Playing on a different team but with the same spirit

Jocelyn (Blankenship) Brown is a third-year PharmD candidate at the Shenandoah University Bernard J. Dunn School of Pharmacy.

It may sound surprising, but professional athletics mirror the world of pharmacy more than you might think. As proof, here’s the story of how I went from a midfielder on the soccer pitch to president of my APhA–ASP chapter.

A soccer player at heart

For a long time, soccer was a large part of my identity. I grew up playing club soccer, and from there I went on to earn a full ride scholarship to play Division I collegiate soccer for Loyola Marymount University. While there, I earned a bachelor's degree in biology and helped lead my team to the “Sweet 16” in the National Collegiate Athletic Association soccer tournament. I knew I wanted to pursue further education after my degree, but I also knew I wanted to play professional soccer so I took the soccer route first.

I played professionally for two years on the Boston Breakers and Orlando Pride teams, which are both in the U.S. National Women's Soccer League. After two seasons in the United States, I decided to go overseas and play for a professional soccer club called Pitea IF in Sweden’s top league (which is known as Damallsvenskan).

Studying for my future role

While living in Sweden, I started studying for the Pharmacy College Admission Test (PCAT). The life of a professional athlete is different than many careers because you can only practice for so long. I would be at the field for 3 to 4 hours a day, but then would have the remainder of my day to use as I would like. I decided with that free time I would start going to a coffee shop to study. My background noise was full of locals speaking Swedish, a language I couldn’t understand in the beginning, so it left me free from distractions.

Halfway through the season, we got a 2-week summer break and I returned home to the states. During this break, I took the PCAT and toured Shenandoah University’s pharmacy program. I was later offered the opportunity to do a Zoom interview while abroad, and a few weeks later received the letter that said I had been accepted to pharmacy school. I also finished out the season in style because we ended up winning the league, which had never been done in Pitea IF’s history!

Combining passions

You could say I was at the peak of my career, so the decision to stop playing soccer at such a time was difficult. However, I ultimately decided not to renew my contract and I returned home. I knew that a career in pharmacy was what I wanted to do next, and I was excited to start a new challenge.

However, I do feel like playing soccer has helped me a lot in pharmacy school. Driven by my experience as a soccer player, I couldn't resist an opportunity to lead, create a new team, and get involved in the community as our chapter president. One of my favorite parts of playing professionally was all the community service we participated in and the impact we had on the youth. This is also one of my favorite things about pharmacy and why I became so active within APhA–ASP: because of the huge reach we have in our community.

While my work in the community has shifted from holding soccer clinics to providing immunizations and education, service still remains my favorite part of what I do, and I am grateful to be in a field where those passions have combined.