By Glenna Murdock, RN, contributor
March 15, 2010 - Natalie Nicholson, MSN, FNP, RN, admits that she loves a challenge. Whether she is confronted by a challenge in her job as a nurse practitioner in a fast track emergency room or while balancing her roles as wife, mother, nurse and elite athlete, she meets it head on.
Natalie Nicholson, MSN, FNP, RN, balances her curling career with her demanding nursing and family responsibilities. Photo credit: USA Curling.
Her can-do attitude served her well during the past year when the realization of a long-held dream forced her to become a time management expert. After 18 years in the sport of curling—including multiple successes at the national and world levels—Nicholson earned a spot on the five-member 2010 U.S. Olympic women’s curling team, and her life became a frenzy of activity.
Related to shuffleboard, curling is a team sport in which stones are slid across a sheet of carefully prepared ice toward a target area. Two teams take turns sliding heavy, polished granite stones over the ice toward the “house,” a circular target marked on the ice. Points are accumulated based on the final position of the stones in relation to the target area.
The Olympic curling team is comprised of the best players from across the United States. In order for the team to coalesce into a fine-tuned unit, a good deal of travel is required of the team members during the year prior to the games.
“The Olympic prep year is different from a regular year,” Nicholson explained. “Our [Olympic] team would get together every other weekend to play in spiels (matches or tournaments between curling clubs). When we were at home, we’d each practice individually on specific shots and drills or play in a league or with other competitive curlers who train in our local curling clubs.”
Team camaraderie and bonding was a smooth process, according to Nicholson.
“Most curlers know each other from playing with or against each other through the years,” she said. “Curlers are a close-knit group of athletes and it’s an easy transition because we’ve all played the game for so many years. Focusing on a common goal bonds athletes together.”
In the week since the games ended and she returned to her home in Bemidji, Minn., Nicholson has been able to reflect on her Olympic experience. Although there were no medals for the U.S. women’s curling team, she describes her two weeks in Vancouver as “truly amazing.”
“It is difficult for me to put into words because the experience was so special for so many reasons. Representing the USA and feeling a part of a huge team with other athletes from other disciplines and the support for and belief we had in each other was incredible and exciting.”
Nicholson uses time management techniques and sticks to a schedule in order to manage her multiple roles—both on and off the ice. Photo credit: USA Curling.
Nicholson’s ability to meld her dedication to the Olympic goal with an already full schedule of family and job responsibilities didn’t come easy.
“There was definitely a learning period,” she explained. “On top of my family commitments, I was on the ice four or five days a week, plus traveling two to three times each month to train and compete internationally, working out with a personal trainer three days a week, meeting with a dietician three to four times a month and I was working in the fast track ER three days a week.”
“Initially I would miscalculate how long it would take to fit everything into my day. I learned quickly that I needed to schedule everything. It was the only way to devote my full attention to each task without feeling guilty…it wasn’t going to work any other way.”
Nicholson credits her family for enabling her to fulfill her Olympic dream.
“My husband and my family are very supportive and without them it really would’ve been impossible to do it. And, I mean that. It’s not just physically helping out but also the emotional support they’ve given me and their confidence that I could do it and that I should go for it.” She added, “I try my best to always thank each person who’s helped me and let them know how grateful I am to have them in my life.”
Family had also inspired Nicholson to choose nursing as a career.
“My mother is a nurse and I helped her study anatomy and physiology—I was in middle school at the time—and it fascinated me,” she said.
After earning her BSN from the University of North Dakota in 2001, Nicholson, who is an enrolled member of the Three Affiliated Tribes of Ft. Berthold, N.D., worked as a public health nurse on two reservations. In 2008 she completed the MSN family nurse practitioner program at the University of North Dakota and now works for North Country Health Services’ emergency department in Bemidji.
“I enjoy working with and for Native people,” Nicholson said. “Although I’m not currently working for the Tribe, Bemidji is located between the two reservations and is home to many Native people, so I care for and interact with Native people on a daily basis in the ER.”
Summing up her Olympic experience, Nicholson is philosophical.
“Our team’s results are disappointing but I have no regrets. I felt I played my best and at the end of the day, giving it your best shot is all you can do…I want to keep things in perspective, stay positive and savor the experience of a lifetime.”
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