Bolivar’s Brionna Halverson is always looking for a new challenge; a new field.
She took up track and field in junior high, essentially for fun, and ended up medaling in every meet and setting the school record in the mile.
After scoring 51 combined goals and earning all-state honorable mention honors her first two seasons of high school soccer, she surpassed that total this year alone and was named first team all-state.
VOTE FOR HALVERSON IN THE 1 AWARDS
Halverson led Bolivar to a historic 2016 season. The Liberators were district champs and reached the Class 2 quarterfinals, snapping Catholic’s string of seven straight Final Four appearances in the process.
She finished with 57 goals, 11 assists and Class 2 first-team all-state honors.
“I always try to challenge myself in little things,” said Halverson, who plays club for FC Kansas City. “You’re not always going to be the best player on the field. When you are, you need to find a new field – that’s what my dad has told me.”
Those fields have progressed from YMCA Youth Leagues, to various club levels, to high school fields and – next year – to college facilities. Halverson has verbally committed to play for Saint Louis University and fourth-year Billikens head coach Katie Shields.
“Once I realized in club that I was (good) and enjoyed it, I just thought, ‘I want to do this in college because I really don’t want to stop playing. I always want to keep playing,’” Halverson said. “And I also didn’t want my parents to have to pay for college, so I was like, ‘I’m going to try to work hard enough for that.’”
Ball – and Halverson – never stops
The early bird gets the worm, unless that worm is smashed by a soccer ball from Halverson.
She remains dedicated to her craft during the fall offseason period.
Passionate about her early morning workouts, Halverson wakes up around 5 a.m., heads outside and goes to work.
First up are technical drills, such as practicing her trademark step-over move.
That’s followed by an ab workout. Channeling back to her junior high track and field days, Halverson finishes her hour-long workout with a mile run.
“The morning time, first off, it’s beautiful. Some people drive by – and I’m actually surprised they’re up, too – but they probably look at me and wonder, ‘Why is she up?’” Halverson said. “Not a lot of people stop in the morning, but I bet I get some strange looks through the window, but that’s OK.
“I do all of this stuff in my front yard, which is a little crazy. But, I mean, I have to get it done.”
Halverson described herself as an “active, always moving” kid during her childhood.
Soccer was a natural sport for her. After excelling in that, Halverson decided to test her running prowess briefly in junior high track.
““I was real active as a child and I just loved going and going and going. I loved (soccer) and being around people,” said Halverson, who was born in Michigan before her family moved to Bolivar when she was around four years old. “I loved to run. So I was like, ‘I really love this game.’ I’m very thankful for my parents because they noticed I loved it, so they wanted to encourage the growth in it.”
“Juiced”
The Liberators’ 2016 season can be summed up in one word: Juiced.
It grew in popularity as Bolivar’s season progressed and was a bonding point for the team. The word represented players’ excitement levels for the season.
“Juiced” also led to the creation of the unofficial team mascot.
A parody Twitter account of Halverson exists, and essentially, she’s the team’s water girl. Proper pregame and in-game hydration is always stressed.
GAME DAY!! pic.twitter.com/5crg3RBdCR
— Bri (@h2o_bri) April 5, 2016
“I was with some teammates and we were just joking around and it somehow came out like, ‘I’m the water girl?’” Halverson said. “We would try to come up with funny things and it took off from there. We’ve had so much fun with it. It was meant to just get people to come out and watch our games.”
