Kristen Hobbs enters her fourth year on the softball staff at UNC Pembroke as the assistant coach for the Braves for the 2016-17 season.
A former infielder for the Braves, Hobbs sat second on the team with a .355 batting average, .392 on-base percentage and 49 hits in her final season with the squad in 2012. The Granite Falls native garnered a spot on the Peach Belt Conference Honor Roll in 2012 for softball, as well as in 2009 and 2010 for women’s basketball. She also received the NCAA D2 ADA Academic Achievement Award in 2012, was a two-time PBC All-Academic Team honoree in women’s basketball and once for softball, a two-time NFCA Scholar-Athlete in softball and a CoSIDA Academic All-District selection in 2012.
Prior to coaching at UNCP, Hobbs spent 18 months at South Caldwell High School in Hudson as a health and physical education teacher, while also taking on the duties as head varsity softball coach, head junior varsity women’s basketball coach, assistant varsity women’s basketball coach and head women’s tennis coach. She was named the Rookie Teacher of the Year by the administrators at the high school following the 2012-13 academic year.
During her playing career, she did her student teaching at Scotland High School in Laurinburg where she taught classes in health and physical education, as well as weight training. The former shooting guard for the Lady Braves basketball team gained valuable coaching knowledge as a graduate assistant for UNCP in the 2011-12 season where she was given the tasks of assisting with recruiting, film exchange and the implementation of practice plans into game day situations.
In 2011, she supervised school-age children in various summer program activities as a teacher assistant for the Caldwell County Schools Wraparound Program which including helping with field trips, organizing activities and scheduling lunches. She also spent time in the summer of 2007 as the assistant coach for the Carolina Express AAU basketball team for girls 14 and under. Her responsibilities included coaching during practice and games, as well as traveling to various tournaments throughout the summer.
She earned her bachelor's degree from UNCP in physical education with a concentration in exercise and sport science in 2011 and a master's degree in physical education from UNCP in 2013.
