By Jay Sorgi • Posted July 2, 2025

Katie Kavanagh isn’t just coaching girls flag football at West Catholic Preparatory High School in West Philadelphia and teaching a game that lets them emulate their heroes on Sundays in the fall.
She’s providing them with a more valuable lesson about themselves.

“Seeing the face of Jesus in everybody,” said Kavanagh, reflecting a lesson from her family, which was oriented toward community service and social responsibility.

“My dad had a bar down in Center City (Philadelphia). My mom would take us down on the weekends into the city. She always made a point of taking us to food pantries and shelters, volunteering at places. The big thing my mom always taught us was to see the face of Jesus in everybody we meet.”

Many other lessons came Katie’s way, including the first kind of football she ever knew — one from her dad’s homeland.

“My dad was born and raised in Ireland. He came over when he was a teenager,” said Kavanagh, who grew up in Ambler and attended St. Alphonsus Parish in Maple Glen.

“He was already playing Gaelic football. He would travel up to New York because they didn’t have any teams yet in Philadelphia, (but) he went on to help coach a team here in Philadelphia. That’s how I actually got started.”
She also competed in soccer before graduating from Neumann University and earning her master’s degree at Widener University. Encounters of faith through compassion continued to resonate within her as she discerned her life’s calling.

“There was a guy who worked at the restaurant my dad owned, and I noticed his sneakers were horrible. I was so persistent with my dad, telling him, ‘You have to buy him sneakers.’ Little things like that,” said Kavanagh.
“Being Catholic really shaped me into desiring to help people, always seeing the best in them, and trying to be that support when people need it.”

Kavanaugh said such a calling made it easy to move into social work, including two stints at St. Gabriel’s Hall – formerly a residential facility for court adjudicated young adult males in Audubon.

“A student of mine from there recently got in touch with me. He had his issues, but I never gave up on him,” she said.

“He sent me a message thanking me for always being there. No matter how much of a pain he was, I never backed down and I was always there. Hearing that is what makes it worth it.”

Numerous career moves pivoted Kavanagh to a calling she has always desired, that of education.

“I always wanted to be in a school, because students’ experiences in school really determine how far they’re going to go in life,” she said. “I’ve been at West Catholic for five years now.”

Her tenure of difference-making includes becoming head coach of a startup girls flag football program, her third kind of football.

Kavanagh’s first season involved playing against other schools starting up the sport, before two years in a 12-team Philadelphia Catholic League flag football program.

“Being a social worker has helped me be able to notice the little things about my players,” Kavanagh said.

“One of my students who graduated this year, when she first started playing, the two of us would butt heads because she wasn’t listening. Toward the end of last year and then this year, it was great to see her finally realizing, ‘Now I get why you tell us to lock in.’ I saw the growth in that student and how flag football helped her work through her anger.”

Kavanagh also shared how the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles have been both an inspiration and resource for her West Catholic team.

“The (number) of girls wanting to play — because they love football so much — and never had the opportunity was so overwhelming. The Eagles actually sponsored football clinics for the girls,” she said.

The West Catholic girls got to stand with the Eagles for the national anthem during a preseason game before the team’s Super Bowl run last year. The Eagles recently named Kavanagh their Girls Flag Football Coach of the Week.

Kavanagh doesn’t coach for trophies or recognition. She coaches to live her calling, to create a greater impact and love than trophies can provide.

“My saying this year was, ‘You’re in a tunnel and you don’t see the light at the end, but you’re going to get there.’ Showing them through hard work and not giving up on yourself, having that faith, you can get through these things,” she said.

“It’s the passion of making people feel happy. It’s seeing the growth in these kids and them knowing that, ‘If I don’t have people in my family, or friends who support me, I still have Miss Katie.’ It’s just rewarding in general, seeing the difference and the growth from these kids.”

And as she repeats, “Just seeing the face of Jesus in everybody.”