University of Minnesota Athletics
Bratford Overcomes Obstacles To Achieve Success for Minnesota
9/8/2003 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
She grew up in inner-city Los Angeles where her mother struggled to raise six kids on a single income. Bratford only started playing volleyball because her mother asked her to give it a try, and it wasn't a sport that came naturally.
Even so, Bratford worked diligently and by the time she was a senior, she had recruiting letters from elite schools around the country.
Bratford hadn't even heard of Minnesota, much less given it a thought, until she found out that she was a partial qualifier and wouldn't be able to receive full academic eligibility due to a low SAT score. This meant that she would have to redshirt her freshman season, petition for a fourth year of eligibility and meet strict academic performance requirements. Needless to say, the recruiters that had been wooing her for so long started to wane, leaving Bratford near graduation with no place to go.
While on a volleyball trip in Denver, Bratford met up with Brian Heffernan, her Renegade Volleyball Club coach. He suggested that she consider Minnesota. After visiting the campus and deciding it was where she wanted to be, Bratford moved to the Midwest, becoming the first member of her family to attend college.
With all that Bratford had overcome in her life, it seemed that playing the sport she loved should have been nothing compared to everything she had already faced. Yet upon her arrival at Minnesota, her confidence wavered when she joined the squad. She struggled through her first season, only starting to show flashes of her immense talent in the last few matches. She looked well on her way to finally being settled into her new surroundings and ready to build her career. She hoped to start the next season where she had left off her freshman year.
Unfortunately, Bratford's second season didn't start out the way she had planned. She struggled through the first half of the season, still lacking the much needed confidence needed to be a powerful hitter and dominate the game.
Bratford knew it was time for a change. "I just felt like I needed a boost of confidence. My coaches would keep on talking to me, and they believed in me. Then I started to believe in myself more, and that kind of started it all running."
Bratford pulled her confidence and talent together in the season's 17th match, a home contest against Penn State. "In the game against Penn State," Bratford recalls, "I said to myself, 'I'm gonna do it,' and I went out and did it. That was actually the turnaround point for me."
In that match, Bratford tallied 11 kills and recorded a career-high .421 hitting percentage.
Head Coach Mike Hebert knew it was a change just waiting to happen. "She just came out, and it was just her time. She just came out and dominated for the first time. I don't know whether it was a sudden burst of confidence or if everything clicked all at once, but that's what happened."
Bratford didn't let her game stop there. She moved into the starting lineup and continued to dominate the game, averaging 4.11 kills per game over the last 16 matches. Her career peaked in the second round of the NCAA Tournament where she made a career-high 26 kills against Georgia Tech, setting the Minnesota record for kills in a rally-scoring match and earning the third-best total ever set by a Gopher in NCAA Tournament play.
Moving into the 2003 season, Bratford doesn't intend to let her confidence or her game go cold, and she has support of everyone around her. Bratford's mother doesn't attend many matches, but her words of encouragement serve as a main support for Bratford. "She's a big help when it comes to me not feeling like I should. She has faith in me. She knows I can do it."
In addition, Bratford always values the support of her coaches and teammates. "Everybody does a good job of helping everybody," she said.
"That's one of the great things about this team is that we're there for each other."
According to Hebert, Bratford is already on her way to a tremendous season. "What's really impressive this year from what I've seen in preseason workouts is the development of a lot of discipline in her game. She's hitting shots now and handling the ball as a passer and a defender in a fashion that reflects a lot of maturity. She'll be one of our main guns. There's no question about that. We're going to rely on her a lot."
After all of her hard work and success, Bratford certainly should have a lot to be proud of. As for Hebert, he is extremely proud of the person and athlete Bratford has become. "It's been a tough road to come here and not only succeed athletically but academically as well. Because of the partial qualifier, she's had to meet certain standards that other students haven't had to meet. She's done it all. It really is one of the feel-good stories of our program."
Bratford is far from the player she was when she came to Minnesota her freshman year. Finally playing with the confidence needed to attack the high caliber schedule the nationally-ranked Golden Gophers are playing this year, Bratford is poised to accelerate her career and finally become the elite athlete her supporters know she can be. With her teammates, Bratford could quite possibly help lead Minnesota to heights the program has never seen before. For Trisha Bratford, the path to a collegiate volleyball career in Minnesota was neither logical nor simple.
She grew up in inner-city Los Angeles where her mother struggled to raise six kids on a single income. Bratford only started playing volleyball because her mother asked her to give it a try, and it wasn't a sport that came naturally.
Even so, Bratford worked diligently and by the time she was a senior, she had recruiting letters from elite schools around the country.
Bratford hadn't even heard of Minnesota, much less given it a thought, until she found out that she was a partial qualifier and wouldn't be able to receive full academic eligibility due to a low SAT score. This meant that she would have to redshirt her freshman season, petition for a fourth year of eligibility and meet strict academic performance requirements. Needless to say, the recruiters that had been wooing her for so long started to wane, leaving Bratford near graduation with no place to go.
While on a volleyball trip in Denver, Bratford met up with Brian Heffernan, her Renegade Volleyball Club coach. He suggested that she consider Minnesota. After visiting the campus and deciding it was where she wanted to be, Bratford moved to the Midwest, becoming the first member of her family to attend college.
With all that Bratford had overcome in her life, it seemed that playing the sport she loved should have been nothing compared to everything she had already faced. Yet upon her arrival at Minnesota, her confidence wavered when she joined the squad. She struggled through her first season, only starting to show flashes of her immense talent in the last few matches. She looked well on her way to finally being settled into her new surroundings and ready to build her career. She hoped to start the next season where she had left off her freshman year.
Unfortunately, Bratford's second season didn't start out the way she had planned. She struggled through the first half of the season, still lacking the much needed confidence needed to be a powerful hitter and dominate the game.
Bratford knew it was time for a change. "I just felt like I needed a boost of confidence. My coaches would keep on talking to me, and they believed in me. Then I started to believe in myself more, and that kind of started it all running."
Bratford pulled her confidence and talent together in the season's 17th match, a home contest against Penn State. "In the game against Penn State," Bratford recalls, "I said to myself, 'I'm gonna do it,' and I went out and did it. That was actually the turnaround point for me."
In that match, Bratford tallied 11 kills and recorded a career-high .421 hitting percentage.
Head Coach Mike Hebert knew it was a change just waiting to happen. "She just came out, and it was just her time. She just came out and dominated for the first time. I don't know whether it was a sudden burst of confidence or if everything clicked all at once, but that's what happened."
Bratford didn't let her game stop there. She moved into the starting lineup and continued to dominate the game, averaging 4.11 kills per game over the last 16 matches. Her career peaked in the second round of the NCAA Tournament where she made a career-high 26 kills against Georgia Tech, setting the Minnesota record for kills in a rally-scoring match and earning the third-best total ever set by a Gopher in NCAA Tournament play.
Moving into the 2003 season, Bratford doesn't intend to let her confidence or her game go cold, and she has support of everyone around her. Bratford's mother doesn't attend many matches, but her words of encouragement serve as a main support for Bratford. "She's a big help when it comes to me not feeling like I should. She has faith in me. She knows I can do it."
In addition, Bratford always values the support of her coaches and teammates. "Everybody does a good job of helping everybody," she said.
"That's one of the great things about this team is that we're there for each other."
According to Hebert, Bratford is already on her way to a tremendous season. "What's really impressive this year from what I've seen in preseason workouts is the development of a lot of discipline in her game. She's hitting shots now and handling the ball as a passer and a defender in a fashion that reflects a lot of maturity. She'll be one of our main guns. There's no question about that. We're going to rely on her a lot."
After all of her hard work and success, Bratford certainly should have a lot to be proud of. As for Hebert, he is extremely proud of the person and athlete Bratford has become. "It's been a tough road to come here and not only succeed athletically but academically as well. Because of the partial qualifier, she's had to meet certain standards that other students haven't had to meet. She's done it all. It really is one of the feel-good stories of our program."
Bratford is far from the player she was when she came to Minnesota her freshman year. Finally playing with the confidence needed to attack the high caliber schedule the nationally-ranked Golden Gophers are playing this year, Bratford is poised to accelerate her career and finally become the elite athlete her supporters know she can be. With her teammates, Bratford could quite possibly help lead Minnesota to heights the program has never seen before.
