Karlene Headley-Cooper begins her second season as a volunteer assistant coach with Academy of Art University softball.
Coaching alongside Sami Strinz and Randy Ward, Headley-Cooper and the Urban Knights went 17-32 overall (13-19 in Pacific West Conference) in 2013. The year was highlighted by a stretch in mid-February and early March in which ART U won seven of 10 games that included a pair of games won on steals of home and a
10-7 comeback victory over 2012 PacWest champion California Baptist. Later in the season, the Knights would top conference rival Notre Dame de Namur in
walk-off fashion to conclude the Tournament of Champions in Turlock, CA.
A member of the Great Britain Softball team since 2005, Headley-Cooper brings many years of experience both as a softball coach and player. She served as a guest softball coach/clinician with Olympia Haarlem in The Netherlands in 2010 after being the head coach of Great Britain Cadette (Under 16) Girls National Team (2007-2009) and an assistant for the Great Britain Mimine (Under 13) Girls National Team (2008).
Competitively, Headley-Cooper has achieved numerous honors in international tournaments including silver medals at the 2012 Canada Cup Elite Division and 2009 European Championships (she was the tournament's RBI leader that year), and a bronze at the 2011 European Championships. Her team has also had a 5th place finish at the 2010 World Cup of Softball, as well as two 11th place and one 10th place finishes at the World Championships (2012, 2010, 2006). In 2010, Headley-Cooper was a recruited professional player with Olympia Haarlem in The Netherlands where she helped the team remain in the top division (and led the league in triples).
Headley-Cooper, who is volunteering her time with ART U this season, is slated to compete with Great Britain at the 2013 European Championships in Prague, Czech Republic.
