Nolan Blandin '20 Recruiting Profile

Throughout my life I’ve never really had support from either of my parents academically or emotionally. One way I found to cope and really clear my mind and focus was when I was playing soccer.  

Those four boundary lines were like a sanctuary, when I stepped inside of them, somehow the other “stuff” could be forgotten. It’s always been there as an outlet for me to vent my frustrations and just spend my time on something I love. When my teammates score or win a 1v1, it gets my blood pumping and makes me want to work even harder. 

Working with my friends, coaches and teachers afforded me the opportunity to learn in that structured environment— what I was missing at home. I enjoyed being a part of something that I could notice that I was improving the more effort and focus I put into it. 

Throughout my high school career, my parents didn’t really force me to do much more than just pass. That was all that they wanted from me and probably would have accepted if I didn’t even do that. However, something inside told me that wasn’t acceptable. 

I’ve always played sports and I found it was a struggle to keep my grades up and at times that’s all that I tried to do. Unfortunately, it’s now that I am able to look back and realize that this impacted my overall grades in a negative way. I know I could’ve done better but it's like a switch has been turned on and I now understand my errors and strongly desire the opportunity to fix them. 

Since I started playing soccer, I instantly fell in love with the sport. That love and drive for the game assisted me greatly in breaking through and overcoming the obstacles that stood in my path. It has shaped me into the person I am today. I am someone who wants to succeed by continuing to grow and develop physically, mentally, and socially 

I have such an incredible feeling that these goals are attainable for me. I’ve always been a person who likes to see others succeed and realize that surrounding myself with other driven individuals is the support I need to better myself. 

I don’t want to settle, I want to be the person that stands out be it on the field or in the classroom.