Volleyball

Karen Kart has enjoyed tremendous success since becoming head coach of the Our Lady of Good Counsel volleyball team in 2001. Her players have consistently performed well on the court and in the classroom.

Kart, who will enter her 29^th year of coaching in 2021, has led Good Counsel to six Washington Catholic Athletic Conference championships (2006-11). The run featured a WCAC 115-match winning streak. The Falcons also won five Maryland/D.C. Private School championships (2006-08, 2010-11) and two City Titles (2006, ’08). They finished 31-0 in 2008 and ranked No. 1 by The Washington Post. The Washington Examiner and Montgomery Gazette named her Coach of the Year.

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Good Counsel has each season since 2003 won an American Volleyball Coaches Association Team Academic Award (min. 3.3 GPA).

Kart has coached numerous players who have earned All-WCAC and All-Met honors. Here are some of the most decorated:

• Becky West ’09 – 2008 Washington Post Player of the Year & 2007 first-team All-Met. Named to Gazette’s All-Decade team
• Jessica Emanuele ’07 – first-team All-Met (2005, ’06). WCAC & Examiner Player of the Year (2006). Played at Virginia Tech
• Brighid Casey ’09 – 2008 first-team All-Met & WCAC Co-Player of the Year. Played at UMBC
• Meagan Donohoe ’11 – 2010 first-team All-Met & WCAC Player of the Year. Honorable mention All-American. Helped lead Johns Hopkins to three NCAA Tournaments
• Megan Conger ’16 – first-team All-Met (2015). Attended Juniata & named 2016 Landmark Conference Rookie of the Year

Kart and longtime assistant coach Jerry Mikesell make sure that their teams do more than win volleyball matches. In 2008, Good Counsel became the first school in Montgomery (Md.) County to host a Dig Pink event. Through the years, it has raised more than $55,000 for breast cancer research.

Although the pandemic prevented the Falcons from hosting an event in 2020, it didn’t keep them from fighting the disease. They teamed up with the GC field hockey team and made masks for medical professionals and patients at children’s hospitals.

Prior to arriving at Good Counsel, Kart was head JV coach (1998-2000) at Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington, Va. From 1993-97, she coached the boys volleyball team at North Bergen (N.J.) High. The ’96 Bruins were ranked in the Top 5 in New Jersey. In 1997, she was also girls head varsity and JV coach. (The boys season is in the spring.)

Kart began her coaching career as a girls assistant at Secaucus (N.J.) High under legendary coach Maria Nolan. The Patriots won four consecutive (1993-96) Group 1 state championships.

Kart played volleyball, softball and basketball during her final two years (1987-88) at Passaic (N.J.) High. She also swam 10 years for a club team. She competed in volleyball as a freshman and sophomore at Gettysburg (Pa.) College.

Kart graduated from Gettysburg in 1992 with a bachelor’s degree in health and physical education. In 1995, she earned a master’s in the same field from Montclair (N.J.) State University. Her undergraduate concentration was in allied health science. At Montclair, she concentrated in coaching and athletic administration.

From 2015-19, Kart was an Under Armour All-American Region 2 selection committee member. In 2017-18, she was Region 2 chairperson for USA Today’s Top 25 rankings. She hosts three summer skills camps and a beginner’s camp.

Kart’s overall record at Good Counsel is 314-113 (.735). She was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in 2019. She is proud of her players’ career accomplishments and values the lifelong relationships.

Kart works for Montgomery County Public Schools as a content specialist for adapted physical education. She is president-elect of SHAPE Maryland, The Society of Health and Physical Educators. She is a former certified athletic trainer and strength and conditioning specialist.

Kart was born and raised in Passaic. She and her wife, Lacy, live in Silver Spring, Md., with their daughter, Liberty.