Erin Herbert is a 19-year-old sophomore communication studies major. Her goal is to become a sports broadcaster. Her hobbies include drawing, painting and playing video games.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been obsessed with the world of sports. Whether it’s baseball, hockey, football or golf, nothing makes me happier than sitting down to watch that night’s game. As a kid, there was nothing better than spending quality time with my dad learning the ins and outs of every sport.
Sports have always been a part of my life, from earning my black belt in tae kwon do as kid, to being a competitive swimmer and water polo player in high school. Although I wasn’t the biggest fan of practice — like most kids — I loved the rush of adrenaline during tournaments and races; being an athlete was the best part of my life. But as I grew up, I figured out that playing sports wasn’t the only thing I loved. I quickly found out that I loved watching sports. Analyzing players, breaking down strategies, and making playoff predictions came easily to me, and I spent a majority of my free time reading sports magazines and blogs, learning to assess statics and understanding salary caps.
During high school, I watched any game I could find on TV. It didn’t matter if it was football or curling. I was completely immersed. But, the more Sports Center and ESPN I watched, the more I realized that there was one sport in particular that I was becoming completely obsessed with: ice hockey. Once I started watching games on a regular basis, I couldn’t stop. It seems like I memorized every National Hockey League team’s roster and nightly lineup overnight. Within a few months, my interest grew from just the NHL to college, international and women’s hockey. If something involved hockey, I instantly fell in love with it.
In my circle of friends, I quickly became the go-to girl for anything hockey related. My friends would listen to me endlessly explain the different types of offense, defense and goaltending styles. People from around the world I had met online through various sports forums would even come to me to look over their fantasy hockey rosters and playoff brackets to ensure that they had the best team or predictions. It was incredible to see that other fans and even players valued my opinion and trusted me to give them reliable information.
The more fans I talked to, the more confident I became in myself and my understanding of the elements of hockey. Most hockey fans rely on blogs for firsthand accounts of games and practices, but I realized that most of the blogs I came across were incredibly technical and hard for the average fan to understand. So during my senior year of high school, I decided to create my own blog. Because my blog came from humble beginnings, I decided to name my blog On the Frozen Pond, referring to how most hockey players start their passion for hockey by playing on ponds and backyard rinks during the winter.
My blog mainly focused on news around the NHL and player statistics; I wasn’t ready to put all of my opinions out for the world to read. To my surprise, On the Frozen Pond was an immediate hit; it had received more than 500 views within its first week online. But its success was short lived. A few months after its launch, I tried to log on to post a new article and received an error message that read, “This page is no longer available.” My blog had been hacked and deleted. I was heartbroken. All of the time and effort I had put into my blog was gone with the click of a mouse.
During my freshman year of college, after I had decided to study communications and pursue a career in sports broadcasting, I decided it was time to try again and start fresh with a new hockey blog. With a new name, and better security measures, I started Blueline Beauties. In hockey, “blueline” refers to a marking on the ice to signify defensive and offensive zones, and being called a “beauty” is a term of endearment for a respectable or talented player. On my new blog, I decided to throw caution to the wind and post about whatever I wanted including news, predictions, player’s social media accounts and brutally honest opinion pieces. Many of my old readers found their way to my new blog, and once again, it was a hit. I was able to begin preparing myself for my desired career while having the time of my life writing about the sport I loved.
This summer, my work for Blueline Beauties earned me the opportunity of a lifetime. The owner of an already established and well-known hockey blog, Hockey World Blog, contacted me and offered me a position as a contributing writer. Matt, the owner, and three of his friends had started Hockey World Blog in 2009 and built it up from nothing, creating a reliable outlet for hockey news from around the world. It has been incredible to be able to be a part of what they had created and to learn from all of the experience they have.
Stepping out of my comfort zone and sharing my opinions and knowledge with other fans who share my passion has been one of the best decisions of my life. I’ve made so many friends, gained so much experience and learned to move on through my failures. Through my experience as a blogger, I’ve learned that if you love what you’re doing you can never go wrong, and that sometimes you just have to lace up your skates and take a shot; you never know what could happen.
