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Standout athlete named student assistant coach

Photo by: Roxie Gonzalez

 

After proving herself as a standout soccer player and track sprinter, senior Somer Helms came back to the field as the new student assistant soccer coach for the Lady Eagles.

With her eligibility exhausted to compete in soccer and track, Helms accepted the student assistant coach position to stay a part of the athletic department for her final year of school.

“I’m excited because I feel like it’s a way just to give back to the team,” Helms said. “They did so much for me since I went through it for four years, so I can kind of help support them whenever times get rough.”

Helms walked onto the soccer and track teams her first year at Oklahoma Christian University, and quickly settled into the busy and challenging life of a student-athlete.

“[Being a student-athlete] definitely makes schoolwork harder,” Helms said. “You have to manage your time. Traveling with the teams takes time away from school but it gives you that little break and you get to be with your friends and have fun. It’s definitely worth it.”

During her four years with the Lady Eagles soccer team, Helms was a starter in almost every game and competed in national competitions for track, including the National Christian Collegiate Athletic Association Outdoor Championship last May.

Helms is currently working on her Interdisciplinary Studies major as a pre-requisite for physical therapy and has applied to several physical therapy schools in Texas in hopes of continuing her education there.

Helms was born and raised in Yukon, Oklahoma. There she participated in soccer and track during her high school career, but focused on practicing soccer more.

“The track coach in high school asked me to come run a relay,” Helms said. “In high school, soccer and track are in the same season, so I never got to practice track, I just ran at the meets. I didn’t always make it to track meets, but the ones that I could, I did.”

During Helm’s senior year of high school, Randall Robison, the head coach for Oklahoma Christian’s women’s soccer team, went to Yukon to watch her in action.

“I went to see her play and instantly knew we wanted her here.” Robison said. “The fact that she could come here and run track as well as play soccer helped her develop as a soccer player. She became faster on the soccer field for us.”

After recruiting Helms to play for the Lady Eagles, Robison placed her on both offensive and defensive ends to work her talent all across the field, though she played defense more often.

“Somer’s pace is special,” Robison said. “The conference that we play in is very much a conference that leans toward the athlete more than the soccer player. A bigger, faster girl will get recruited over a good, talented soccer player every day of the week. Somer was the kid who could shut those kids down just because of her pace.”

Leadership, knowledge of the game of soccer and work ethic are key for an assistant coach, all characteristics Helms is strong in according to Robison. While he wasn’t searching for another assistant coach at the time, he agreed to have Helms join the coaching staff when she expressed interest.

Robison said that enthusiasm Helms always brought to the team was extremely valuable. Addie Ryan, also a student assistant coach, agreed with him.

“Her enthusiasm is awesome,” Ryan said. “She loves the game and she loves life, so having her around is really nice, and also having another person for the girls to look up to.”

Ryan and Helms are referred to as “GAs,” or graduate assistants. Both of them will graduate in December, so they took on the graduate assistant coach position for their final semester.

Some of the responsibilities of a GA include working in the office, organizing the soccer gear for practices, washing the uniforms, encouraging and advising the players during the practices and games and helping the goalkeepers warm up.

“You do whatever is needed from a day-to-day basis, it can change all the time.” Ryan said. “I’d like to think that we will do the best that we can, the fact that we have been in [the players] shoes exactly and we can say ‘it does get better, you will make it through,’ I hope that it’ll help.”

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