One More Time: Erin Drebushenko
Hi everyone! My name is Erin Drebushenko and I am a rising senior at Ursinus College. I am a thrower on our women’s track and field team and am pursuing a BS in Health and Exercise Physiology with minors in Health & Society and Spanish. I’m also super passionate about health advocacy and have lots of experience working with digital marketing surrounding the healthcare field. I hope you enjoy my story!
In life, there are always a few constants that we can count on to provide some sense of normalcy no matter the environment or situation. Sports has always been one constant that has grounded me and allowed me to express myself in ways that I wouldn’t have been afforded otherwise. On what seemed like a normal day in October 2010, I was playing in a soccer game like any other weekend when my parents pulled me to the sidelines and said we had to go to the ER immediately. I had been feeling off for a while and that morning we went in for some lab work, which had revealed that I had type 1 diabetes. At the time, this felt like the end of everything for me; it was hard for me to understand what the future would hold regarding athletics, which was frustrating since soccer was my life and all my friends were there too.
Twelve years later, I’m proud to say that I never let diabetes define me in anything I do. I continued to play soccer and basketball, and in junior high picked up volleyball and track. Through many learning curves I have learned how to manage my health as a student athlete and have been able to use my experiences to advocate for others around the nation. This year will be my third year as a Campus Captain for an organization called The Hidden Opponent, of which I also established a chapter on my campus with the help of three friends and now serve as the President. Being a female athlete is a stressful role itself, and adding academics and diabetes to the mix causes added stress and anxiety at times, meaning I have had to learn how to put myself first to ensure that my health is a top priority.
One piece of advice I have for everyone reading this is actually a simple quote—“one more time.” Life can be difficult as a female athlete, but persistence is the key to resilience and success. I know how it feels when you’re at your lowest and you just want to give up and go back to the comfort of normalcy. But if the last few years has shown us anything, it’s that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel, no matter how long the tunnel is. If you fall once and can push yourself back up one more time, then you have the power to keep pushing one moment at a time until you reach that light.