Last month, I had the 15th episode of my podcast “Work Hard, Play Harder” with Southwest Minnesota State University volleyball Mustangs Rachel Fink, Meg Schmidt, and Alisa Bengen. This week, I am dropping episode 16 with Marshall High School and Augustana University alum, Claire Boersma. Boersma is now a teacher of Eighth-grade English at Edison Middle School in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Also, she is a former cross-country athlete who ran in high school and in college. Boersma talked about life after graduation, and the differences between being a runner on a team and being a head coach now for the Junior high cross country team. This is one of the more interesting, fun, lighthearted podcasts that I have done and it is because of the wonderful guests I had on.

The podcast is called “Work Hard, Play Harder” because that’s how I like to live my life. It is about finding out your why and getting to know you beyond the occupation. The podcast is informative about what you do but also asks fun questions as well. Building connections and being able to be relatable is an important aspect of my podcast as well.

In this podcast episode, we get into some fun questions during the interview, talking about some fun memories Boerdsma had of running cross country with the team in meets. Also being from Marshall, why she chose Augustana University? Boersma spoke on Marie Sample, former coach, who coaches the Marshall High School girls cross country team and she also talked about the challenges of coaching and finding that balance.

“I would say the most challenging has been to inspire the love of running into my players without being too intense but at the same time getting them to care about the sport,” Boersma said “I think it is more important because they’re in junior high school to get the kids excited about running as opposed to wanting the fastest times now. I think building a foundation and growing excitement towards the sport is more important than improvement. The improvement is wonderful to see for the kids through their hard work. So that is the challenge to try to find that balance of encouragement and pushing them.”

Boersma added that coaching on another staff has really helped prepare her to be a head coach for the kids. Boersma also added that more of a challenge comes from teaching in the classroom and being able to reach/connect with all of her students is something she is continuing to work on. This episode will show that with passion, hard work, and determination that anything is possible to achieve but to achieve it, it takes a great deal of understanding and patience along the journey. Coaching and teaching are great attributes to have and Boersma seems to enjoy allocating knowledge to the youth in her two passions, education and running

https://vimeo.com/758842310By SteB