It was the Warhawk Open in Milwaukee, the second tournament of the season and Vanderbilt’s powerful bowling team was out of sync. Searching for a spark, Coach John Williamson turned to a seldom-used substitute and said, “Bryanna, go down and get ready.”
With that, Commodore junior and Perry Hall, Md., native Bryanna Leyen scurried to warm up. It would be an opportunity to show what she could do…or a chance to reconfirm why she was a secondary option on an elite team that had won the NCAA Championship just seven months prior.
As Leyen grabbed a ball and hustled to the practice pair, her mind was ablaze with thoughts. Nothing new, as she has always battled a nervous tendency. Some might call her a bit emotional. But this time, Bryanna was prepared.
“I had just talked with our sports psychologist (Dr. Vicki Woosley) a few days earlier and she told me that when I was up there to be thinking of just one thing,” Leyen recalls. “I had time there to take some deep breaths. I was nervous but I had one task to do and nothing else mattered. Hit my target – board 17. Focus on that instead of all the things that might swirl.”
Within minutes Leyen got the call and was inserted into the lineup.
Deep breath.
“Hit board 17.”
Strike!
And with that Leyen was off. A couple hours later, Williamson would tell a reporter “Our best bowler today was Bryanna Leyen.” She was impressive enough to land back in the order the following day after which the Commodore coach said “she must have averaged 220 for the day.”
What was the more impressive feat? Delivering in the heat of competition or preparing to be ready if and when an opportunity arose?
The old sports adage says the will to win is secondary to the will to prepare to win. That’s because it’s the road less traveled. Everyone wants to savor victory on Saturday but most are unwilling to put in the necessary and tedious work on Tuesday.
Leyen was a hot-shot junior bowler when she committed to attend Vanderbilt. She had turned down a full scholarship at another Top 10 program and admits that while she understood she wouldn’t be an instant star on the college front “I thought I would bowl more than I did.”
During her first year at Vanderbilt she made the travel squad to tournaments at Tulane and Monmouth but saw scant playing time.
“I was disappointed but I kept working hard,” she now admits.
The daughter of an expert bowler and pro shop owner (Christopher) and a school teacher mother (Kim), Bryanna Leyen understood she had to get better to crack a Vanderbilt lineup dotted with All-Americans.
“It hurt when the team left campus and I was left behind,” Leyen says, “but when I didn’t travel I was working on my game. I’d be begging people to go to the lanes with me. I was working with our sports psychologist on ways to calm down. I’d look for other ways to compete – sometimes I’d have mini competitions with myself. I also worked with our strength training coach (Darren Edgington).”
Leyen was determined to succeed. When she got into the lineup as a sophomore at Arkansas State she produced a flashy 276 game. But still her chances were limited.
“Vanderbilt is what I always wanted since my freshman year in high school,” she says. “I wasn’t willing to give up on that dream. And once I got here it’s not enough…don’t give up on what I wanted for so long. I developed a good work ethic growing up; my parents never let me quit anything. They made me stick it out until the job was done. I hated it as a child but I really appreciate that now. My mom was a teacher and the work ethic between sports and schools transferred well.”
Although she has scarcely come out of the lineup since that fateful moment in Milwaukee, a streak that includes a sparkling performance in the team’s championship at Maryland-Eastern Shore’s Hawk Classic last week, Leyen knows each player is “renting” her spot in the rotation on this powerful team. Few are fixtures.
“This is a group of talented people,” Leyen notes. “It’s opened my eyes to a lot of things. I try to contribute in other ways when I’m not in the lineup. I consider myself a positive person and work hard on my own. I want to push my teammates but I also want to better myself. When I’m not bowling I want to be a positive person in the settee.”
She says one area that she has worked on with Williamson is her competitive instincts.
“I’m an elementary education major and I have to be upbeat and positive working with kids every day,” she says. “I have a very positive outlook on life, sometimes to a fault. Coach and I have had conversations about being competitive. He wanted me to have this aggressive alter ego and figure out a way for me to fight for a spot…to not be complacent about not bowling.”
Leyen’s personal experience earns her a platform in which to advise those wishing to follow in her footsteps.
“Getting into Vanderbilt is not easy; grades matter,” Leyen says. “Work really hard and establish a work ethic before you arrive because once you get here you are using that ethic full force. It’s a great school and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. Invest the time to maximize your passion. Work ethic will get you through here.”
