A Big 12 Champion: Ashley Hamblin
by Kendra Foster, posted Dec. 11, 2008
“Before the game, knowing you are that close to a championship, that's a very big feeling. It was also very motivating,” said Ashley Hamblin, No. 20 of the MU girls’ soccer team, about the game for the Big 12 Championship.
Hamblin, a senior psychology major, was ecstatic after they won the history-making game. She had been part of the team for four years, and now her senior class left its mark for years to come. Soccer has been a huge part of Hamblin’s life since she was 5 years old.
“I played a lot of other sports as well, but soccer started taking up more of my time. I lost interest in the others and yep, soccer took over,” Hamblin said.
Her parents have always supported her passion for soccer. Hamblin said that even though they live four and a half hours away, at least one of her parents came to watch every one of her home games and most of her away games.
“They have been a huge source of support to me and always encouraging,” she said. “I owe them a lot.”
Her parents especially supported her during her sophomore year. While playing against Nebraska, Hamblin tore her ACL. They encouraged her to follow her passion and to keep on playing. Even though she missed 10 games, she was still the team’s highest scorer for the season. Hamblin said that she doesn’t think about what might have been; instead, she appreciates having two working knees again.
Hamblin sees her soccer career coming to a close, but there is much more to this blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl than soccer. She holds many fond memories of her times at MU with her teammates. Her favorite memory is from her freshman year with her teammate and roommate, Mallory Forst.
“Mal used my microwave to heat up a Pop-Tart for two minutes, and the fire department had to be called in,” Hamblin said. “She had misread the back, which said two seconds. We always joke and say that was the time Mal almost burned down Jones Hall.”
According to her friends, Hamblin brings laughter and fun times wherever she goes.
"I have a million stories about Ashley; my favorite would have to be (one) very eventful night,” Forst said. She then explained how they almost broke a DVD player, had to leave Hamblin’s “beloved phone” as collateral for a vacuum and fried Hamblin’s computer.
Senior teammate Katarina Tarr said that she had lots of fun with Hamblin while playing Rock Band.
“We made up a band called Quisky Sour,” Tarr said. “Ashley was our lead guitar player. We talked about ourselves like we were a real band. It was awesome.”
Meghan Pfeiffer, also a senior teammate, volunteered another funny dorm story. Hamblin had two fish named Helen and Batman. The fish would “go crazy when we would spray Mal’s ‘Air in a Can’ into their tank. It was so funny!”
As Hamblin recalled those memories, a wide smile spread across her face and she laughed.
“We laugh all the time,” Hamblin said. “We are a weird team, but we all seem to click, which makes it a lot of fun.”
After graduation this spring, Hamblin wants to be a police officer like her parents. Someday, she hopes to one day become an FBI agent.
As for soccer, “I am probably going to coach a little bit, and I'll definitely play for fun anytime!”
