Karen Blodgett didn’t pick a conventional sport to participate
in during high school.
Upon entering the Blodgett household, two things are immediately clear: the family is extremely devoted to one another and they love sports. Though there is some discrepancy involved when discussing favorite football teams – a daughter stands alone from her parents in this regard.
Recent Gilroy High graduate Karen Blodgett is a Dallas Cowboys fan. Her parents – 49ers
supporters.
“I like the Giants, though,” Karen exclaimed in her defense.
The minor disagreement is about the only rift among the sports enthusiasts.
“I can talk for hours about baseball,” she said.
Karen grew up involved in athletics, playing softball and basketball until something caught her eye during the 2002 Winter Olympics – short track speed skating.
“I used to play softball but it kind of got old for me,” she said. “I’ve always been into sports. With (speed skating) it’s all up to you.”
American skating star Apolo Anton Ohno captivated millions, including Karen. Despite being too young to pursue the sport at that time, the desire to try it remained. So when the 2006 Winter Games came around, Karen took the initiative and joined the Northern California Speedskating Association. It didn’t matter that she had never ice-skated before.
“It looked really fun and kind of wild, and I liked that,” Karen, 18, said. “I like to do dangerous things, I guess.”
Implementing a training regimen that usually picks up steam during the summer months includes six days of practice a week for the last four years. Karen has improved with each short track season.
Monday through Friday, Karen heads to a park near her home, straps on her specially designed inline skates – the boots mimic the skates she wears on the ice – and works on form while improving stamina and strength.
After a one-day break on Saturdays, it’s off to Sharks Ice in San Jose to train with the NCSA club.
“It’s probably 75 to 25 (percent) in terms of technique to execution,” Karen said. “In order to go as fast as the guys in the Olympics you have to have perfect technique. You can’t have an arm swinging at the wrong angle, You can’t have an ankle bent at the wrong degree.
“It’s like an adrenaline rush for me,” she said.
All of her hard work paid off recently after Karen placed first four times at the NCSA Spring Race, taking first in her group.
“Originally, when I first started, I was thinking about going for the national team,” she said. “But now, I’m more interested in the fun and going to local competitions because if I was going for the national team there would be no way for me to go to college.”
Athleticism runs in the family. Grandpa Fred Ziemann grew up in Wisconsin playing ice hockey, perhaps handing down his smooth skills on the ice.
Ziemann is never short on words when talking about Karen’s success in short track.
“You should see her on the ice,” he said brimming with pride about his only grandchild. “She makes it worth while.”
Like any good team, the family rallies around each other.
When Karen was 5 months old, her mother Margie was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, and was wheelchair-bound by the time Karen was 3.
“Honestly, I didn’t really think about it until the sixth grade,” Karen recalled. “It wasn’t like anything that was a big deal. It’s just how it was. It never seemed different.”
Even if she couldn’t physically support Karen in her athletic endeavors, the moral confirmation and encouragement never faltered.
“(We) wanted to try to keep her busy and tried to make it as normal as we could, with me not being able to do some things,” Margie said. “She was usually good at whatever she did.”
And whether it’s attending Karen’s races or just hanging out watching Baseball Tonight on ESPN, the family likes to be together.
“I am really blessed because I have both sets of grandparents still alive. I realize how lucky I am. We are all really close. We sit down every night and eat dinner. It’s really important to me. It’s what I know,” Karen said.
With her family always at her side, Karen is off to the University of California at Davis in the fall, and she already has a concrete plan when she arrives.
“I want to be a lawyer … a prosecutor,” she said confidently. “I want to be successful. I want to do a lot after college. There’s so much I want to get involved with. I’m driven by that.”
Karen will major in political science with a minor in psychology, putting into motion a work ethic engrained in her at a young age.
“Growing up I have helped my mom a lot and that has helped keep things in perspective,” she said.
Even with her workload surely to increase as she begins her college studies, Karen insisted speed skating will still remain on the front page of her priority list, saying simply, “It’s something that is worth keeping up.”
