As she prepares to leave to the US for college in July, Uraidla-based Olivia Bradley details her journey up to this point and reflects on the flurry of accomplishments that have come as a reward for her relentless work ethic. (Image supplied: Olivia Bradley)
By Jack Trehearne | @JackTrehearne
Sitting on the couch of their Uraidla home in early 2022, Olivia Bradley and her mother Mellissa nervously await a scheduled call from the head coach of the Basketball Australia Under-17 Women’s National Team. Bradley is part of the player pool in consideration for selection to the final roster. Minutes from now, her and her mother will find out if Bradley’s lifelong goal will become a reality. They have both already prepared accordingly, going over how Bradley should react in the one scenario where she makes the team, and the other scenario in which she does not. They sit together side by side, as time ticks idly by, when the phone suddenly rings.
Bradley answers, hears the news, and exhales. She has made it.
“I was a bit in shock, and I had to ask my mum, ‘Did she actually just say yes?’, because it was so special. It was a goal of mine for my whole life. I’ve always wanted to play for Australia,” Bradley says.
“I called my dad, and he was very proud and excited … he got up at his work and had a bit of a moment.”
This moment was, indeed, the product of many hours of hard work and dedication for Bradley, who had been relentlessly pursuing her basketball goals long before her name was known on a national level. An average week for Bradley includes two team trainings for her local district basketball club, the Eastern Mavericks, where she has played since under-10s. Additionally, she partakes in four weightlifting sessions, and five shooting sessions per week, although she would prefer that number to be seven.
“I was lucky I had a little bit of skill, but it’s hours and hours of work … training, doing individuals, going to the gym … I don’t think I would have got anywhere if I hadn’t made that extra effort,” Bradley says.
Bradley, who finished high school last year at University Senior College, says that the mindset she brought to her basketball was also present in her academic life and required her to miss many opportunities to socialise with friends to satisfy the busy life of a student-athlete.
“I just had to work hard at school … otherwise I wouldn’t get it done because I didn’t have a lot of free time. [I had] that mindset of ‘You’ve got an hour to smash that [homework] out, just like in basketball you’ve got an hour to work out’,” Bradley says.
“There wasn’t a lot of free time. Hanging out with friends was like a luxury for special occasions and things like that.”
While Bradley’s basketball passion speaks for itself, she also maintains a keen interest in other areas, such as books and literature.
“I’m a bit of a nerd. I like all my schooling. I love to read. I’m going to study Comparative Literature at college … I know people don’t really expect that because athletes and books sometimes don’t really mesh together,” Bradley says.
“I just re-read Lauren Jackson’s autobiography. That’s just inspiring to me. That’s one of my favourite books, actually.”
Unlike Lauren Jackson, who went directly into professional basketball in Australia upon finishing high school, Bradley has always felt drawn to leaving home and playing college basketball in the US.
“As soon as I knew it existed, I wanted to [go to college]. I was always big on moving out of home as a child … so, as soon as I knew that college was an option, I feel like I’d been preparing for it ever since,” Bradley says.
Bradley details the long and arduous process that goes into becoming an international prospect even being eligible for a scholarship at an American college. This process began when she started high school and included attending multiple college information sessions, selecting the correct high school courses to match up with US academic eligibility requirements, and preparing on-court footage to send to college coaches.
She says she began to gain interest from college coaches in under-18s after competing for SA Country in the National Championships in 2021, which is an annual competition where Australia’s top regional and metropolitan basketball talent from each state and territory collide.
Eventually, after a disrupted recruiting period due to being away from Australia with the national team in July of 2022, Bradley jetted off to the US for a basketball tour in December of that same year to compete in front of hundreds of college coaches — an experience she describes as both “gratifying” and “stressful”.
“It was nice to feel wanted … to have people expressing their interest in your talent. It’s gratifying for all the hours you’ve put in. [But] it was also stressful … It makes you nervous knowing that all these high-level coaches are just sitting in the stands right across from you, and you’re trying to play a game of basketball,” Bradley says.
“It was hard, because that was the first time I had played basketball in America … American basketball is different to how it is over here [in Australia]. It’s more physical, they play a different style, you’re jetlagged, you’re playing against girls who are completely different to who you play in Australia, and you’ve got 50 college coaches sitting in the stands watching you.
“It was very nerve-racking.”
After this tournament, Bradley reengaged with the college coaches and narrowed down her list of possible college options to three schools: Boston University; Cal Poly University; and the University of California, Santa Barbara, commonly known as UCSB. She then came home to South Australia for a brief period before flying back to the US in February this year to see the schools in person. Following these in-person visits, Bradley made the decision to commit to UCSB.
“The biggest thing for me was the coaching staff … the faith they had in me … they showed me how they would take my game to another level. I love the school. I love the education … education was super important to me,” Bradley says.
With her college commitment out of the way, Bradley has now had time to exhale and reflect on her journey up to this point. Rather than praising herself, she credits her family and basketball coaches as key reasons for her success.
“My parents, for sure, have been incredible. You couldn’t get through this without good support. If you had to do any of this by yourself, I feel like it’s just such a long process, and stressful, and so much to do. You have to have good people around you,” Bradley says.
“My mum has been the biggest person in this process. She does all the research. She’s got a little excel spreadsheet that she puts everything in … yeah, it’s a long time to be stressing about something that’s going to happen in three years’ time, and then when it creeps up on you, it’s overwhelming. So, it’s nice to have people look after you.”
“And coaches as well for me … everyone knew that I wanted this. And it was just good to have people talking to you, asking about things, giving you advice … so that was wonderful.”
With respect to her future goals, Bradley isn’t entirely sure what she wants to do. She intends to enjoy college, play good basketball, and wait to see if any professional options become available, whether that be overseas or in Australia. Alternatively, Bradley may end up forging a career in publishing or literature.
Whatever Bradley does, it is bound to be a successful venture. For her, hard work has always paid off.
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