The Commanders' Week 7 Flag Coach of the Week is Yorktown's Katie Kooiman. Coach Kooiman is high-energy and deeply committed to her student-athletes. After joining the faculty last year as a health and physical education teacher, she quickly became an integral part of the Yorktown community, launching the school's girls flag football team while also coaching boys soccer. Her girls flag team quickly saw success, finishing its second-ever season in 2024 with an impressive 14-1-2 record. Known for her enthusiasm and relatability, Coach Kooiman creates an inclusive environment where every student feels valued and encouraged to participate, both in and out of the classroom.
Commanders.com sat down with Coach Kooiman following her Coach of the Week win.
Q: Congratulations on being named Week 7 Flag Coach of the Week. How does it feel?
A: "It's quite an honor. It's very humbling. To be part of it at the start means a lot, and I think being a female coach amongst the male coaches is also something important that doesn't go unnoticed for me."
Q: What made you want to get involved in girls flag?
A: "I was new at Yorktown and looking for ways to get involved, and our athletic director Mike Krulfeld was like, 'I have this crazy idea. I foresee girls flag being a varsity sport, and I think we can get ahead of it. Would you be interested in coaching and helping to start the program?' I played flag as an adult right out of college and always had a great time playing, and for me, I know that high school is such a pivotal time for girls, and a lot of girls stop playing sports at this age. As a college athlete, I just know the immense value that sports bring. So to just open up another avenue for girls in the fall, and in a sport that has for so long been only thought of as a sport for boys, just felt like a really cool thing to be a part of."
Q: Do you have a motto or mantra that anchors you in your work?
A: "The way I operate is just five-star effort. I think any team can be great if everybody on the team is willing to work hard and do what it takes to get there. So I'm kind of trying to instill that in them now. We were fortunate to have so much talent. We have a lot of girls who play for the Commanders flag team and who have won national championships but I think what they're doing to set a precedent is that no matter where they are in their journey, they're willing to work hard. So I think that is the ultimate game-changer."
Q: What advice would you give to a student-athlete who is maybe considering playing girls flag?
A: "Do it. At Yorktown last year, we ran it as an intramural in our school because we didn't have teams to play against, and we found that the girls really liked that 'competitive but not overly competitive' competition. So this year we've been doing both a competitive team and intramural, and we're just encouraging girls who even want to give it a shot to come out, and we can teach them the skills and the rules as we go. Last year we had maybe 25 girls, and this year we've had like 50 girls. It's really nice to see that there's girls that are willing to come out and try it. I think flag football is something that can be incredibly accessible because it's new, so you don't have a ton of 'I've been playing flag since I was four' that you might have in say the soccer or lacrosse world. It's new to most people, and most people watch football on the weekends so you have some frame of reference to start playing."
