The biggest lessons hit hardest

The best thing that ever happened to Darwin Salties basketball star, Erin Bollmann, was hitting rock bottom.

The basketball champion – who hails from the USA - recently sat down with Her Territory to chat about leaving family behind in Missouri, why she believes the Territory should have its own full-time professional men's and women's basketball teams, and how some tough times in Darwin were a blessing in disguise.

Thanks for chatting to Her Territory Erin! Tell us, how did your love of basketball begin?

Both my parents got me into every sport from when I was young, and over time I realised I really loved basketball and volleyball. I remember lasting one day in soccer and thinking ‘I don’t enjoy this sport .. that was awful’.

When I got into high school I realised basketball was something I was good at, and in my last year I got offered a full scholarship into a junior college.

At this stage I still didn’t know it would be a passion. I just loved it. But I didn’t know that it would be my life. As a child I never anticipated how far that passion for basketball was going to get me .. and now here I am in Darwin, Australia playing basketball for the Darwin Salties!

How did you end up Darwin, all the way from Missouri, USA?

 I love to share this story as I am all about hard lessons.

I actually got kicked out of junior college.

My first year I was all American, played well.. and then in my second year I got injured so I was out for two months and struggled to deal with the injury as I’d never had one before. So I started acting out. Things like missing curfew .. and then my coach told me ‘we no longer want you on the team - you’re out’.

At that point I thought I was done with basketball. I thought it was over. I was also blaming everybody else for my problems.

A month after I got kicked out I had this moment where I went ‘oh this is my fault.’

So I made myself go and play basketball everyday .. got fit and thankfully got an offer from division one south east Missouri. It was a grind. At first I was a bit of a charity case .. I was starting half way through the season. But then I was getting 25 minutes on court which was great. When I finished college I thought I was done. But then my head coach was dating a guy who knew a guy who needed a player in a team in Melbourne. I ended playing there for three years. From there Covid hit so I went back home.

Because of the contacts I had made in Melbourne, it was around this time the Darwin Salties called me up and said hey we are looking for an American import, do you want to come to Darwin?

I didn’t know anything about Darwin other than it was hot, but I wanted to play so badly that I said yes. All of these experiences and challenges connected in the end .. leading me to Darwin.

Erin’s passion is making sure young girls know how impactful they can be in life

You mentioned you are all about ‘hard lessons’ .. can you expand a little on a hard lesson you learnt more recently?

So I tore a ligament in my wrist and had an 8 month recovery ahead of me.

It brought me back to that time when I was struggling in Missouri .. and that was a only two month recovery period. This was going to be 8 months.

I had no family out here, the Salties season ended so all the people I knew went home, I didn’t really have friends, I had broken up with my partner at the time…

I remember sitting at home and being by myself for the first time ever. I wasn’t in a good place.

And I remember thinking this was one of the best things to ever happen to me.

Why was that?

I was coasting.

Sometimes in life you think you are doing really good and everything’s great, but in all honesty, you’re not trying as hard as you should be. I was succeeding in basketball but I could have been doing more.

I think people wish away the tough times. Everyone wants to sit in this mindset that everything is positive, everything is great. The biggest lessons are when you get hit the hardest.

I wasn’t trying hard enough for basketball, for my relationships, for my future. And being able to sit with myself and learn those things .. well I never would have been able to do that if I wasn’t injured and sitting there alone. I would have still been playing basketball.

(The injury) made me realise that I wasn’t making a big enough impact. I was sitting here and sad instead of going out there and being a better person and passing on what I know to youth. If it wasn’t for the injury and the breakup .. I wouldn’t have been able to get to that point.

I remember hearing a podcast that said – when you get hit stay there for a second. Because when you get hit sometimes you pop right back up .. then you are going to do the same mistake over and over.

So I stayed down .. sat with myself for a lot .. and then tried to rebuild .. reset myself. I found out a lot about myself and what I wanted to do with my future at that time.

That’s why when bad things happen .. sometimes it’s the best thing that can happen to you.

Erin tore a ligament in her wrist last year, which saw her out of action of 8 months.

 That is so inspiring Erin. What have you been doing since then with the lessons you learnt?

I used to just play basketball to play and compete … but I changed my love for the game so much to where this is now something I want to pass on to young people - girls especially. I train young girls on the side and to see them thrive and to have fun with it and work hard is the reason I do this.

I remember the first time a young girl walked up to me and said: ‘when I grow up, I want to be just like you’ and my heart sung. Because that’s all I’m doing this for. What’s the reason for doing this if I can’t pass this on?

Through my brand Be Hoops I run camps for up to 40 girls, as well as mental training program working with young girls to get them to believe in themselves. I believe basketball is 80% mental and 20% physical, and I want to pass on the mental side that you can use beyond basketball.

If girls at the age of 12 or 13 start to believe in themselves, then when they turn 14 or 15 they are going to be dominating on the floor.

One of the biggest struggles is people don’t believe in themselves anymore.

Do you think Darwin should have an National Basketball League (NBL) and Womens National Basketball League (WNBL) team one day?

Absolutely.

For me, I am an American and I had heard nothing about Indigenous community and culture. Coming to Darwin and being part of NBL1 and learning about this amazing culture up here reinforced to me that basketball breeds something at a very young age.

I know that some Indigenous kids are going to be able to use basketball as a pathway to make a better life for themselves. I have always thought that about basketball. It kept me out of trouble – it kept a lot of us out of trouble as kids.

It gives kids something to look forward to. So if you work really hard at basketball, even at a young age, you could potentially play for a NBL or WNBL team. It may not be a national team but you can work your way up to that.

When you have nowhere to go or nothing to look forward to it’s much harder.

Having an NBL team up here is going to impact and is going to make waves. Darwin is a wonderful city with wonderful people, so to get more people and more activities up here it will be really beneficial for the area.

With the push to get an NBL team up here .. well usually that creates a WNBL team too which would be great.

Finally, Erin, tell us a little bit about life in Darwin for you.

Darwin has been more than I ever dreamed it would be. I love Darwin! In all honesty it reminds me of home - Missouri. I lived in a small town growing up, and I adore the community spirit of Darwin.

I actually have my dad and grandma up at the moment so I want to show them as much of the Top End as I can. We will go to Litchfield and Florence Falls and do the tourist things of course.

But I also want to take them to some of the Indigenous communities - I want them to see as much as they can a different culture - not just life in Darwin.