Toughing it out since day one

Trey Vaughn|November 11, 2016

Freshamn Bradyn Wall posses for a picture with her parents Jesse Wall and Sarah Wall. 

Sierra Gray

Freshamn Bradyn Wall posses for a picture with her parents Jesse Wall and Sarah Wall. 

Bradyn Wall is a Soph- omore Early Childhood Education major here at

Missouri Southern. Wall has had some sort of a ball in her hand since day one.

She began playing basketball in kindergarten. Basketball was not just a hobby

that gave Wall something to do. She actually believed that basketball was going to be her main focus. She played basketball until she was in sixth grade. That’s when volleyball complete- ly took over, and she said goodbye to basketball.

Volleyball may have stolen the show after Wall

got into the sixth grade 

but her love for the sport began before then. She was travelling to volleyball camps by the second grade. Each year after, she began going to more camps and the work continued to grow. Things continued to get tougher each year.

This was not something that

Wall was foreign to.

In fact, she had grown immune to toughness. Competition

is not lacking inside the Wall home. The competition all starts with Wall’s parents. Her father, Jesse Wall, was 

at Pittsburg State Univer-

sity in football. He’s now the athletic director at Carl Junction high school. Her mother, Sarah Wall, coaches volleyball at PSU.

For Wall, growing up meant being tough and

dealing with adversity. Wall was picked on growing up by her older and younger brothers. Wall saw this as something that only made her tougher.

“I mean they’re big guys,

and I was this little girl who thought she could put up a fight, but obviously couldn’t,” said Wall.

This forced Wall to search for loopholes in order to defeat her brothers in the

games they played. One loophole that Wall found success in was

using her words to hurt her brothers. She would call 

her brothers babies to get under their skin. She also used being a small girl to her advantage as she would make sure her dad was on her basketball team if they played a family game of basketball.

Competition with her brothers gave her tough

skin. Crying was not a popular action at her home. Often times she was told to suck it up. The most crying that went on in the family was after losing a game.

Aside from all of the sports competition and

toughness, Wall does have a calm serenity about her. Wall loves spending time with her grandfather in the garden, something she’s done since she was a little girl. 

“Just being outside and

watching something that you’ve done grow, and it’s just cool to see the result,” said Wall.

Wall’s favorite part

about the garden was growing squash. It was her grand- mother’s fa- vorite, so her grandfather grew it for her, and her grandmother cooked it for them.

Once Wall got to high school, she had gotten even closer 

to the garden and was out in it almost every day. She

enjoys working outside because it helps clear her mind. She wants to contin- ue to learn about gardening so that she can have one of her own in the future.

Wall has only played in eight games this season but

her impact in the locker room and off the court is still felt.

“She has been like an older sister to me. She took me in and I have been able

to go to her for any and everything,” said freshman teammate Sydney Dose. “The support that she has given to this team and I has been incredible. Even though she hasn’t seen a lot of court time this season, it hasn’t stopped her from being one of the greatest support systems here at Southern.”