Erin Radke Woodring, a standout from Sioux Falls who carved out an athletic career as a multi-sport star, recently reflected on her journey from a hesitant youth participant to a collegiate standout and hall of fame inductee. Known during her high school years as an outside hitter, Radke won back-to-back state volleyball championships and finished with almost 1,100 kills, ultimately earning Gatorade Player of the Year honors as a senior before taking her talents to Iowa.
Speaking from her home in Nashville, Tennessee, Radke detailed how her path to athletic prominence was anything but conventional. While she became a name on the volleyball court—cementing her legacy as a Lincoln Patriot, an Iowa Hawkeye, and a member of the Lincoln High School Sports Hall of Fame—volleyball was not actually her first athletic love. Growing up in an active household alongside her brother Lee, guided by their parents Brian and her mother, Radke spent her earliest years immersed in golf.
“Golf was my first sport,” Radke said, noting that she was swinging a club practically the moment she could walk. She was a four-year letterwinner in golf, practicing with the varsity team as an eighth-grader and maintaining her spot through her junior year before stepping away from the links during her senior season to fully focus on her collegiate volleyball commitments.
Radke’s introduction to volleyball happened almost by accident. Describing herself as initially awkward with limited hand-eye coordination during YMCA leagues, she tried out for Patrick Henry Middle School in the seventh grade and was placed on the B team. She spent her seventh and eighth-grade years playing on the B team. That trajectory shifted when supporters encouraged her to try out for club volleyball through Sioux Falls Central at Lincoln High School. There, she connected with Coach Paladino, who recognized her underlying potential and helped transform her into an attacker.
Building a Multi-Sport Legacy in Sioux Falls
Reflecting on her upbringing, Radke attributes much of her athletic foundation to her family environment. Both of her parents played golf throughout their lives, and both Radke and her brother Lee developed as left-handed players in a right-handed household, adding an extra layer of logistical difficulty when sourcing equipment. Meanwhile, her father Brian set a high bar for athleticism at home, known for high jumping 6’11” in his younger years and encouraging his children to explore sports naturally without imposing undue pressure.
That supportive background allowed Radke to transition from a developmental middle school player into a high school force. Her mastery of the outside hitter position propelled the Lincoln Patriots to back-to-back state titles and earned her individual accolades that still resonate throughout South Dakota sports history.
