Blakman Realizing His Dream at BC
In 2016, Gabriel Blakman started an adventure from his home in Ecuador to the United States of America for the purpose of earning a college degree while playing collegiate soccer.
Blakman said he believed that leaving his home country and coming to the States would provide him with the best opportunity to pursue both goals.
“It is a dream for everyone who likes to play a sport and wants to get an education as well,” he said.
Blakman is realizing that dream now as a student-athlete at Bluefield College. However, Bluefield is not the first college he attended on his adventure to the U.S. It’s actually his third. As a freshman, Blakman attended a junior college in Martinsville, VA, and for his sophomore year, he transferred to a university in Oklahoma. For his junior year, he said he finally found the place that he wanted to stay.
“I decided to stay here (at Bluefield College) because it was a very different environment than my first two colleges,” Blakman said. “I liked it here, and I thought that I was going to have some good experiences and very good memories from here.”
Blakman said the first college he attended discontinued its soccer program, so he had to transfer if he wanted to continue playing soccer. He said he transferred the second time because the people at the college weren´t nice, and it was not a good environment. How nice the people are at Bluefield College, he said, is his favorite part about the school.
“The people here (at Bluefield) were very nice and would welcome you,” said Blakman about the reasons he decided to stay at BC.
Blakman added that the worst thing about the transferring process was all the paperwork he had to complete, especially as an international student. He also said that transferring required quite a bit of money.
Now a senior, Blakman is enjoying success as a member of the Rams soccer team. He plays center back and was named captain of the squad this fall. When not on the soccer field or studying, he is a resident advisor and a work-study. In his free time, he likes to hang out with his roommates.