Your future, our focus
Northwest Volleyball Players Build Friendships with Youths
Nicci Bloomer held out her hand, and Mattie Larsen used it as a plate for her bread as she spread mayonnaise for a sandwich.
True friendship at its best.
For the past four years, unique bonds like Bloomer and Larsen’s have grown through Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northwest Wyoming and the Northwest College volleyball program. And are proof the partnership is working.
Bloomer, a 20-year-old sophomore and NWC volleyball player, is one of 10 Lady Trappers participating in the BBBS Lunch Buddies program this season. Larsen, a sixth-grader at Powell Middle School, has been Bloomer’s “little” for just over a year. The program generally pairs NWC volleyball players with students from Westside Elementary School, but after Larsen moved into sixth grade, Bloomer stayed by her side by request. And Big Brothers Big Sisters couldn’t say no to friendship.
“We’ve built such a bond, I didn’t want to see her go,” Larsen said. “We have so much fun together ... we have a ton in common. Mattie is so funny, super-athletic and into sports ... she reminds me of me when I was a kid.”
If you didn’t know any better, Bloomer and Larsen look like actual sisters. But what they lack in DNA they make up for in connection.
“She’s a volleyball player, and I am too. And she’s just so awesome for coming to see me,” Larsen said. “She takes time out of her own schedule to come have lunch with me. That’s pretty cool.”
Bloomer’s willingness to make time for Larsen is a selfless trait that NWC coach Shaun Pohlman said he looks for when recruiting his players. While participation in the BBBS program is a requirement for the Trapper women, Pohlman said it really isn’t, as his players are eager to work with Powell youths.
“I recruit players that look beyond their own needs. My players love being a part of the program with Big Brothers Big Sisters ... they ask about it every year,” Pohlman said. “They want to give back to the Powell community, they want to make an impact.
“And it’s great that these girls don’t have to be begged or persuaded to give back.”
Abbey Scott, chief program officer of BBBS of Northwest Wyoming, said giving Trapper volleyball players “a buy-in to the Powell community” was the inspiration for the birth of the partnership four years ago.
“It allows some of the stars, or role models, of Northwest College to give some of our kids here at Big Brothers Big Sisters stability and someone to look up to,” Scott said. “It has been a really positive experience for everyone involved.”
NWC sophomore Kristen Bailey, who joined the same boat this season as Bloomer and Larsen with her sixth-grade “little,” Sierra Ellis, said that the NWC BBBS program gives Trapper volleyball players a chance to meet the community.
“It’s good that we’re getting out there, and it’s even better that we get to interact with Powell’s kids,” Bailey said. “Powell has been so welcoming, and it’s a great place to be. And it feels great to know that maybe we’ll have an impact on the people of Powell’s future.”
As a coach, Pohlman has been working with young adults for several years. He noted that watching his players work with area kids provides a rewarding outlook on life.
“To see the kids that I’m trying to make an impact on turn around and make an impact on a younger group of kids is so awesome,” he said. “And to know that there is still a connection, a communication between humans ... it’s real time, it’s real life ... that’s special.”
After Larsen finished making her sandwich during her lunch time with Bloomer at the middle school on Tuesday, she hugged her “big” and took off for recess. Twenty minutes is all it took for the friendship to grow a little more.
“It doesn’t take long to make a difference with the kids,” Bloomer said. “It’s easy to make a connection with them almost immediately.
“And they’re always as happy to see us as we are to see them.