Q&A With Rising Basketball Star Kate Harping

By Anna La

INTRODUCTION: Marist guard Kate Harpring is doing more than filling up the box score. She has already surpassed 2,000 career points, committed to the University of North Carolina, and carved out her own legacy apart from her father Matt Harpring’s NBA career. Next up is Chapel Hill, where she will continue to chase championships, be a team player, grow on a bigger stage, and show fans the caring, grounded person behind those points and accomplishments.

TOP QUESTIONS:

1. Q:  What is something you wish people knew about you as a person away from basketball, what part of your personality or identity do people not really get to see on the court that your family and friends or teammates might get to see instead, like a different side of you?

   
   

   A: Yeah, I'd say, just like the friend and like the caring person I am, I genuinely like off the court sometimes people can see you like kind of like the intense side and like the competitive side, but off the court I feel like I still have like a warm heart for people; I care about others. I feel like I'm respectful in that way so yeah, that's what I would say. 

2. Q: You hit 1000 career points really early in your high school career and you're still adding to that total. When you think about milestones like that, what do they mean to you personally?

   
   

   A: Yeah, I mean, obviously they're really cool to have. I think I'm over, like, 2000 points now, going to hopefully 3000 maybe this year, which would be really cool, so I think, yeah, those things are obviously really cool, those accolades to have but honestly, like, the goals to win, the goals to win state championships, to win region championships, and if that means me scoring, then that means me scoring, but if that also means, like, me getting, like, lots of rebounds. assists or something like that, then that's what I'm going to want to do but obviously getting those types of awards is really cool and, yeah, a fun thing to see, kind of see how the work is paying off. 

3. Q: Once you committed, did you feel like you had more pressure, more relief or more excitement, or was it a mix? How did being “committed to UNC” kind of feel or change your day-to-day life, if it did at all? 

   
   

   A: Yeah, I think it kind of did like a lot of everything. I mean, like, when I first committed, I was really, like, excited. Obviously a lot of like pressure was like relieved and like just like the whole decision process, obviously was just took a lot of like thinking and trying to figure out, so once I made that decision, like a lot of just like stress was like just kind of gone, which is really nice because I wasn't worried about where I'm going to be. I was just worried about now, like, how am I going to be the best at the place at UNC so I mean, yeah, but I feel like pretty much like the stress aspect is gone now, which is like amazing but also, like, the mindset of I have to keep getting better to be, like, to be like, be good at where I am at UNC, to really be a good freshman and to play into really help our team win so just keep getting better through that.

4. Q. Growing up with your dad having played in the NBA, did you feel big expectations on you? 

   
   

   A. I don't think so, honestly. I mean, I played lots of sports growing up so I feel like that, along with kind of like I'm I'm like a girl I am on my own track, like basketball. The whole game is completely different now than it was even when, like, he was playing so I feel like there was really no, like, expectation towards me. I mean, obviously people were like oh I watched your dad like let's go watch her," or something like that but I feel like now like it's kind of like who I am and it's kind of about me in a way where it's like oh like she's going to UNC she's like one of the best guards of the country," stuff like that so it's kind of cool that I've made, like, my own name for myself and, yeah, my own story so I thought I think that's pretty cool in the way that I mean, there's definitely been some, but I kind of have never really thought that there was any expectations growing up so yeah.