My name is Erin Olson and I'm from Mitchell, South Dakota, home to the world's only Corn Palace. I have a fantastic family with incredibly supportive parents, and older sister who is married with 3 kids and a younger brother who is married with 2 kids. I love being the aunt to Ellie, Max, Kera, Lexi, and Macie.
I became a Christian at a young age, but I spent until college living as if grace didn't exist. I wanted to be good enough and did everything to earn the approval of others including God. I was a do and don't Christian. I had a list of things I did (be a good student, a good athlete, a good person, etc.) and a list of things I didn't do (swear, drink, etc.).
I arrived to my first year of college and quickly figured out I was no longer the best athlete or the best student and my foundation was rocked a bit. I also met several people who challenged me as to whether I believed that Jesus ahd died for my sins because that is what my parents believed or whether it was what I really belived. It was a pivotal moment in my life and at the end of the year I left school as I realized I couldn't remain where I was and walk with God. It is one of the few times being a college drop-out can be productive.
I returned home and worked at McDonalds and coaching before deciding to transfer to the University of Minnesota to play basketball and finish a degree. I also met some amazing people who transformed my life by helping me see how I could worship God through sports and helped me understand God's grace in a real way.
I graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in Kinesiology and headed overseas to work with a Christian sports organization called Athletes in Action in Prague, Czech Republic. I spent two years playing professional basketball and doing ministry on a sports university campus.
At the end of the 2 years, I returned to the U.S. to be a graduate assistant coach at a small division 1 school in Missouri where I got a master's in Education Adminstration. I spent a semester at Southern Illinois University before returning overseas in February of 2006 as long-term staff with Athletes in Action.
I played on and then coached for Sparta Praha while doing ministry in the Czech Republic until 2009 when I returned to the U.S. to get my teaching certificate. I was a graduate assistant coach at Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell for a year and this year was the freshmen girls basketball coach for Mitchell High School. I completed my degree in December and am now a long-term substitute teaching 7th and 8th grade special education math at the Mitchell Middle school.
