Erin Nolan is a graduate student and forward on the SUNY Brockport women’s basketball team. She transferred to Brockport from Bentley University this fall to play out her last two years of eligibility.
In 2017, Nolan graduated from Susquehanna Valley High School where she and her team won the 2015 Class B State Championship and was where she was named MVP of the championship tournament. She was also a three-time All-State honoree and a two-year All-Conference player.
In her senior year at Bentley University, she was a captain. Now, Nolan’s sights are set on helping Brockport win a championship.
“I really want to help this team win a SUNYAC Championship,” Nolan said.
The star athlete from Binghamton, N.Y. played a variety of sports growing up. Nolan started to play and take basketball seriously in the sixth grade. In high school, she swam, played softball and volleyball and ran track and field.
Nolan spent four years at Bentley University where several injuries and COVID-19 left her unsatisfied with her career.
“My freshman year I hurt my foot and wrist, so I had to redshirt that year,” Nolan said. “My senior year, COVID-19 hit so we didn’t end up having a season. So, I only spent two of my four years playing basketball. I really just wasn’t ready for it to be over, especially on how the season ended last year with it just kind of not even existing.”
Coming out of high school where she dominated, Nolan says redshirting for a year was one of the hardest things she ever had to go through.
“As a freshman, you come in hoping to be a part of the team and hoping to have a role outside of what a normal freshman would look like,” Nolan said. “I didn’t really get that chance to even prove that. I just was kind of on my own, doing my own rehabs, doing my own workouts so it was honestly really isolating and really hard for me to adjust to the life.”
Nolan’s senior year was also challenging. Despite there not being a season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was still a team and as a captain, Nolan had to be accountable for all of her teammates along with herself.
“As a captain, it’s one of the lessons that you learn. That have to take accountability for 12 other people on the team,” Nolan said. “Even though you might not really want to take on all the feelings and emotions of everybody else on the team, as a captain, that’s your role. So last year on top of my own stress and anxiety about COVID-19 I had to make sure that I was reassuring the rest of my teammates and being there for them, which was kind of exhausting.”
Nolan said that her decision to transfer to Brockport this fall was influenced by her hometown friend and teammate here at Brockport Anna Felice who she played travel basketball with growing up.
“We just were happening to catch up over the summer before COVID-19 hit and thought ‘how weird would it be if we got to play together again’? So, I started to look into it, and it just worked out perfectly,” Nolan said.
Felice says that Nolan is one of the most caring people that she’s ever met and that her teammates feel comfortable leaning on her for support on and off the court because of her experience and various roles that she’s had on different teams.
“Erin epitomizes the phrase ‘once a teammate, always a teammate,’” Felice said. “Even when we’re off the court we know she’ll have our back, in the years Erin and I weren’t playing together I always considered her a teammate because I knew she had my back. I’m so that glad we have the opportunity to play together as teammates again!”
Head coach Corinne Jones has been impressed by Nolan this season and says that it all starts with her hard work ethic.
“Erin is definitely a higher-level player who works really hard on the court, in the classroom, in the weight room or really wherever she is,” Jones said. “She really wants to do what’s best for the team, keeps a championship mindset and every day is trying to get better.”
Off the basketball court, Nolan is focused on finishing her master’s degree and deciding what she wants to do with her career.
“I have another year of eligibility so I’m hoping to play next year as long as my body allows me to,” Nolan said. “After that I’ll be done with school and then it’s just deciding what career path I want to take.”
Nolan is considering health care administration, community relations and public relations type positions.
“I like the people aspects, being involved in the community, giving back and things like that so I think either of those paths would be a good fit for me but I’m just not sure,” Nolan said.
Nolan is a public administration major with an emphasis in health care. She’s had several internships as well as participating in volunteer work.
“At my old school we used to volunteer with Cradles to Crayons a food and clothing donation place in Massachusetts,” Nolan said. “I was also an intern at turn at Raymond Corporation and Natixis Investment Managers last summer. Now, I’m a grad assistant for student employment.”
Nolan and the Golden Eagles are off to an impressive 6-1 start this season. Nolan averages nine points and five rebounds per game, ranking third on the team in both points and rebounds.
