The following is a spotlight on Bella Brady, one of two Davidson College nominees for the prestigious NCAA Woman of the Year award. The Atlantic 10 institutions nominated a total of 17 outstanding student-athletes for the award (READ MORE). The A-10 will spotlight each of the institutional nominees.
Bella Brady Profile
Bella Brady is Davidson volleyball’s all-time career digs leader,
shattering the 23-year old record in November of 2023.
Brady racked up A-10 accolades during her Wildcats
tenure, being named the Libero of the Year in 2021-23 as
well as a First Team All-Conference member in all three
seasons. The Winter Park, Fla. native earned 10 A-10
Defensive Player of the Week awards and was
Davidson’s Team MVP in 2021, 2022 and 2024. In 2024,
Brady was named the Davidson Rebecca Stimson
Award recipient, presented to a female
scholar-athlete best typifying the Davidson spirit in
athletic competition and campus leadership.
Brady also was very impressive in the classroom,
graduating summa cum laude as a member of
Omicron Delta Kappa, Psy Chi with a degree in
psychology, premedical studies, and a minor in
public health. The libero was a 2024 College
Sports Communicators Academic All-America finalist,
was a four-time Atlantic 10 Commissioners Honor Roll
honoree and won the 2024 Edward L. Palmer award for
psychology, which celebrates annually the student who
has distinctly served others through the field of
Psychology. The scholar-athlete has been published
multiple times and had the opportunity to present her
research at the international Society for Robotic
Surgery annual conference, where she was awarded
the Society of Robotic Surgery Award for
Excellence in Research.
Brady did a lot outside of volleyball, serving as
the body positivity leader at Davidson,
serving as the liaison between female
athletes and the nutritionist, leading yearly body positivity training problems. She also worked to make an impact on younger women in the community, joining the club Strong Girls United to empower young girls in the Davidson community to partake in physical and mental well-being activities. Outside of college in general, Brady was an active volunteer at Grace Medical Home, served as a silent auction co-liaison at the Connor Eating House and participated in the Lake Norman Elementary Letter exchange with 4th graders from Lake Norman Charter, where I would write about the crossover of sports and academics in letters to my pen pal.
Q & A
What was the hardest obstacle you faced as a student-athlete?
The transition from high school to college in Fall 2020 was extremely hard for me as a student and an athlete. I specifically remember our report date getting pushed back repeatedly throughout the summer until the decision was made to scrap the fall season and compete in the spring. At Davidson, we were lucky enough to move into dorms but were required to practice strict social distancing and participate in limited athletic training. Transitioning into college is hard for almost any student, but was more difficult when spending the first year social distancing and not getting to fully compete in the sport I was so excited to play. Despite a rough freshman year, the following three years at Davidson were more than anything I could have imagined.
What is one thing you would go back and do differently if you could?
I would have taken the time to get to know more students, professors, adults, and members of the Davidson community earlier on in my time as a student. As graduation rolled around, I reflected on how grateful I was for the relationships I had formed with those outside of my team and athletics. My one wish is that I had begun to seek out and form these meaningful relationships as soon as I stepped onto campus. The community around the Davidson area makes Davidson College such a special place and I am lucky enough to have had such an amazing support system throughout my time there.
Who or what has been your biggest inspiration or motivation?
My parents are motivation factors and the two biggest inspirations in my life. My mom put 110% effort into raising us to be the best possible children we could be. She is an excellent example of what it means to be a present and supportive mother. She never failed to be there for my siblings and me mentally and emotionally and made sure to protect us while consistently teaching us skills that would serve us as we grew. Throughout my life, my dad has been like Superman. He is an excellent physician, who inspired me to one day become a physician through his extraordinary care for his patients. He has inspired me to engage in sports and physical activity, like biking and running, and one day compete in marathons and triathlons. As I was growing up, I watched him juggle a rigorous work schedule with Ironman training, all while being an excellent father to my siblings and me. He has shown me that you truly can do it all if you put your heart and mind into it.
What hard goals have you set and/or accomplished?
One of the hardest academic goals I have set for myself is the aspiration to go to medical school and become a practicing physician. Additionally, now that my volleyball career has ended, I aspire to compete in marathons and triathlons which I believe will challenge me in a different way than volleyball, especially due to my competitive attitude. However, I look forward to continuing to challenge myself physically and intellectually and believe these goals will both complement each other as I grow.
What was your favorite class/professor and why?
Behavioral Neuroscience with Dr. Julio Ramirez was one of the most challenging classes and labs that I took during my time at Davidson College, however, it was also the most rewarding. The class contained very rigorous behavioral neuroscience content paired with a lab in which we performed research following a unilateral 6-OHDA substantia nigra lesion modeling Parkinson's Disease on the Sprague-Dawley rat. My lab partner and I were both in the season when taking the class and it took a lot of extra time outside of class to be successful. Although hard, this class taught me so much and allowed me to participate in hands-on research that fueled my passion for medicine. This class was extremely rewarding and showed me the value of putting my all into something outside of volleyball.
What do you think is the most important issue for student-athletes today?
I believe that mental health is one of the most important issues for student-athletes today. There are so many different aspects of mental health that can be affected by being a student-athlete in college. It is incredibly difficult to handle rigorous academics while competing in a high level of athletics, therefore student-athletes mental health begins to decline. These issues range from court performance to body image, to low self-esteem. After wrapping up their competition in sports, athletes continue to struggle with identity crises while being thrown into the real world. I am so grateful to have competed for a program that values the importance of balancing academics and athletics while preserving mental health.
What are three words your teammates would use to describe you, and why?
I believe my teammates would describe me as competitive, Passionate, and Hardworking. I believe that these are three characteristics my teammates, who are some of my best friends, would use to describe me both on and off the court. I would say I have an inherent competitive drive in all aspects of my life, whether it be sports, work, or academics. My competitive drive, as well as my hardworking personality, are all fueled by my passionate attitude. I believe my teammates would describe me this way because I truly have such a passion for the sport of volleyball, as well as the Davidson volleyball program. This passion was portrayed through the amount of work I put into my preparation and the program.
