Jamie Bloomstine remains an inspiring force in Washington soccer, balancing his roles as a coach, referee, and mentor while battling Parkinson’s disease.
TACOMA, Wash. — On May 30, Jamie Bloomstine will blow the opening whistle at Washington’s unified soccer high school state championship. His right hand will probably be trembling when he does. He wouldn’t have it any other way.
The month of April is Parkinson’s Awareness Month, dedicated to raising awareness, funding research, and supporting the millions affected by the disease worldwide.
Bloomstine — a soccer coach and referee — has been battling the disease for more than six years, but it doesn’t seem to be slowing him down. He is as active in the soccer community now as he was in 1979, when he launched his career at 6 years old with the Kent Cobras.
Over the course of his youth career, Bloomstine won six state championships and a regional crown. His dad Jim was one of his coaches.
“My father was hard on me in a sense, but I would not be the person I am today without him, just being responsible and giving your best effort,” said Bloomstine.
At Pacific Lutheran University, Bloomstine helped the Lutes advance to the national tournament as a freshman. He scored 13 goals his junior season. Then he had to make a tough decision to make his senior year.
“So, I got drafted by the Vancouver 86ers out of Canada. This was December ’95, so I still had a semester to go,” said Bloomstine.
Jamie passed on a pro career to finish school. A year later, he was teaching and coaching after his coach Jimmy Dunn offered him a position on the soccer staff at PLU.
Over the years, Bloomstine helped the Lutes win seven conference championships. He’s coached select youth teams at Washington Premiere and because of his love for the game, he also wanted to help as a referee.
Bloomstine said it is more than reffing the games, being a referee means being a mentor, a teacher and even a counselor to the kids on the field.
An inspiration as a ref, a coach, and a player, but in 2019, Jamie would need some motivation of his own.
“Fall of 2019, I started having some just kind of twitches in the right hand. I didn’t think anything of it. We all get twitches and stuff,” said Bloomstine.
A year later, things got worse.
“I remember late fall I started having my first set of regular tremors in my right hand, like just really shaking and I knew at that point something was not right,” he said.
Bloomstine had an appointment with a neurologist who specializes in movement disorders, who diagnosed him with Parkinson’s disease after testing.
“I remember going in the car and just bawling my eyes out. I like that I couldn’t even drive. I just sat there for about 5-10 minutes, and it just hit me,” said Bloomstine.
Parkinson’s is a progressive degenerative disease of the brain, with symptoms such as tremors, muscle rigidity and more that worsen over time.
“It is a progressive disease with no cure. Now it’s not a terminal disease, that means the disease itself will not take my life. But as it is progressing over time, the symptoms will become more severe… It took several, several months, if not longer for me to start to realize it’s not going to take my life.”
Bloomstine said there are days when he can barely get out of bed and others filled with hours of therapy.
“I do know in time with the progression of the disease, I won’t get to do the things I get to do, but I’m going to go on my time, not the disease’s time if that makes sense,” said Bloomstine.
Married to his high school sweetheart and a father of two, Bloomstine said he can’t waste time asking “why me.”
“I could have just given up right away and just said no I’m done and there are people that unfortunately do that but there are too many people in this community, whether soccer refereeing, teaching community and so forth that still depend on me,” he said
Bloomstine has 350 kids in his PE classes, 40 college athletes and a soccer club that depends on him — all things he said he “can’t give up.”
He’s played and coached in over 600 games for PLU and was just selected to be the center referee for the unified soccer high school state championship on May 30.
Bloomstine has no plans to hang up the whistle quite yet.
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