EMBRACING THE FUTURE: A-C Valley Senior Brianna Schmidt Has Fascination With History, But Is Focused on What’s to Come

FOXBURG, Pa. (EYT/D9) — Mysteries of the past fascinate Brianna Schmidt.

The A-C Valley senior is intrigued by events that happened long before she was born. Her goal in life is to unearth some of those lost truths.

“I’ve always wanted to know the why of things,” Schmidt said.

But that intense desire also has an ugly flip side.

(Pictured above, Brianna Schmidt at Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour/submitted photo)

When Schmidt hyper-extended her knee on the basketball court for Union/A-C Valley on Jan. 17, tearing her meniscus and ending her season, that drive to answer the question, “Why?” haunted her.

Why had another season ended so abruptly for her? Why has she faced so many challenges?

Redbank Valley, Keystone, and Union/A-C Valley sports coverage on Explore and D9Sports.com is brought to you by Heeter Lumber.

You don’t endure some of the fire Schmidt has, though, and not become tempered against adversity. 

Schmidt lost a season as a freshman to COVID and then last year to a shoulder injury. She’s also struggled with asthma that is debilitating at times.

Through it all, she’s leaned on her faith to strengthen her.

“With basketball being cut short for me, I was really angry and trying to figure out, ‘Why is this happening? It was going so well,’” Schmidt said. “I had a good team and a good coach and things were coming together and I didn’t know why it all ended. But I think it taught me that things are gonna happen and no matter what happens, God is good, and I’m gonna get through it because He’s on my side.”

Thinking that way hasn’t always been easy. Schmidt lost two sports seasons last year.

During warmups before a volleyball match for A-C Valley, the middle hitter took a big swing and felt something pop in her right shoulder.

Immediately, pain snaked down her arm and she realized something serious had happened.

(Schmidt takes a swing as a middle hitter for the A-C Valley volleyball team)

“It really felt different, so I knew something was up,” Schmidt said. “After a couple of weeks, I couldn’t take it, so I went to the doctor.”

It was revealed then that Schmidt had torn her labrum and her season was over.

She didn’t require surgery, but the rehab was slow and it also cost her the basketball season last winter.

“I tried to do it,” she said. “But my shoulder was making it impossible, so I decided to take another year off.”

She filled the athletic void by joining the track and field team at Union/A-C Valley in the spring. It helped her regain strength for this fall when she was back on the volleyball court at A-C Valley.

Schmidt was coming into her own for the Union/A-C Valley girls basketball team this winter in the first year of the co-op between the two schools.

Shaking off the rust after a year away from the sport, Schmidt had become a thorn in the side of opponents with her gritty play. Against Commodore Perry on Jan. 13, she had seven rebounds and five steals to go with four points.

Listening to her favorite artist before each game, Taylor Swift, and making sure to not paint her nails — one of her few superstitions — Schmidt was finally flourishing.

“It depends,” Schmidt said of her Swift selections before games. “I go through phases. I have a whole bunch of different ones depending on my mood. My problem is I get too worked up, so I have to calm myself down and think to myself this is a high school game and it’s not going to change my future. Just have fun doing it.”

Schmidt has seen Swift twice in concert, including her Eras Tour this summer.

“It was crazy,” Schmidt said. “I cried the whole time.”

She wore nail polish for the concert. Not for basketball.

“In my head I just think that if I look down and see color on my nails, I’ll have a panic attack,” Schmidt said, laughing.

With everything falling in line, Schmidt was off to a good start against Keystone on Jan. 17 when near the end of the first quarter, she suffered the knee injury and was lost for the season. 

“I was really heartbroken to be told I couldn’t finish the season,” Schmidt said. “I felt like I was finally getting up to my peak.”

Schmidt, though, has been determined to be on the bench with her teammates anyway, cheering them on.

“I love being there and being able to watch and knowing that even though I’m not in the game, I still care and want our team to be good,” Schmidt said. “I want to be there for everyone.”

Schmidt began playing basketball in the third grade and picked up volleyball when she entered junior high.

Basketball, though, has always been her favorite — and it hasn’t always been easy.

Because of her asthma, she could only play for a few minutes at a time during her sophomore season because of persistent attacks. This season, though, her symptoms had remarkably — and strangely — abated.

“My asthma is pretty bad. It’s been miraculous this year. I haven’t had any troubles with it at all,” she said. “In the 10th grade when I did basketball, I had to have a sub every minute and I couldn’t play the whole game because I couldn’t breathe and would have an asthma attack.”

Schmidt offers joining the track and field team as an explanation for her improved asthma symptoms. She admitted she didn’t enjoy running — quite the contrary; she loathed it — but it did have one positive.

“Maybe because I did track with all that conditioning,” she said. “It was horrible for me, but it helped my lungs.”

Schmidt won’t be able to run this spring because of her knee injury.

She won’t miss it, she said, chuckling.

Basketball, though — that she will miss.

“I never really had this kind of passion for it until this year,” she said. “I have such great teammates and a new coach. He really cares about everyone and wants us to do well.”

Instead, Schmidt will set her sights on her future — which will be all about the past.

She intends to study history at Slippery Rock University after graduation and wants to work in a museum one day. She’s also like to get to work on unraveling some of the most confounding historical mysteries.

Schmidt will lean on the lessons learned from her own past.

“It kind of taught me to just keep going, no matter how hard it is, even if I don’t understand why,” she said. “Just keep going because it’s not going to end my life. It’s not going to end the world.”

Redbank Valley, Keystone, and Union/A-C Valley sports coverage on Explore and D9Sports.com is brought to you by Heeter Lumber.