A different person from Charlotte Latin Athletics is featured on the first Tuesday of each month with twenty questions to help the CLS community get to know some of our athletes, coaches, and supporters a bit better.

This month, get to know varsity softball head coach and sixth grade science teacher Brittany Banda. She was a three-sport athlete who was inducted into her high school's Hall of Fame, yet she currently competes around the country in a different discipline: equestrian. Originally studying to be a veterinarian, read on to find out how she found her way to teaching, what she loves about coaching, her vision for CLS softball, and a surprising sweet treat she gives to her horse.

1. Where did you grow up and what was your childhood like?

I grew up in Conway, New Hampshire, which is a little tiny ski town in the middle of White Mountains. I basically grew up on snow and on skis. I'm an only child, but my cousins lived very close by so it felt like we had a bigger family. We spent every weekend on the mountain with our friends. Our parents would drop us off and we'd stay all day. My parents were both teachers in the public school system. My dad taught middle school social studies and coached at the high school. He coached me in both varsity basketball and varsity softball. And my mom was my teacher in third grade. My parents and both of my sets of grandparents met in the high school I graduated from. It's a very small town.

2. Did you like school?

I did, but I found it very hard. I was a good student in high school, a National Honor Society member, but it was not easy. When I was in college, I was really struggling to keep up with the reading. I couldn't seem to finish it in time or make sense of it, and I ended up on academic probation. My parents thought there must be something going on, so they had me tested and I found out that I am dyslexic. After that, I had accommodations in place and it was like night and day.

3. Where were you in college and what were you studying?

I went to Wheaton College in Massachusetts and was a psycho-bio major, which has since been renamed neuroscience. It's sort of a biology degree with an emphasis in psychology. I wanted to be a vet, initially, but I worked as a technician at a veterinary clinic when I was in college and decided that I didn't like the people part of it. I loved taking care of the animals, but it was hard to deal with people who did not really care for their animals.

4. So how did you switch from planning to be a vet to becoming a teacher?

When I graduated, I was trying to decide if I was going to work in a lab or do additional school with an emphasis in genetics, but I had an opportunity to interview for a biology teaching position that fit my degree. It was with an independent school in New Hampshire called Brewster Academy. It was close to home, and provided housing, and I thought it might be a good interim position while I figured out what I wanted to do next. It was clear that I hadn't taken any teaching courses, but the school agreed to train me. Not only was I learning to teach on the job, I was only 22 and had kids in my class that were nearly my age, plus I was a dorm parent to 16 sophomore girls, and I was the head coach of the JV field hockey team and assistant coach for varsity softball. It was insane. I worked there for two years, then left to move to Massachusetts when my husband and I got engaged.

5. Wow. There's a lot to talk about there. Let's start with how did you meet your husband?

Mike played on the baseball team at college and I was on the softball team. We were both pitchers. At the beginning of my junior year, I was at a back-to-school event with friends and we got separated. I didn't have my keys with me, so I went up to a group of baseball guys I was friends with to ask if they could let me into the dorm. Mike was with them, so that's when we met, but we lived in the same dorm that year so we started seeing each other all the time. He was a year ahead of me in school, so he graduated and started working for an insurance company, then I graduated and started working at Brewster. We were vacationing with his family in Myrtle Beach when he proposed, and we got married in 2008 in New Hampshire.

6. You got engaged and then married, but what did you do work-wise after you left Brewster?

I started working at Dana Hall School in Massachusetts. It's a part-boarding, part day school for girls. Initially, I taught seventh grade math and science, then I moved to sixth grade the following year and have been teaching that ever since. I love teaching this age. It's typically the first time the students have science as a separate class and it gives me a chance to get them excited about it.

7. What brought you and Mike to Charlotte?

Mike was working for MetLife and after they closed the Boston office, he worked remote for several years, then they relocated him to Charlotte in 2016. I had only worked in independent schools and really like that model, so that's what I looked for in Charlotte and found Latin. I remember flying down for my interview, and it was maybe March, and I was shocked because there were some leaves on the trees here and we still had feet of snow on the ground in Massachusetts. I didn't want to leave.

8. Let's go back to the beginning and get caught up on your sports background. You already mentioned that you were a softball pitcher in college, and that you played high school softball and basketball for your dad. Can you take us through your athletic journey?

I was introduced to a lot of sports very early because my dad coached basketball and football and my mom was a cheerleading coach. Probably the first sports I participated in were skiing or horseback riding, because my grandparents had horses. I grew up riding with my grandfather a bit, then started taking lessons when I was around four after begging my parents for them, and started the hunter jumper side of equestrian around sixth grade. Softball started around second or third grade. I played catcher and second base initially, but I didn't like not being in control of the game and its pace, so I started taking pitching lessons and moved into that position in sixth grade. I played a lot of travel ball and that was pretty much my summer from middle school through college. Field hockey was my second favorite sport. It was really popular and competitive in my area growing up, so I gravitated to it around third grade. I was a midfielder, which involves a lot of running and I liked that. I still like running. Then I also played basketball in high school, but that was more because I wanted to stay active in the winter, and I didn't want to be outside in the cold. (Editor's note: Banda was inducted into the Kennett High School Hall of Fame in 2010. See news article below. In 2019, Kennett High renamed its gym the Peter Ames Gymnasium in honor of her dad and his extensive, successful coaching career there.)

9. It sounds like you were incredibly busy – and you still are. Now you're teaching and coaching, but you're also still competing in equestrian. How does that work? Do you have your own horse? What type of competitions do you do? And how do you find time?

I spend a lot of weekends away, and yes, I have my own horse. His name is Eli but he is registered as Invite My Assets. He's nine and I've had him since he was born and I have his mom as well. I bred him to be my next show horse and we have had a special bond since day one. He's an American Paint Horse and we show at a national level on a breed circuit. I show amateur in Western Pleasure and Trail events, and we're currently preparing for the 2022 Pinto World Championship in Tulsa, OK, in June. Eli lives in Waxhaw at McNeely Equestrian Center and I typically get there about four times a week. I have lessons after practice (when we don't have games), and I ride both weekend days. I work with a trainer who has five or six clients, so we all go to shows together but we compete individually.

10. What is Eli like and how do you travel with a horse? Does your husband go too?

Eli is quite possibly the happiest, friendliest horse I have ever encountered. He's like a giant dog. He loves people, he loves little kids. He gets really excited and runs to greet me at the fence as soon as I get there. He's very mouthy. He never bites. He does not have a mean bone in his entire body, but he likes to put his mouth on things. So if I'm leading him, he might tug on my ponytail. Or if I'm wearing something with a zipper, he'll pull at it. He likes to eat everything, but his favorite treats are the really soft, puffy peppermints, and orange Skittles. He'll spit out the other colors but eats the orange ones. We travel with a trailer and I usually camp in it. They make ones with living quarters in them, but unfortunately, I do not have one of those. My trailer has a dressing room that's carpeted, so if it's cool out, I put an air mattress down in the dressing area. If it's warmer out, I'll clean out the horse compartment, put down a camping mat with a blow-up mattress on top, a couple of bag chairs, open up the windows and turn on fans. Mike comes with us sometimes, but he usually stays home with our dogs, Laila and Olive. He's not a big fan of the camping set-up. We're not camping at the world show, though. We have an Airbnb for that because we'll be there about ten days.

11. Alright, let's go back a bit. When you took the teaching job at Brewster, you also became a coach. Had you done that before?

I had given pitching lessons, but I had never coached a team before. I was very fortunate at Brewster because the head of the field hockey program was wonderful and very hands-on and walked me through how to make practice plans. There was a template, of sorts. If I'd had to do that all on my own, I would've been drowning. But the coaching part at Brewster was my favorite part of the job. I love to see kids in a different light. Even though I get to know them in the classroom in one way, when you see them out on a field, doing something they love, you see a different part of them. I like teaching and I really enjoy teaching science, but I love to see the kids doing something that they're passionate about.

12. You started coaching at Latin as a varsity assistant, with Leslie Hylton Zhao as the head coach. Then you two switched roles. What is your coaching relationship like?

My partnership with Leslie is great. We have similar beliefs when it comes to softball and a very similar coaching philosophy and mindset. I am very comfortable working with her and we are really on the same page. We created a plan together to change the culture in order to start building the program, and we're starting to see the change.

13. What sort of change are you seeing?

We really want it to be a cohesive program from middle school through varsity. There was a conscious effort to focus on the middle school team to get a foundation built. Drew (Dayton) has been great, because he buys into everything we were hoping for and he brings a lot of energy and organization. And, like Leslie and I, he is passionate about equity in girls' sports. We want to introduce kids to softball early and get them hooked into the culture, then create a continuous program so that the things they learn in sixth or seventh grade carry on through high school. Using the same signs, the same language, the same practice expectations, and methods of communicating. We are really fortunate that this year's ninth grade students started with Drew in sixth grade, and I think that's been extremely helpful to building our program.

14. What is your vision for the future?

I'm really excited about the direction the entire program is going and hope that we can infuse that same excitement about the sport into the Latin community. We have some combined sessions in practice and there is a lot of interaction between the middle school and varsity kids. This year, our goal has been to establish some cultural norms or traditions within our program. Things like giving out game balls and having team captains recognize other players after each game. The amount of enthusiasm and support has increased tremendously and it's been great.

15. Let's finish up with some fun questions. If you were not a teacher, what would you be?

I think I would be in marketing or real estate. Both of them require a little bit of creativity, and they're sort of related.

16. What's your favorite way to exercise?

I'm a runner. I like to run.

17. When do you have time to run?

I run at 5 a.m.

18. What skill or talent do you wish you had?

I wish I could sing. I cannot sing to save myself. I also wish I could jump more than three inches.

19. What are your favorite sports and non-sports movies?

For Love of the Game, with Kevin Costner. And Top Gun.

20. If you could be a superhero, which one would you be?

I would be Wonder Woman, for sure.

 

Banda and Eli competing in Novice Amateur Horsemanship at the Palmetto Paint Horse Club Show in March 2022

Banda and Eli competing in Amateur Trail at the Palmetto Paint Horse Club Show in March 2022

Mike and Brittany Banda

Laila and Olive Banda