I’d like to take my first entry to introduce myself and the events leading up to my career at Blackburn College. My name is Erika Boeckmann and I was born and raised in the small town of New Baden Ill. I come from a family of three kids, and was lucky enough to grow up living out of town and in the country. I grew up playing all kinds of sports, sometimes in little leagues and others with friends, cousins, and mostly my mom and older brother. When younger my main focus was softball, volleyball, and basketball, mostly because I was very tall for my age. I would play hockey with my brother and cousins, and being the only girl and youngest, I always ended up playing goalie (without pads of course, and sometimes I would get to use an old baseball glove).
In grade school I started playing soccer at recess, and some of my classmates and especially my friend, Stormy Hatt, encouraged me to play in the town league soccer. That Fall I decided to give soccer a try instead of playing basketball. From the start it was discovered my goalie skills outweighed my field skills, and I played each about half and half. I stuck with soccer and played it the next few years and decided to play soccer instead of softball in high school. I also played two years of volleyball and ran two years of cross country at Wesclin. My career at Wesclin High School included starting every varsity game played, still I never pictured myself playing soccer in college.
It wasn’t until the summer before my senior year when I was looking for schools to apply to when I came across Blackburn College’s brochure in the mail one day. I liked the style of the college and was intrigued about the thought of playing soccer. The next spring I earned the Presidential Scholarship to Blackburn College and was sold on the science department. I committed to attend and agreed with the women’s soccer coach that I would play soccer.
Coming in as a freshman I expected to do a lot of sitting the bench (a rest didn’t seem too bad at that point) because the team had a senior goalkeeper. In our first game my coach decided he wanted to get me in for at least a little bit, and he put me in with about 5 minutes left in the first half, he laughed at me when I said I’d play anywhere he put me. He put me in at forward, on the account that I couldn’t really mess up up there. When I came off the field he chuckled at me and said I did something awful foolish...'I did good, and I’d play out there again.' I played much of the second half as wing, and played the rest of the season as a stopper. I absolutely loved the new experience, but come sophomore year I was back in goal and with the help of some experienced goalie trainers, I was doing much more than I ever imagined in high school. My soccer career at Blackburn has been a turbulent one, but as my senior year is right in front of me I am still excited to go and compete and give my best athletic performance.
Blackburn College is a very unique place. Most schools in the conference know about Blackburn’s work program, but over the next few weeks hopefully more people will get an in depth look at how it works and how it is a part of each student’s life here. This year I moved off campus into an apartment with my friend, classmate, teammate, and fellow captain Sara Hermanson. My classes this semester are very intense. I have 17 hours, Microbiology, Ecology, Analytical Chemistry, Biochemistry and Senior Seminar. Right now it feels like more than I can handle, but I’ve found that when you forget the feelings of being overwhelmed and take one thing at a time, it usually works out ok.
Erika Boeckmann
(about Erika)
In grade school I started playing soccer at recess, and some of my classmates and especially my friend, Stormy Hatt, encouraged me to play in the town league soccer. That Fall I decided to give soccer a try instead of playing basketball. From the start it was discovered my goalie skills outweighed my field skills, and I played each about half and half. I stuck with soccer and played it the next few years and decided to play soccer instead of softball in high school. I also played two years of volleyball and ran two years of cross country at Wesclin. My career at Wesclin High School included starting every varsity game played, still I never pictured myself playing soccer in college.
It wasn’t until the summer before my senior year when I was looking for schools to apply to when I came across Blackburn College’s brochure in the mail one day. I liked the style of the college and was intrigued about the thought of playing soccer. The next spring I earned the Presidential Scholarship to Blackburn College and was sold on the science department. I committed to attend and agreed with the women’s soccer coach that I would play soccer.
Coming in as a freshman I expected to do a lot of sitting the bench (a rest didn’t seem too bad at that point) because the team had a senior goalkeeper. In our first game my coach decided he wanted to get me in for at least a little bit, and he put me in with about 5 minutes left in the first half, he laughed at me when I said I’d play anywhere he put me. He put me in at forward, on the account that I couldn’t really mess up up there. When I came off the field he chuckled at me and said I did something awful foolish...'I did good, and I’d play out there again.' I played much of the second half as wing, and played the rest of the season as a stopper. I absolutely loved the new experience, but come sophomore year I was back in goal and with the help of some experienced goalie trainers, I was doing much more than I ever imagined in high school. My soccer career at Blackburn has been a turbulent one, but as my senior year is right in front of me I am still excited to go and compete and give my best athletic performance.
Blackburn College is a very unique place. Most schools in the conference know about Blackburn’s work program, but over the next few weeks hopefully more people will get an in depth look at how it works and how it is a part of each student’s life here. This year I moved off campus into an apartment with my friend, classmate, teammate, and fellow captain Sara Hermanson. My classes this semester are very intense. I have 17 hours, Microbiology, Ecology, Analytical Chemistry, Biochemistry and Senior Seminar. Right now it feels like more than I can handle, but I’ve found that when you forget the feelings of being overwhelmed and take one thing at a time, it usually works out ok.
Erika Boeckmann
(about Erika)
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