One of the most difficult tasks during college is being a student-athlete who makes sure their performances on the field and in the classroom stay afloat. This is no different for Kristin Hallam, an infielder on the Hofstra softball team who achieved success on and off the field during her four years at the University. Hallam, now in graduate school, is pursuing a career in sports science with a focus in strength and conditioning.
Hallam was redshirted during the 2020 season after sustaining an injury.
“In the 2019 season, we were in Virginia … I took a swing, my throwing shoulder popped out and then went back in. So then the rest of the season I was just throwing funny,” Hallam said. “After talking to my parents [and] after talking to my coaches, it’s like, ‘I’m really not going to lose anything from trying to get the surgery, because it’s not going to make it any worse,’ so I had surgery in December and I just finished physical therapy in June.”
On the diamond, the offensive numbers pop out, with her rookie season leading the team in 2017 in batting average (.378), hits (62) and total bases (73). Hallam followed up by hitting over .300 once again in 2018, and in the 2019 season put up the highest on-base percentage (.456) of her career. In the same season, Hallam tied a program record, hitting two doubles in the same game against the University of Delaware. In the classroom, Hallam received the Easton/NFCA All-America Scholar-Athlete award for three consecutive years, and in 2020 she was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America® Second Team and made the academic honor roll.
“I’ve always liked school. Since elementary school my parents were always like, ‘Homework, homework, homework’ – it was homework and practice,” Hallam said.
Hallam’s mother, Kathy Weiss-Hallam, is a 1998 volleyball inductee in Rider University’s athletic Hall of Fame.
“Funny story… she’s in the Hall of Fame at Rider University, and it’s funny because the day that her picture was taken and her plaque was hung on the wall was in February of 1998, and I was born March 1998, so I have a joke that I’m technically already in the Hall of Fame because she was pregnant with me,” Hallam said.
But instead of following her mother’s footsteps and pursuing volleyball, Hallam created her own route, thanks to her passion for softball.
“I think her role in my athletic career has more been shaping me as a person, shaping my attitude, shaping my leadership abilities,” Hallam said. “She helps me be [a] captain, she helps me be a leader, she helps me be that Hall of Fame material that people don’t [always] necessarily have [around] to look up to.”
Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
