and confusing, especially transitioning into the University of Georgia whose student body is well over 40,000.
Sandy Springs, Georgia native Katherine Davis struggled to make that transition, to connect and feel at home—that is until she started playing for the Georgia women’s hockey team.
Davis did not always play hockey—it has only been a year or so since she first picked up a hockey stick. Initially, she picked up another kind of stick—rather a bat to hit softballs with, starting at seven years old.
But even before softball, she played soccer, starting at five, so for a while she played both sports before eventually giving up soccer before high school, opting to focus solely on softball. In high school, she played softball and competed on the swim team.
Davis credited her dad as the inspiration for how she got into sports, given that he signed her up for softball and took her to all her practices and games, which he also did for soccer and swimming.
“He likes to live vicariously through me,” Davis chuckled.
After high school, Davis planned on saying bon voyage to her family and attending a school far from home, as her mom had encouraged her to apply to out-of-state schools.
For a while, she had “mentally committed” to Miami [of Ohio] University but ultimately settled on UGA after realizing it was the most practical option and would save her parents a lot of money in the long run.
“I definitely don't regret it,” Davis admitted. “I'm in a good place now.”
When she first arrived at UGA, she struggled to find a community after she did not make the UGA club softball team, which she hoped would allow her to connect to other students.
Not making the softball team, however, was a blessing in disguise.
The following January, at UGA’s club engagement fair, Davis ran into Hannah Knight, president and founder of the women’s hockey program.
There, she got an invitation to play for the team. Knight told Davis she did not need any hockey experience, they would have free equipment for her, and they would teach her how to skate and play, all while helping establish the women’s hockey program at UGA.
For a while, Davis was a little hesitant and not sure if joining the hockey team was something she wanted to “invest in” or if she would “be better off doing something else.” Ultimately, after much thought, it was too good an offer for her to turn down.
Fast forward a year later, and it is still a decision she does not regret making. In her second year of playing hockey, Davis looks to improve her game on the ice and build upon the friendships with her teammates.
Her favorite memory from this season was when she bonded with her teammates at the Columbus tournament.
“I really enjoyed the time that we had in Columbus together as a team and being away from Athens,” Davis said. “We had a lot of fun—after we played the games, that night we would put them up on the TV and laugh at ourselves.”
In her short time playing hockey, Davis has found her favorite part to be skating. She explained that, unlike learning how to play other sports, hockey is unique in that not only do you have to learn how to play the sport itself, but you also have to learn how to skate, adding another degree of difficulty.
“It's definitely been an exponential learning curve kind of thing,” Davis explained. “So that's been really interesting to see how much I've grown in such a short amount of time.”
When she is not playing hockey, the third-year journalism major continues her trek towards a bachelor’s degree, and with a double minor in Spanish and ecology. She aspires to work as a traveling journalist who writes about the environment.
“Picture, like, National Geographic kind of vibe. That’s what I want to do,” Davis said.
She is studying abroad this semester in Australia, Fiji, Hawaii, and New Zealand, which she hopes will deepen her passion for ecology and the environment.
