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Monday, November 13, 2006(Page Two-Continued)TO WVU What brought Eric, a departmental studies major, to WVU was the fact that he'd already had a couple friends enrolled in Morgantown. "Hearing stories from them and just wanting to continue it (experiences) with them..."I wanted to give it a try," Eric said. He also liked the big school atmosphere and its mountainous region. While at WVU, Eric tried out for baseball but admits his heart, and the focus wasn't there. "I just didn't have it in me." Eric's years at WVU were also filled with mixed emotions. Like many young adults, the newfound freedom was difficult to handle. And Eric wwasn't alone in handling his time when he first arrived in Morgantown. "Freedom opens up and there's no one around to look for guidance," He said. "We were just a bunch of teenagers that would go to the liquor store, it just sucked us in." Eric's problems with alcohol led to some depression in his final year at school. But Eric was also fortunate to have a friend lend some solid advice when things got rough in that final year of school.
And so, the error of his ways, as he put it, "stopped cold turkey." "I didn't know where my path was going spiritually. Out of college, I wanted that guidance." Eric worked as a stonemason, as well as other jobs after college but stayed active while traiing for nearly a decade towards something he had no idea of where it would lead. "I trained for seven to eight years and didn't know what I was traiing for," He said. That is, until he had a date with Mt. Van Hoevenberg. Some have described the sport of skeleton as a controlled crash. The rider's face is just inches--if that--from the ice. Arms are kept at the rider's side with eyes looking straight ahead. There is no steering as in luge where one can control the sled with very subtle body and shoulder movements. His first time, as he put it, was "a little unnerving." But once the fear over the speed subsided, he flourished. Obviously, though, the more speed the less room for error as he described a run down the ice.
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Instilled in him was a realization of the potential inside of him and not to waste it. "He started me on a path moving forward with things. He saw I wasn't seeing clearly," Eric said of his friend's advice.