Katie Pritchett, a member of UVA Wise's women's golf team, has concluded her immensely successful athletic career prematurely.
 
Due to the NCAA's decision to end all athletic activities in an attempt to halt COVID-19, Pritchett will tragically miss the latter half of her senior season entirely.
 
The golf season's suspension is difficult for Pritchett, who picked up the sport at only eight years old, joining the rest of her family in the activity. Pritchett's entrance into the world of golf largely came out of a love for the outdoors, a love she still possesses.
 
The sport was a natural choice for Pritchett, who admires its individuality and appreciates the calmness of it compared to other sports. "I did a little bit of softball, but I didn't really like running," she said.
 
Pritchett also appreciates the variety that golf provides. "Every golf course is different, so it's not the same things, and that's what I love about golf."
 
Pritchett believes the sport "takes a lot of concentration and it … is really pretty much a mental game because you could be playing really well and have … one bad hole, and you just really have to have a strong mental mentality to get through it."
 
For Pritchett, two passions could be pursued at once by attending UVA Wise: golf and nursing. This, she said, was the underlying reason for her school choice.
 
The choice was one she was immediately happy with, and she refers to her time at the school as "a great experience."
 
Pritchett has found immense success at UVA Wise, being named All-Mountain East Conference First Team for three consecutive years, and winning the Mountain East Conference Player of the Year award in 2018.
 
"It's honestly really crazy," Pritchett said of her success, before quickly focusing on her team's accomplishments. "I was very proud and I was just happy for the team," she said. "I think we won the tournament as a team our freshman year. So we had a really good, solid first two years, for sure."
 
Pritchett does not deny the difficulty of playing golf while studying her major, Nursing. The balance has been impossible to achieve perfectly; she has had to sacrifice participation in golf tournaments at times, in order to further her studies.
 
Pritchett partially credits her professors with assisting her in balancing her athletic and academic responsibilities. "It was just … a lot of teamwork involved," she said.
 
Pritchett hopes that her completion of a nursing degree while playing golf will help others realize they are capable of the same accomplishments.
 
Although the end of her season has arrived, the beginning of a promising future lies around the corner for Pritchett.
 
Pritchett is prepared to pursue nursing after graduating from UVA Wise, and has made plans to move to Florida. Armed with her endurance, skill, and the patience and strength that golf has afforded her, her success is inevitable.
 
Pritchett's interest in the field originated during her high school days. A mission trip gave her a detailed look into the world of nursing, a world which changed her perspective.
 
Still, doubt lingered in Pritchett's mind over whether the job was really right for her. That doubt was erased when she began clinical rotations.
 
"I got to help all these elderly people, and I've done everything from elderly people to babies to adults and everything, and it's just awesome. I really like helping everybody," she said.
 
That dedication has manifested itself on the golf course. Pritchett, who is heartbroken by the season's premature conclusion, has had a historic career at UVA Wise, reaching achievements no player before her had.
 
 "The whole team was, obviously, pretty devastated," Pritchett said. "It is very sad knowing that I wasn't able to finish out my senior year, … but you know, I understand the circumstances."
 
"I'm really going to miss the coach and my team, and … I think everyone in general, the whole school, is probably really bummed about the whole thing that has happened," she said. "Just knowing that I'm never going to be able to play for UVA Wise again is just really sad."
 
Pritchett hopes that her former teammates will learn from her season reaching its shocking and premature conclusion. That unexpected ending has left Pritchard wishing to "redo some tournaments and re-experience some things."
 
"Play every time like it's your last," she said.
 
Reflecting back on her time at UVA Wise, Pritchett believes her experiences at the school have shifted her perspective. She fondly recalled the experiences UVA Wise provided her with during her time at the school, but above all else, she has appreciated the small student-to-faculty ratio.
 
"All my professors I'm really close to, and I know I could call at any time of the day. And I don't think you could that at another school where you're a number instead of a person. And that's what I really loved about Wise. I felt like it was my home for four years."
 
Pritchett's future with the team may be gone, but she remains highly optimistic about the team's future. "We got a new coach for my last year," Pritchett said of Women's Golf Head Coach Robin Dotson. "He has been pretty great. You know, he really works with the girls and he's been recruiting really hard, so I think they're going to have a very solid team for next year and I am very, very proud for them. And I just wish them the very … best."
 
"We got to go to a lot of different places, and I got to meet so many new competitors, and it was just… it was something I'll never forget," Pritchett said. In the same manner, UVA Wise will never forget her.