After playing hockey for fourteen years, Andie Evers (‘22) has decided to pursue her dream of playing college hockey. Ever since she was just three years old and watching her dad watch hockey on TV, Evers has wanted to become a hockey player and with the help of her friends and family, that childhood dream has become a reality.

“Hockey [has] made me feel more confident,” Evers said. “It’s really physical, so it [keeps] my body in better shape, which makes me feel better about myself, but it [has also] made me stronger.”

Evers plays hockey out of Grand Rapids as a defender. This means that Ever has about an hour and 45 minutes drive to get to practice, and she has roughly three scheduled events a week plus games on the weekend.

“Monday, Wednesday, and/or Saturday Sunday; I’m only required to go to one practice a week,” Evers said. “I’ll go Monday or Wednesday just depending on the week, and then usually we have tournaments or games over the weekend. I’ll go over the weekend too, or if we travel up north or the Chicago area, or even Farmington Hills, which is closer than Grand Rapids.”

In her journey as an athlete, Evers has not only played high school hockey but has also played high school softball. This led to Evers having to make a very tough decision on what to continue playing during her college career.

“I’ve always liked both of them,” Evers said. “I found [that] I enjoyed playing hockey, and I wanted to continue it more than I did softball, but I would [still] say it was a pretty tough decision just because I love both [sports].”

Unlike choosing between two of her favorite sports, it was very easy for Evers to make the decision about where she wanted to play. Although there were some other colleges, Evers found that Dearborn was her favorite option.

“I was also looking at Concordia just because they showed me high interest, and I never really looked at a lot of schools, but Dearborn always just stood out to me,” Evers said. “Easy pick. It’s a good school and close to town, only 45 minutes away.”

Evers has had a lot of support from all her friends, her coaches (Coach Elbers and Coach Wainwright), and most importantly, her mom. Evers’ mother has been her biggest supporter and has helped Evers pursue her dreams ever since she was little.

“My mom [helped] pick out Dearborn for me,” Evers said. “She was one who introduced me and said how good of a school it was, and it’s a University of Michigan degree. I won’t be going to the University of Michigan, but I’m still getting the same degree and like its perks.”

When it came down to getting colleges and their recruiters to notice her, Evers had to be incredibly persistent. However, with the help of her coaches, she was able to nail down a method of sorts.

“Obviously, email the coaches–show that you care,” Evers said. “They don’t email you back? Email them again, be annoying. If you go to their website, they usually have a recruiter form that you can fill out.”

No matter where Evers is, she will always work hard to accomplish her goals in life and pursue her passions; keeping in mind where she stands in terms of skill and academics moving forward in her college career.

“If you’d rather play or sit on the bench so if you want to play at a big [division one] school, it’s very hard to get on the field or ice or get playing time,” Evers said. “If you go to a smaller, even D3 and AI, and you get a starting position, you’d probably be happier, but you have to find your fit and know what you want to do academically…And if you’re playing, don’t look in the stands to see if there are college recruiters there–that’ll make you mess up. Just be you.”