She's the Schuff: Senior Assistant's Feelin' Groovy

The newest addition to the Harvard women's ice hockey team's coaching staff is not a new face on the block in Harvard athletics.

Assistant Coach Kate Schutt, affectionately referred to as "Schuttie" by her teammates, has contributed three years to the women's ice hockey and lacrosse programs. The senior was awarded the John Dooley Award in ice hockey after the 1997-98 season, and named First-Team All-Ivy in 1998 in lacrosse as the top goalie in the league.

Why isn't she competing this year? Kate Schutt is competing in a different arena--- the music business.

Schutt came to Harvard from the Taft School in the fall of 1993. Schutt then left Harvard in the summer of 1995 to enroll into the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

"I love music, it is a huge part of who I am," Schutt says. "Harvard can't give me what I need to pursue the career I want in music."

She is mainly a jazz guitarist, plays some folk and acoustic rock and also sings a bit.

Schutt appreciates the level of education Harvard has to offer, but for such a competitive business as the music industry, she needed to immerse herself in her guitar training. In two years, Schutt accomplished the academic equivalent of three years' worth of work at Berklee.

"If you are going to do it, do it whole-heartedly," Schutt says.

Berklee College of Music is 15 percent women and was only 10 percent in 1995 when Schutt arrived.

"Most of the women at the college are singers," Schutt says. "The guitar department itself is almost exclusively men."

She explains her pursuit as a constant battle--- having to compete everyday, much like she did in athletics.

"I definitely approach music like an athlete," says Schutt. "I won't accept mediocrity, I won't be happy with anything less than the best."

Her return to Harvard athletics, she explains, was just as refreshing of a change as was leaving in the first place.

"It was great to finally use my body again, to be a physical person," Schutt says.

Her athletic talent is much appreciated at Harvard. But Schutt doesn't pay much attention to formal accolades. Does she remember receiving her All-Ivy lacrosse award?

"I have no clue," Schutt says.

Schutt returned to the building of the women's ice hockey powerhouse. In her first year back with the team, the Crimson posted 14 wins and sneaked into the ECAC quarterfinals, losing to eventual champion UNH 2-1 in overtime.

Schutt was also honored with All-Ivy distinction in lacrosse. However, she also returned to find her eligibility slipping away. She had only one full year left to play.

That is why she now travels across the ice in shoes, rather than in skates.

"It is weird being on the other side," says Schutt.

However, she enjoys having the opportunity to be with such a talented group of athletes.

"I began to cry after their first game because they are just so great," Schutt says. "Harvard women's hockey is finally getting credit for what it has been doing all along. It makes me smile."

Schutt saw the team's development from the start. Her official duties as a volunteer assistant include helping with the strength and conditioning phase of the fall, along with her regular practice attendance.

"I continue to be blown away by not only the accomplishments of the team, but how much they sacrifice for it all," Schutt says. "They play with such heart."

Schutt also carries a full academic load along with her coaching duties. Her schedule is filled with all sorts of courses from poetry to sculpture.

"I am on a way different path than most people at Harvard," Schutt says.

She enjoys that she can pursue many different things at Harvard, but from talking to her, one can tell that she wants more.

"I need for my life to have a balance. I cannot just do only one thing," Schutt says.

This year, along with assistant coaching, she is also writing her honors English thesis on improvisation and the poetry of Elizabeth Bishop.

She also performs gigs throughout Boston and Cambridge. She had one at Harvard this fall in Loker Commons, which she advertised in Lowell Lecture Hall at the beginning of Cornel West's Introduction to African-American Studies course.

Schutt stood up with guitar in hand, introduced herself, then her music. When she began Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing", Lowell erupted--everyone was cheering and dancing---including West, who was jamming along to Schutt's beat.

She explains that her role for the women's hockey team is also the entertainer.

"For the team, I am the joker, the goon, the one who keeps everyone laughing," Schutt says.

Tomorrow night, Schutt may be the one entertained by a national championship.