Brenden Chatman is small in stature, but she’s probably the biggest thing to come out Iowa since Field of Dreams, at least at A&T.

She is the heart and soul of a Lady Aggies volleyball team poised to make a statement in this year’s MEAC tournament.

However, the same woman who is so intense out on the court, actually never planned on playing college volleyball.

“I wanted to play basketball, so anytime schools contacted my high school coach she’d tell them I wasn’t interested,” said Chatman.

Thank God for our engineering program.

Flashback to 2004. Chatman was a gift dropped into the lap of new Aggies head coach Millicent Sylvan.

Drawn by the renowned engineering program and coming off a career defining year at Davenport North High School, where she was an Iowa Girls Coaches Association Class 4-A First Team member, and was the only senior on a Lady Wildcats team, she led them to the Iowa state playoffs.

She shunned attention from other schools closer to home like Northern Iowa and Wichita State and made the over 900-mile trek to A&T.

“I think Brenden does a excellent job,” said Sylvan. “Every game, every practice, every play, she comes in she works hard.”

So who is Brenden Chatman? Ironically this fierce competitor is soft spoken and shy. She loves to read and do jigsaw puzzles in her spare time and aspires to write a fiction book and travel the world.

“Yes, I’m kind of a nerd,” said Chatman.

How is this self-proclaimed “nerd” and a former Iowa Girls Coaches Association All-State basketball and volleyball player become just what A&T needed?

Look no further than her family.

“I think my family and my teammates help motivate me,” said Chatman. “I don’t want to let them down.”

Brenden is in the top 10 of MEAC standings in assists, hitting percentage and service aces, the folks back home must be proud.

A&T owes a debt of gratitude to Melanie and Kevin Chatman for making Brenden play volleyball at Wood Junior High in seventh grade.

“I didn’t like volleyball at first, my mom made me start playing,” said Chatman. “But when I started playing I thought it was fun. I liked the team aspect of volleyball.”

Her teammates have to love her coolness under pressure. Look at any Lady Aggies match this season and you’ll see that Chatman isn’t rattled by the pressure of a close match.

“I think I handle pressure alright,” said Chatman. “You have to stay focused and aggressive.”

The Lady Aggies owe Any Baker, head volleyball coach at Davenport North High School, for grooming Chatman into the player she is today.

“My high school coach taught me everything I know about volleyball and taught me how to push myself.”

On the court, Chatman and her teammates push themselves to the limits. Off the court, She maintains over a 3.0 GPA in arguably the toughest major on campus.

So, how does she balance school and volleyball?

“Its really hard because you have to have a lot of study time and practice a lot but you just gotta do it,” she said.

Doing what you have to do means getting up early and either having practice or class first thing in the morning. Or having practice in the middle of the day, which means everything has to be done before practice.

“You have class, practice, studying and try to go to sleep early for the next practice,” said Chatman.

That’s not including the Lady Aggies hectic travel schedule.

“Traveling is hard because we don’t really stay overnight often so we get back late and we always have to go to class so it’s rough but you gotta do it,” she said

The Lady Aggies continue doing what they have to do and have captured the attention of A&T fans searching for any positives during a down period in the athletics program, and Chatman has a theory on why that is.

“We work hard, we’re very dedicated, we have a lot of ‘Aggie Pride’, we’re fun to watch and I think everybody should come watch us play at least once. They’ll come back,” she said.

And comeback they did. Whether its friends of the girls or guys trying to get a glimpse of tone women in short shorts, attendance at volleyball games is big, making them campus celebrities and one of the most popular teams on campus.

“It feels good,” she said, but Chatman isn’t naive – she realizes what draws a lot of the crowd.

“I think its okay,” she said. “That’s what they come to look at, but I think they really enjoy the game when they come. I don’t think they expect to see how hard we play and the hustle and people swinging hard.”

Whatever brings them out, fans see that this team is really good. On the shoulders of Chatman, Krystal Cooper Arlene and Darlene Mitchell, the Lady Aggies are making waves.

Chatman says her message to the youth would be if you can see it, you can be it, and right now, A&T’s sights are set on a MEAC championship.

Back to what got her here. Former Lady Aggies head coach Cathy Roylac got a call from a friend in Davenport that had seen Chatman play and told Roylac to take a look at her.

“She called me, I came down and liked it and decided to stay,” said Chatman.

She fell in love with A&T and if she can help the Aggies win their first MEAC championship, A&T will fall in love with her.

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MEAC Volleyball Championships

Friday, Nov. 17th – Sunday, Nov. 19th

Hampton, Va.

• Mike McCray