DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- In his 27 years, Steven Bohlemann has faced more than his fair share of challenges. However, the Embry-Riddle men's soccer alum has refused to let those challenges get him down and has parlayed them into an opportunity to represent the United States as a member of the 2016 Paralympics men's soccer squad.
 
Bohlemann, who grew up in Weston, Florida and played high school soccer for Cypress Bay, arrived in Daytona Beach in the fall of 2007 to join the ERAU men's soccer team. In his first season wearing the Blue and Gold, the German-born Bohlemann saw action in five games with two starts on the Eagles' back line, and the following season, he started in three of his nine appearances.
 
As a teenager, Bohlemann experienced chest pains, which were originally attributed to growing pains, but as he grew older, the pains got worse. In February 2009, just a few months after his sophomore campaign with the Eagles, he went back to the doctors who determined that the chest pains were caused by a rib/chest deformity pushing on his heart and lungs called pectus excavatum.
 
This condition required surgery with an estimated three-month recovery time, however, due to complications, some related to his age, Bohlemann's recovery took twice as long, effectively ending his collegiate soccer career and putting his academic pursuits on hold.
 
"It was a tremendously sad day when we found out that, because of health reasons, Steve could no longer play collegiate soccer," ERAU Head Coach Dave Gregson said. "We were losing a good player and an even better person."
 
Bohlemann was finally able to return to the classroom in the fall of 2009 and set about completing his undergraduate degree. In the summer of 2013, he was awarded an internship with Boeing in Charleston, South Carolina, and on July 9, while on the internship, he suffered another setback.
 
"After work I went jogging on the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge in Charleston on the sidewalk and I was hit accidentally from behind by a bicyclist on the descent portion of the bridge," Bohlemann recalled. "The bicyclist was mostly uninjured, but his bike frame and rim were bent. I fractured the right temporal portion of my skull, suffered a subdural hematoma (brain bleed), and fractured two vertebrae in my spine. I was immediately knocked out, suffered a seizure (no prior history), and in the hospital they sedated me and connected me to a breathing machine."
 
Following a month-long stay, Bohlemann was released from the hospital, but recovery from the accident was a long, slow process. Extensive rehab helped him learn how to walk again and seven months after the trauma he was able to return to Embry-Riddle to finish his degree.
 
Throughout all his setbacks, Bohlemann's love for the 'beautiful game' of soccer did not diminish and, in time, he was back on the pitch again.
 
"Soccer is a main passion of mine and it was central to thrusting me forward to overcome certain issues with my body," Bohlemann said. "I just learned to adapt."
 
The first step in his soccer comeback was taking on the role of coach of the ERAU club soccer team. As time passed, he was gradually able to get more involved with practices as a player.
 
After graduating from Embry-Riddle with his bachelor's in Aerospace Engineering with a minor in Aviation Maintenance Science in 2014, Bohlemann moved to Atlanta, Georgia to pursue a master's in Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech and joined the Atlanta District Amateur Soccer League.
 
"I played for Majestic FC in the ADASL and was able to continue to adapt my style of play to my different capabilities after the 'speed bump'," Bohlemann said.
 
While in Atlanta, Bohlemann volunteered with the Brain Injury Peer Visitor Association where he visited brain injury patients in the hospital. His volunteer efforts with BIPVA inadvertently opened the door to the US Paralympic soccer team.
 
"The Facebook page of the BIPVA cross linked with the USPNT Facebook page and I saw there were tryouts in January 2016 that I had missed," Bohlemann said. "I wrote to the coach, basically asking for more information for myself and to hand out to patients if I came across another soccer player. To my surprise he asked for my soccer resume! Then we had a phone call and he asked to see a video of me playing. After that he invited me to train for a week in March with the team in Chula Vista, California."
 
The training session went well for Bohlemann, who was selected to the USPNT roster for the 2016 Pre-Paralympic tournament in Spain, April 20-May 7. He played in four of the team's five games.
 
"I am living the ultimate dream of playing soccer for my country with a team of awesome guys," Bohlemann said. "I am learning so much from my teammates on and off the field."
 
While he may be living the dream, it's not all smooth sailing for Bohlemann who still deals with lingering effects from the brain injury, noting that some issues are permanent.
 
"I have to follow neurologist orders to not go for 50/50 headers anymore," Bohlemann noted. "I also have issues with my balance and coordination where I can't do certain movements on the field as I'll just fall down or my feet don't go exactly where I want them to go. My depth perception is off too so if I'm looking way down the field I have trouble deciding how far a player is."
 
Bohlemann noted that some of his ability to deal with these challenges stems from his time with the Embry-Riddle men's soccer program.
 
"I definitely draw motivation from my time with ERAU soccer, especially from Dave, Jonesy and Bucko," he said, referring to Gregson, and former assistant coaches Philip Jones and Paul Buckely. "Times like preseason, where I have memories of where we had to work beyond our perceived limit to reach our common goal as a team, really helped me draw power when I was doing rehab and figuring out how to not give up on my passion but rather just to learn to adapt how I pursue it. Discipline and working beyond your perceived limits helped me move forward. This time my goal was just bigger than a season; it was to be able to run again, return to school, become independent again and continue to pursue my engineering career. I treated the medical staff, family and friends as my team and I had to fulfill my role on the team. That mentality helped me just put my head down and get to work, which helped me move past the fear and depression the 'speed bump' initially caused me."
 
"Steve has a wonderful world view and an appetite for seeking out adventure in life," Gregson noted. "He is a self-starter and motivated to try to learn and experience meaningful new things. I am sure that he will have many successes in his life and representing the US in the Paralympics must be a tremendous thrill for him and his family. We will all be cheering him on from afar this year and wish him and the team the best of luck."
 
The U.S. Paralympic team will leave for Rio de Janiero, Brazil at the end of August and will play their first contest in the 2016 Olympic Games on Sept. 8.
 
"It is the best thing to happen to me, to have the opportunity to represent my country," Bohlemann concluded. "It is such an honor and privilege to be on the team with folks that have overcome obstacles from birth or suffered strokes, as well as veterans who experienced injuries while serving our country. My worst life experience has opened the door to the best thing in my life."