Brady walks walk, talks
talk at Wheaton North
By Chris Walker
Teams that go through the motions in practice will probably get their butts handed to them in games.
Thankfully, Wheaton North senior Rachel Brady’s deoxyribonucleic acid doesn’t even have room for a pinch of such mediocrity to tag along. Regardless if it’s basketball, soccer, in the classroom or outside of it, she’s all in.
For example, consider her actions during what appeared to be a ho-hum basketball practice early last December.
“We were having an average practice going up and down and needed to get over the hump to have a great practice,” said Wheaton North girls basketball coach Dave Eaton. “We were making some mistakes, and we were sluggish. I got on them a bit, but the turning point in this practice was Rachel. She did something I had never seen before, and I’ve been coaching for 18 years.”
Brady let her teammates hear it. This wasn’t Carol or Mike Brady reprimanding the kids after Cindy’s doll or Bobby’s kazoo went missing.
“We had a younger team this year, with some freshmen and sophomores playing a lot of minutes and Rachel said, ‘This is not what we do in practice. We practice hard every single day. We have to get this going right.’”
Practice improved for a while, but then it slid off track again, the kids succumbing to the same issues as earlier in the day.
“The last one-third of the practice didn’t have the intensity in it so she put the whole team on the baseline,” Eaton said. “And there was no hesitancy from the girls, and they were running sprints down and back, and she told them that this is the way we’re going to do things.”
The Falcons were coming off a couple of defeats, but the season was really just getting started. It was still early December.
“I think we were 4-2 at the time and then we ended 21-7, so it was a huge turning point,” Eaton said. “To steal a quote from Tom Izzo (Michigan State longtime men’s basketball coach), when a coach is providing the feedback and motivation, it’s good, but never as good as when it comes from inside.”
During that particular practice, Eaton had a friend of his, sophomore boys basketball coach Kevin Tonn, sitting in with him. He couldn’t believe what he had just witnessed.
“My sophomore coach friend looked at me in disbelief,” Eaton said. “I felt like we became a player-coached team that day, and our season took right off.”
That’s the kind of attention and impact the 5-foot-10 Brady makes on a Wheaton North team, regardless of the sport.
Caroline Gaither, a standout sophomore who played basketball with Brady the past two years, called Brady one of her best teammates ever, someone willing to put the team first at all times while always encouraging those around her.
“There were so many times this past season where before a big game, Rachel would just give us a quick speech about how prepared we were and how we worked so hard for that game,” she said. “So all we had to do was just be us, go out and play, and everything would fall into place. She was always the voice of reassurance which was what our team really needed at times.”
Ella Kocher, a junior soccer defender who also was basketball teammates with Brady during the winter, said Brady keeps teams in line.
“I’ve played with Rachel since freshman year, and she is a selfless leader,” Kocher said. “She is very passionate about what she does in getting the group together unified and working for the same thing. She definitely is one to hold people accountable.”
Fellow senior Payten Yates, a three-sport athlete who has known Brady since they were third graders, considers Brady to be a wonderful teammate.
“We’ve known each other since I first started playing soccer,” Yates said. “She’s a great teammate. She’s so kind and caring for all her teammates and is always encouraging them as a leader on and off the court. She encourages people to get involved and is a great friend overall.”
Unfortunately, Brady never got the chance to use her DNA and leadership skills with her soccer teammates this spring because the novel coronavirus pandemic forced the season to be delayed, then cancelled. After helping the Falcons win a regional title on the hardwood the futbol Falcons went 0-0-0 in the spring, practicing a little before the state mandated a shelter-in-place order to attempt to keep COVID-19 from spreading.
“Since I’m graduating this week, it’s just becoming more and more real that so many things were missed,” she said. “And looking back at the last couple of seasons and connecting with teammates on Zoom, it’s definitely very disappointing. But I try to stay positive and be thankful for the time I’ve had and my teammates. I’m now looking ahead and hopefully will be able to go to college in the fall.”
Part of her will always miss what may have been something special this spring. The basketball team had just won a regional. The soccer team hasn’t won one since 2015. Maybe this could’ve been the year and how special could that have been to the girls who played both basketball and soccer?
“I don’t know what would’ve happened,” she said. “I was just really excited and ready to give it my all and to get back on the field one last time. Even during the first couple of practice my skills were coming back to me fast, and I was making passes and crosses that usually take a few practices and games. It was encouraging to see the team clicking so quickly, which was encouraging. I was expecting a great season.”
Great size, stellar fitness, tremendous drive and a love and understanding of both soccer and basketball have helped Brady turn into a force regardless what season it is and whether the ball is dribbled on the hardwood or on a green artificial surface.
“I would definitely say that I think my pure size has helped me in both sports,” she said. “Being a center back in soccer, I’ve just grown up playing defense. I’ve always been able to get in soccer shape with quick short sprints. I’m always running, I guess, and I’ve grown up with both sports.
"I have a mind for the game. I’ve been able to see the field really well, and I just know where my teammates are and where space will open. It helps in basketball, with seeing the ball and being aware of where the next pass could come from and where it is going. I’ve just been able to predict those things well.”
That she is staying close to home at Wheaton College, where she will continue to play basketball, wasn’t much of a surprise.
Her parents, who were both from out of the state, met at Wheaton College. Dad proposed to mom in the same art and music classroom where they first met. Her brother Andrew also is a graduate, having played football for the Thunder. It’s as if it’s her destiny to attend.
“Growing up I always knew it would be an option for me, and my brother had a phenomenal experience at Wheaton College,” she said. “And he was able to live his own life while still being close to home and having a lot of space.”
Brady is hoping to double major in communications and bible theology. Her father, Kelly, has been on staff with the Glen Ellyn Bible Church (GEBC) since 1994 and has served as senior pastor for more than 15 years. Similarly, she hopes to someday become a youth pastor, inspired by her father, her own faith as well as Mark Wilkerson, the student ministries pastor at GEBC.
“As a pastor’s daughter, the Glen Ellyn Bible Church has always been a huge part of my life. Growing up in the church, I decided I wanted to be a youth pastor and Mark Wilkerson is so passionate so I would love to work in ministry. The goal after college is to be a full-time youth pastor or to run a parachurch for young lives or something.”
We’ll never know what kind of soccer season Wheaton North would’ve had this spring, but there was a great deal of optimism from that group. We do know how the girls basketball team fared, and Brady was a huge part of that success.
“We wouldn’t have had the record we had without her leadership and being able to push the girls while being so supportive and doing whatever we asked,” Eaton said. “She’d fight like crazy to get rebounds and go after loose balls and play great defense. She did whatever it took.”
She got her teammates to buy-in, following her lead.
“The coolest part for me on the outside looking in as a coach, is the respect the girls have for her,” Eaton said. “She’s a tremendous person, and she has a great family behind her. She brought the girls closer. Her work ethic is tremendous. She didn’t take a rep off if she played one minute or every minute. She’s a really special kid to get to coach.”
There’s no reason to not believe that Brady would have a similar influence on the girls soccer team this spring, especially since the Falcons were hungry, had their top-four scorers returning and had Brady in line to anchor a stingy backline in front of senior goalkeeper Hanley Elftmann.
“The most important thing for Rachel in terms of any sports program is being a teammate,” Wheaton North girls soccer coach Tim McEvilly said. “She looks towards to being a teammate and always what’s best for the team. She’s one of those rare players, and I’ve been fortunate to have some the last few years, to be more concerned about the success of the team and her fellow teammates than the stats for herself and how things are going for her. That’s helped her become a leader, and the kids looked up to her for everything she did.”
The Falcons lost quite a few tough games last year but were competitive down to the final seconds of just about every contest a season ago. This spring, they had reason to believe that they had the talent and determination to turn many of those tough losses into victories.
“She plays with a great sense of calm as a center back and doesn’t get rattled,” McEvilly said. “She helps communicate with the fellow backline and those in front of her so she is able to help people be successful. The other thing that is so rare for an athlete like Rachel is to be involved in multiple sports like she had for years and to understand the principles of pressure. She translates those things to the basketball court to the soccer field all the time.”
Like millions of other high school seniors, Brady is sad that her final soccer season ended this way, the missed opportunities of turning around last season’s 8-14-1 mark and contending for a DuKane Conference title before a solid run in the state tournament. But that’s just the tip of it. Brady was looking forward to the opportunity to lead in her captain’s role, especially in getting to know her teammates, some who were even new thing spring.
“I love getting to know people and I was really looking forward to it and going to Hilton Head and getting to know everyone,” she said. “I went sophomore year so I know how many friendships were formed on the team there and was looking forward to it.”
A glass-half-full type of girl, Brady still has so much to be thankful for during her time with the Falcons.
“I was thinking about this the other a day a little, and I’m definitely thankful for the time I’ve had at Wheaton North,” she said. “I still had the three and three-quarters of a year. I’ve made a lot of different memories with friends and family and some things I’ll remember even more now than if I went through normal senior events and things. I’m just trying to stay positive and to be thankful.”
talk at Wheaton North
By Chris Walker
Teams that go through the motions in practice will probably get their butts handed to them in games.
Thankfully, Wheaton North senior Rachel Brady’s deoxyribonucleic acid doesn’t even have room for a pinch of such mediocrity to tag along. Regardless if it’s basketball, soccer, in the classroom or outside of it, she’s all in.
For example, consider her actions during what appeared to be a ho-hum basketball practice early last December.
“We were having an average practice going up and down and needed to get over the hump to have a great practice,” said Wheaton North girls basketball coach Dave Eaton. “We were making some mistakes, and we were sluggish. I got on them a bit, but the turning point in this practice was Rachel. She did something I had never seen before, and I’ve been coaching for 18 years.”
Brady let her teammates hear it. This wasn’t Carol or Mike Brady reprimanding the kids after Cindy’s doll or Bobby’s kazoo went missing.
“We had a younger team this year, with some freshmen and sophomores playing a lot of minutes and Rachel said, ‘This is not what we do in practice. We practice hard every single day. We have to get this going right.’”
Practice improved for a while, but then it slid off track again, the kids succumbing to the same issues as earlier in the day.
“The last one-third of the practice didn’t have the intensity in it so she put the whole team on the baseline,” Eaton said. “And there was no hesitancy from the girls, and they were running sprints down and back, and she told them that this is the way we’re going to do things.”
The Falcons were coming off a couple of defeats, but the season was really just getting started. It was still early December.
“I think we were 4-2 at the time and then we ended 21-7, so it was a huge turning point,” Eaton said. “To steal a quote from Tom Izzo (Michigan State longtime men’s basketball coach), when a coach is providing the feedback and motivation, it’s good, but never as good as when it comes from inside.”
During that particular practice, Eaton had a friend of his, sophomore boys basketball coach Kevin Tonn, sitting in with him. He couldn’t believe what he had just witnessed.
“My sophomore coach friend looked at me in disbelief,” Eaton said. “I felt like we became a player-coached team that day, and our season took right off.”
That’s the kind of attention and impact the 5-foot-10 Brady makes on a Wheaton North team, regardless of the sport.
Caroline Gaither, a standout sophomore who played basketball with Brady the past two years, called Brady one of her best teammates ever, someone willing to put the team first at all times while always encouraging those around her.
“There were so many times this past season where before a big game, Rachel would just give us a quick speech about how prepared we were and how we worked so hard for that game,” she said. “So all we had to do was just be us, go out and play, and everything would fall into place. She was always the voice of reassurance which was what our team really needed at times.”
Ella Kocher, a junior soccer defender who also was basketball teammates with Brady during the winter, said Brady keeps teams in line.
“I’ve played with Rachel since freshman year, and she is a selfless leader,” Kocher said. “She is very passionate about what she does in getting the group together unified and working for the same thing. She definitely is one to hold people accountable.”
Fellow senior Payten Yates, a three-sport athlete who has known Brady since they were third graders, considers Brady to be a wonderful teammate.
“We’ve known each other since I first started playing soccer,” Yates said. “She’s a great teammate. She’s so kind and caring for all her teammates and is always encouraging them as a leader on and off the court. She encourages people to get involved and is a great friend overall.”
Unfortunately, Brady never got the chance to use her DNA and leadership skills with her soccer teammates this spring because the novel coronavirus pandemic forced the season to be delayed, then cancelled. After helping the Falcons win a regional title on the hardwood the futbol Falcons went 0-0-0 in the spring, practicing a little before the state mandated a shelter-in-place order to attempt to keep COVID-19 from spreading.
“Since I’m graduating this week, it’s just becoming more and more real that so many things were missed,” she said. “And looking back at the last couple of seasons and connecting with teammates on Zoom, it’s definitely very disappointing. But I try to stay positive and be thankful for the time I’ve had and my teammates. I’m now looking ahead and hopefully will be able to go to college in the fall.”
Part of her will always miss what may have been something special this spring. The basketball team had just won a regional. The soccer team hasn’t won one since 2015. Maybe this could’ve been the year and how special could that have been to the girls who played both basketball and soccer?
“I don’t know what would’ve happened,” she said. “I was just really excited and ready to give it my all and to get back on the field one last time. Even during the first couple of practice my skills were coming back to me fast, and I was making passes and crosses that usually take a few practices and games. It was encouraging to see the team clicking so quickly, which was encouraging. I was expecting a great season.”
Great size, stellar fitness, tremendous drive and a love and understanding of both soccer and basketball have helped Brady turn into a force regardless what season it is and whether the ball is dribbled on the hardwood or on a green artificial surface.
“I would definitely say that I think my pure size has helped me in both sports,” she said. “Being a center back in soccer, I’ve just grown up playing defense. I’ve always been able to get in soccer shape with quick short sprints. I’m always running, I guess, and I’ve grown up with both sports.
"I have a mind for the game. I’ve been able to see the field really well, and I just know where my teammates are and where space will open. It helps in basketball, with seeing the ball and being aware of where the next pass could come from and where it is going. I’ve just been able to predict those things well.”
That she is staying close to home at Wheaton College, where she will continue to play basketball, wasn’t much of a surprise.
Her parents, who were both from out of the state, met at Wheaton College. Dad proposed to mom in the same art and music classroom where they first met. Her brother Andrew also is a graduate, having played football for the Thunder. It’s as if it’s her destiny to attend.
“Growing up I always knew it would be an option for me, and my brother had a phenomenal experience at Wheaton College,” she said. “And he was able to live his own life while still being close to home and having a lot of space.”
Brady is hoping to double major in communications and bible theology. Her father, Kelly, has been on staff with the Glen Ellyn Bible Church (GEBC) since 1994 and has served as senior pastor for more than 15 years. Similarly, she hopes to someday become a youth pastor, inspired by her father, her own faith as well as Mark Wilkerson, the student ministries pastor at GEBC.
“As a pastor’s daughter, the Glen Ellyn Bible Church has always been a huge part of my life. Growing up in the church, I decided I wanted to be a youth pastor and Mark Wilkerson is so passionate so I would love to work in ministry. The goal after college is to be a full-time youth pastor or to run a parachurch for young lives or something.”
We’ll never know what kind of soccer season Wheaton North would’ve had this spring, but there was a great deal of optimism from that group. We do know how the girls basketball team fared, and Brady was a huge part of that success.
“We wouldn’t have had the record we had without her leadership and being able to push the girls while being so supportive and doing whatever we asked,” Eaton said. “She’d fight like crazy to get rebounds and go after loose balls and play great defense. She did whatever it took.”
She got her teammates to buy-in, following her lead.
“The coolest part for me on the outside looking in as a coach, is the respect the girls have for her,” Eaton said. “She’s a tremendous person, and she has a great family behind her. She brought the girls closer. Her work ethic is tremendous. She didn’t take a rep off if she played one minute or every minute. She’s a really special kid to get to coach.”
There’s no reason to not believe that Brady would have a similar influence on the girls soccer team this spring, especially since the Falcons were hungry, had their top-four scorers returning and had Brady in line to anchor a stingy backline in front of senior goalkeeper Hanley Elftmann.
“The most important thing for Rachel in terms of any sports program is being a teammate,” Wheaton North girls soccer coach Tim McEvilly said. “She looks towards to being a teammate and always what’s best for the team. She’s one of those rare players, and I’ve been fortunate to have some the last few years, to be more concerned about the success of the team and her fellow teammates than the stats for herself and how things are going for her. That’s helped her become a leader, and the kids looked up to her for everything she did.”
The Falcons lost quite a few tough games last year but were competitive down to the final seconds of just about every contest a season ago. This spring, they had reason to believe that they had the talent and determination to turn many of those tough losses into victories.
“She plays with a great sense of calm as a center back and doesn’t get rattled,” McEvilly said. “She helps communicate with the fellow backline and those in front of her so she is able to help people be successful. The other thing that is so rare for an athlete like Rachel is to be involved in multiple sports like she had for years and to understand the principles of pressure. She translates those things to the basketball court to the soccer field all the time.”
Like millions of other high school seniors, Brady is sad that her final soccer season ended this way, the missed opportunities of turning around last season’s 8-14-1 mark and contending for a DuKane Conference title before a solid run in the state tournament. But that’s just the tip of it. Brady was looking forward to the opportunity to lead in her captain’s role, especially in getting to know her teammates, some who were even new thing spring.
“I love getting to know people and I was really looking forward to it and going to Hilton Head and getting to know everyone,” she said. “I went sophomore year so I know how many friendships were formed on the team there and was looking forward to it.”
A glass-half-full type of girl, Brady still has so much to be thankful for during her time with the Falcons.
“I was thinking about this the other a day a little, and I’m definitely thankful for the time I’ve had at Wheaton North,” she said. “I still had the three and three-quarters of a year. I’ve made a lot of different memories with friends and family and some things I’ll remember even more now than if I went through normal senior events and things. I’m just trying to stay positive and to be thankful.”