Olympics is music to Bradley's ears

Teacher patrols the outfield for Canadian women's softball team

July 13, 2008

By Brad Kelly

Alison Bradley is just as comfortable in front of a classroom sharing her knowledge and passion for music as she is standing at the plate facing the best softball pitchers in the world.

The classroom part, which included extended time teaching at schools within the Durham Board, will have to take a back seat for now. The other part, the softball, is the central focus in her life right now as she prepares to represent Canada in women's softball at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

The 29-year-old spent the majority of her time teaching in the music and performing arts program at O'Neil Collegiate, with other stops including Sinclair High School in Whitby and a variety of elementary schools in the Durham Region. When she returns to the area, she is recognized by former students.

"If I'm in the mall in Oshawa, I run into some of the students and we always chat, especially the kids from O'Neil because I did a lot of extended contracts there," said Bradley.

An outfielder, Bradley has been with the national program for seven years, and was a member of the Canadian team that placed fifth at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. But it was the fact she earned her Bachelor of Music and Education at the University of Western Ontario, and can play three to four instruments, that earned her time in the classroom.

The fact she was an Olympian wasn't part of her day to day teachings.

"We didn't really talk about it that much, but they were aware that I was in the Olympics and softball," she said, adding that students would often inquire about an Olympic ring she wore.

She didn't mind sharing the aspects of her personal life with students.

"My personal life, it doesn't matter to me. If they want to know I will tell them what they need to know. It just wasn't something that came up," she recalled.

"I didn't want to walk in and say, 'Hi. I am an Olympian and I'm your teacher today.' I just really wanted to focus on the curriculum and get them through what they needed to be learning for the day and use that as a focus. It's really easy for kids to get you off track and then you don't get anything done on the day because they want to talk about other things."

With the 2004 experience serving as her introduction to everything the Olympics has to offer, Bradley is much more grounded about the second visit.

"I think you go in with more experience and a little more heads up of what you need to do to prepare yourself," she said. "I'm going in a lot more prepared this time mentally."