With COVID-19 putting live sporting events on hold, the Cascade Collegiate Conference wanted to take the time to highlight families within our #ThisIsTheCCC community. Many of our member institutions have administration, coaches and student-athletes family members competing together, making the CCC truly a family affair.
Robyn and Rachel Fielder
CORVALLIS, Ore. – When Robyn Hedberg – now Robyn Fielder – got to Eastern Oregon University in the late 80s, she had no idea three decades later her daughter Rachel would follow in her footsteps.
“EOU recruited me my senior year of high school and invited me for a tryout,” said Robyn. “I arrived and was greeted by the head coach Lauri Turner. I played with the team for two hours and knew I had found the perfect place for me. The team was fun to play with and I felt like we played well together. Coach Turner was easy to talk to and I loved the environment she had created with the team. I was sold!”
Robyn had a stellar career with the Mounties – winning an award every year and was inducted into the EOU Hall of Fame in 1999 – and she passed that love of basketball onto her kids.
In fact, the Fielder household in Boise, Idaho, could get pretty competitive, especially when it came to basketball.
“It was very competitive growing up with my family,” said Rachel, who graduated EOU this year with a degree in health and human performance. “We almost couldn’t play together because we would get in such bad fights.”
Although Robyn passed on her passion for hoops, she didn’t think Rachel would follow in her footsteps and go to EOU, especially since Rachel had lots of options.
“The only thing I hoped for was that she would find a program that fit her so she could have the kind of college experience that I did,” said Robyn about Rachel. “When [head coach] Anji Weissenfluh called and offered Rachel a visit, I was ecstatic! I tried not to influence her decision because she had to make her own decision.”
Robyn went with Rachel for the visit and it gave her all the feelings, reminding her of why she fell in love with EOU.
“The feeling I had when I was in Quinn Coliseum watching Rachel play was indescribable,” said Robyn. “I was so proud of her and excited at the same time. She was going to have the incredible experience of being a basketball player in a community that loves their athletes and packs the gym for the women's games.”
Rachel wasn’t planning to fall in love with EOU either, but it felt like home to her. Even though her mom was kind of a big deal within the program, Rachel didn’t feel the pressure to fill her mom’s shoes.
“I didn’t feel any pressure because she won so many awards,” said Rachel, who wants to get her PhD and become a professor. “If anything it motivated me to break them! Even though I didn’t...”
The two bonded in La Grande, Ore., as Robyn showed Rachel all the places she lived and hung out.
“To have that to share with my daughter is something every mom can only hope to have in common with her daughter,” said Robyn. “College was such a positive experience for me and I treasure the memories. She was learning things about her mom that she had never heard me talking about so it only brought us closer together.”
This past season was Rachel’s final year with the Mounties and any time Robyn made the trek from Boise, she got to be a part of the game day action. Coach Weissenfluh – who Robyn played with in college – always invited Robyn to attend shootarounds and visit with the team, which was an “absolute dream” for Robyn to be able to be involved with Rachel.
It was something Rachel enjoyed too.
“I just loved sharing experiences together,” said Rachel. “We have more of a friendship now, it’s not just mother and daughter.”
“It’s just special when you get to share something as important as your college experience with one of your kids,” added Robyn. “It’s given Rachel and I an experience together that we can share the rest of our lives."