Shana Easley can’t remember a time when she didn’t play any sports. As a child, she spent as much of her free time as possible participating in every sport she could through the Loveland recreation department. Softball quickly emerged as the one she liked the most – and the one at which she excelled.
“You feel good when you do well at something. I liked that piece of it,” Shana says now. “I am an only child, so it was like having an extended family, a sisterhood. It felt like home to be on a softball field.”
Shana played softball at Loveland High School for each of the four years she attended there, and she played at each level – freshman, C-team, junior varsity and varsity. She was also on the golf and track teams, as well as playing on a club softball team. Shana knew she wanted to make softball a big part of her life, and that idea was reinforced when the LHS softball team took second place at state her junior year. After graduation, Shana played softball for four years for the University of Arkansas on a partial scholarship.
“There has been great progress made in the area of Title IX, but there is still work to be done”
“I was very determined to work my way up,” Shana said. After getting her bachelor’s degree in marketing, Shana stayed at U of A for another 2 years, serving as a team manager and assistant coach while earning her master’s degree in sports administration. From there, Shana had multiple opportunities, playing professionally in Arizona and Italy, and then coaching at the college level. Her first coaching job was five years spent leading the team at the University of Missouri in Kansas City, and then she got the opportunity to return to Colorado and become the head coach for the University of Northern Colorado Bears softball. Shana spent six years at UNC, a position she said she loved.
“The transition from being a full-time athlete to a coach, I just liked being able to focus on softball,” Shana says. “It’s rare that you get a job that you can enjoy and don’t feel like it’s work. It makes me feel like a kid, going out and playing ball every day. It keeps you young and I appreciate that part of it.”
That’s not to say that a career centered around sports is all fun and games. Shana is now the assistant coach for the Colorado State Rams, and while she is grateful to still be connected to the sport, she acknowledges her chosen path has been a lot of hard work along the way, both as an athlete and a coach.
“Mentally, it’s challenging in that you have to be really disciplined and organized with your time and energy,” Shana says. “You have to keep making the little decisions you have to make every day to be good at athletics – or at anything.”
For Shana, that decision has been an easy one, and she says having softball in her life has been one of her greatest gifts.
“I feel really fortunate to have had athletics and to continue to have it as an outlet for me,” she says. “I don’t know what my life would have been like if I didn’t. I can’t envision it.”
Because of that, Shana feels especially grateful for Title IX and the opportunities it provides for women in sports, and is hopeful those keep coming.
“There has been great progress made in the area of Title IX, but there is still work to be done,” Shana says. “We need to continue to celebrate and empower women every chance we get, and keep pushing to allocate resources equally in all aspects of women’s athletic programs.”
As a mother to a daughter herself, Shana says she now sees more than ever how important Title IX is.
“I am excited to see what new opportunities are available in her lifetime to keep raising the bar for girls and women,” she says. “I foresee so many new leadership positions becoming available to women solely based on their skillset, knowledge, and sheer determination. It’s an exciting time to see and create change.”
