On August 17, 97.9 The Hill’s Aaron Keck chatted with UNC field hockey star Erin Matson, about her new “Notes from the Field” column sponsored by Chapel Hill Tire on Chapelboro.com. “Notes from the Field” is about Matson’s life in field hockey and day-to-day adventures. This transcript has been edited for clarity. You can listen to the full interview here.
Read Erin’s latest column here.
Aaron Keck: Erin Matson joins us here in the studio to chat about her new column “Notes from the Field.” How are you?
Erin Matson: Hi Aaron, it’s nice to be here. Thank you for having me. The column has been awesome so far, and I’m looking forward to sharing it with more people.
Keck: I love reading it. Before we start talking about the column, practice for the season just got underway last week. How’s that going?
Matson: We started last week. The preseason is really short this year, so it is crunch time. We have a lot of “two-a-days.” Run tests went well. That was done and dusted on the first day. We had our first scrimmage last Sunday also. It is really getting right into the swing of things. We are hitting the ground running and games are coming soon. It’s exciting.
Keck: You are back for a fifth year after having already won every conceivable team and individual honor there is in college. What motivated you to come back?
Matson: Who’s going to turn down another year in Chapel Hill? The silver lining of COVID was that we got another year. When it came out, Coach [Karen] Shelton was like, “I wanna sit down and talk to you about the possibility of coming back.” I said “Coach, what do you mean? Of course, I’m coming back.
It has been really cool for all the athletes around campus to say, “I’m coming back for a fifth year” because three years ago this wasn’t even an option. I would be gone if these were normal days. After these crazy years, I guess this is something really good that came out of it.
Keck: Obviously you have the season coming up right around the corner, and you have classes starting this week so thanks for taking the eight minutes you have free in your schedule for coming by.
Matson: Definitely. This year, the talk of school starting is that we are starting on a Monday. It is dreadful because normally we start on a Thursday, and you have two days to get back into it. This year we are coming in strong with a full week of classes. Actually, I’m not even in a class truly. I am doing an internship. Another nice thing about the fifth year is that I was able to get my credits in so that I could just do something a little bit more fun and “real-world.”
Keck: What are you doing?
Matson: I am working with Personify. We worked together with NIL this past year in Raleigh and they are awesome. It’s a great place to work with awesome people. I am so lucky that I will be going to the office. I was like, “Mom, can I buy a couple of business outfits?” She said of course. That is the fun stuff right now, putting together my blazers and my work shoes and everything. I’m looking forward to it.
Keck: So, tell us about the column and how it originated out of your blog.
Matson: At some point in the past year, I started my personal blog, Simply Erin. I created the website. It was very informal, but I have had a lot of experiences and learned from a lot of people. I have played field hockey for a really long time and traveled and everything. I figured why not share what I love doing and what I have learned with everybody. I also really enjoy writing, so it worked out well. Then, you guys at Chapelboro were like, “Hey, what if we could do something a little bit more special?”
I am super grateful you guys came around and it has been a lot of fun so far covering field hockey stuff. In particular, stuff about the team, my teammates, being a student-athlete, life in Chapel Hill, everything. It’s nice because we are athletes and we play sports, but everything’s relatable to life. It goes beyond just the field, but a lot of it does stem from the field.
Keck: Do you have a favorite piece that you have written?
Matson: That’s a hard question. I don’t think so. I wrote a couple about my family, separate ones about how they have impacted me and how much they mean to me because we are very close. Those mean a lot to me. I like the one on confidence. It’s about waking up in the morning and attacking the day. The one last week was about preparation, especially with the preseason coming up. Go into things prepared and do your work. With my personal one, I just wrote randomly. I had ideas, but they were out of the blue, whereas this one is related to something that happened this week or that week.
Keck: I was going to ask if you have upcoming topics in mind, but it must be about whatever the week is.
Matson: Exactly. Something will happen in practice and I will realize that ties to a broader theme. It has been really fun. I think about the column with the green Gatorade bottle. I was just sitting on the airplane and I looked at it and I thought, this is a great topic. It is funny how it just comes up and nothing is ever really forced. There is always something going on to write about.
Keck: That’s the other thing that I always liked about being in college and taking four completely different classes. You hear one thing in one class and that reminds you of something talked about in another class.
Matson: Exactly. We have a large team and a lot of personalities and we are girls, so there is always something happening. We work really hard, and there is enough to write about Chapel Hill in itself probably for a whole semester. There are plenty of topics. They all occur pretty naturally.
Keck: You mentioned your family, who are your sports heroes?
Matson: I get that question a lot. It’s always like who is your inspiration? Who is your idol? I can never pick just one because I like the idea of picking something from Michael Jordan, this from Serena Williams, and this from Luciana Aymar who was an Argentinian field hockey player. I think each one brings something different and maybe a couple bring more than one. I never really grew up having like one or two people. [Michael] Jordan, LeBron [James], Serena Williams, Neymar. I could list four or five international Dutch hockey players too. You guys would have no idea who they are, but I have looked up to them. I just like taking little bits from everyone who’s been really successful.
Keck: What do you do when people start throwing your name into the conversation of the greatest Carolina athletes ever, like Michael Jordan, Erin Matson, and Julius Peppers? How do you handle that?
Matson: Normally, I laugh out of the uncomfortableness. I don’t think that will ever be normal. I don’t think I will ever get used to that. I don’t really get caught up in it because it is such an honor. To even be uttered with those names is incredible. I’m just worried about our practice this afternoon, you know? It doesn’t create too much stuff going on in my mind just because it’s really remarkable and amazing and I’m very grateful, but I don’t think about that.
Keck: That’s probably how you have to do it. Just focus on the next thing. Speaking of the next thing, what are your thoughts about the upcoming season?
Matson: We had a really strong incoming class. The team is looking great. We are really close. We use family a lot in Carolina, but this group is really special. I’m not just saying that, either. Practices have been awesome. Coach is ready to go. It is a really important season for her and the entire coaching staff. Our goal every year is a national championship for the university. Making it to the final four, that’s only alright. We want the trophy. We are taking it one game at a time. Everybody brings something to the field and it’s gonna be really exciting to see how we all connect and can work on that together.
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