Emily Friedman joined the Columbia softball staff as an assistant coach beginning in the 2014-15 season.
Friedman spent five seasons playing professional softball, competing for the Philadelphia Force from 2006-09, and the Chicago Bandits in 2010. Friedman was selected to the NPF All-Star team in 2008 and 2010 and is the only player in the history of the league to receive All-Star selections as both an infielder and outfielder.
Friedman served as the assistant softball coach at Fordham University from 2008-2011. During her tenure, the Rams had three of the most successful seasons in program history. Friedman helped Fordham reach many milestones and earn many unprecedented accolades. These include the program’s first appearance in the NCAA Regionals, the first Atlantic-10 Championship, the inagural first team All-American, back-to-back Atlantic-10 Player of the Year selections, multiple All-Conference and All-Region selections, and Mid-Atlantic Regional Coaching Staff of the Year. Furthermore, the Rams broke every single offensive record in program history.
Friedman played collegiately at the University of Wisconsin from 2002-04, before finishing her career at the University of Cal-Berkeley from 2004-06. As a Golden Bear, Friedman helped the team advance to the Women’s College World Series in 2005, as Cal won the Pac-10 title and achieved a #1 ranking during the season. In 2006, Friedman received honorable mention All-Pac-10 honors, and earned third team Academic All-American.
Since 2012, Friedman has been competing Nationally and Internationally in CrossFIt and is ranked as one of the top CrossFit athletes worldwide. In 2013 she placed 25th overall in the Reebok CrossFit Games, among some of the fittest athletes in the world. During this time Friedman opened 2 CrossFit gyms where she coached CrossFit, Olympic Lifting, and was a personal trainer.
