My Experience at MSUB!

Posted by Abby Bennett (04-07), MSUB Alum

Growing up in a small town like Livingston, Montana, I never would have imagined that I would get to stand next to amazing athletes like Manny Ramirez, Landon Donavon and David Beckham – not to mention work for the same teams as them. As unbelievable as it sounds, none of what I am doing today would have been possible if I didn’t play soccer at Montana State University Billings.

I first became familiar with the MSUB Women’s soccer program, when I tried out for the Montana Olympic Development Program. Don was coaching my age group, and I am so thankful that he did! I continued to play for him with the ODP team and started becoming more interested in the MSUB soccer program. I looked at several different schools, but wound up at MSUB for two reasons. First, Don is an amazing coach! I learned so much from him and his coaching staff throughout my four years with the program and being that I was only 17 during my freshman year, I really wanted to go to a school where I trusted the coaching staff and knew that they would help me grow as a person, student and athlete. Secondly, just like Sara, I absolutely loved the girls on the team. MSUB does a fantastic job of recruiting not only good students and athletes, but also great people (for the most part, JK). I made such good friends with all the girls on my team and the men’s soccer team. Not to mention the four girls in my class who actually survived all four years (Janica, Britt and Amy) are awesome! We had our ups and downs throughout our time at MSUB, but I am really proud of the people we all became! It is amazing to see how much we have all grown up since that first preseason in the dorms.

Speaking of preseason! Anyone who knows me knows that I hate running. I don’t mind running after a ball, or a girl for that matter, but running in the tennis bubble at 6:00 am is not my idea of a good time. But what made it fun, was the teamwork and the girls on your team who are cheering you on. About a month ago, I came to play in the Rocky Indoor Tournament with some other alumni. Josh and I stayed with some friends from the soccer program, and as we were driving down airport hill I saw the tennis bubble. It has been at least 3 years since I have stepped foot in that place, but I still got chills when I saw it! I don’t think they were bad chills though, I felt chills because besides the soccer field, the bubble was one of the places where we all bonded. While everyone else on campus was warm and sleeping in their dorms, we were running, sprinting, jumping, sweating, crying and cheering.

Basically, everyone was trying to make themselves better, just like Don is always trying to make the program better. I enjoyed playing soccer for MSUB so much that I realized I didn’t want to be done with sports when my playing career ended. So I decided to move to California to pursue a Masters degree in Sport Management. Coincidentally, my boyfriend Josh, who played on the Men’s Soccer team, also lives in California!  I had lived in Montana my whole life, so moving to California was scary and the scariest part was that for the first time in four years, I knew there wouldn’t be any friends from my soccer team in my classes. I learned to work hard while being a student-athlete at MSUB, and that has definitely served me well in graduate school and in my career.

For the past year, I have been working as an Account Executive for the Los Angeles Dodgers in their ticketing department. Last summer Don, Ally and Jordan came to California for a soccer tournament and they actually got to see me working at the Stadium while they watched a Dodger game. During that time I was also interning for the Los Angeles Galaxy and just last week they offered me an Account Executive position in their corporate partnerships department! It is awesome being part of a team still, and it is so fun working in an environment with professional athletes. I am so excited for the upcoming Galaxy season and thankful for all the opportunities that came from playing soccer for MSUB. Good luck to all the current MSUB players next season!