Kentucky All-American Kayla Kowalik spent time with a youth softball team helping coach and signing autographs. (Jay Ising Photo)
Since Jay Ising was bringing a girls’ youth softball team from southern Indiana to play in Lexington, he thought he would reach out to University of Kentucky star catcher Kayla Kowalik about spending time with the team that included his daughter.
“I sent her a tweet and discussed NIL (name, image, and likeness) and thought we could come together as a team for her,” said Ising, a Kentucky fan.
Kowalik didn’t have a set financial rate for an appearance. The name, image, and likeness compensation is still a new concept for college athletes but she got approval from UK compliance to meet Ising’s team.
“She said she would come out and talk to the girls and spend a couple of hours with them,” Ising said. “So I made her a coach for the day. Our girls were over the moon. It was so awesome.”
The youth coach said Kowalik Face-timed with his daughter for 30 minutes. She spent about three hours with his team not only signing autographs and posing for pictures but also coaching — and what better coach could young softball players have.
Kowalik led the NCAA in batting average at .495 and hit over .500 most of the season. She also led the NCAA in total hits with 100 and became the first UK player to ever have 100 hits in a season. She won the Johnny Bench Award given to the top NCAA Division I softball catcher in Kentucky and was a first-team All-American.
She caught every SEC game in 2021 and had a .993 fielding percentage and threw out four base steals. She even managed to steal a team-high 23 bases — the most steals by a UK player since 2009.
If that’s not enough, she also maintained a 3.398 grade-point average.
Ising said he hoped his team made it “worthwhile” financially for Kowalik and hopes it will be a start for more opportunities for female athletes at UK with the NIL protocols now in place.
“We were amazed at how humble she was and how great she was,” Ising said. “I was just trying to figure out a way to let our girls be around a special athlete and also let her have a chance to benefit financially.
