Written by Nicholas Sollitto
As a seventeenth birthday approaches, most teenage minds instantly fill with dreams about celebrating with their friends or the plethora of gifts that await them on that day. However, Alyson Bressie, a catcher for Texas A&M-Corpus Christi softball team, seventeenth birthday was not highlighted by the laughs of her friends or the gifts received, but by an experience that ignited a passion that follows her to this day.
The Galva, Kan., native was fascinated by the thought of flight during frequent trips to the local Air Force bases, which started for her around the age of 12. During these visits she often "walked through the planes" and this is where the passion for flying truly began.
On her seventeenth birthday, the first year a student can begin flying lessons, Alyson's family surprised her with her first chance at flying in the air with an instructor. Once in the air, Bressie was hooked on flying for the rest of her life.
The Islanders backstop has continued to pursue her pilot's license in the summer, while balancing the demands of being a student and an athlete at a Division I institution the rest of the year.
As a mechanical engineering major Alyson's workload as a student is of the highest difficulty. However, the academic rigors have not kept her from her role with Islanders Softball.
During Alyson's junior season, she played 20 games and drove in four runs from 12 plate appearances, while scoring five of her own.
Through the first 19 games of the 2016 season, the senior is hitting .222 with a pair of doubles, in addition to her perfect fielding percentage. Bressie had a career day during a doubleheader against Texas A&M-International.
Earning her first start of the year, the former junior college transfer tallied a walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh to lift the Islanders over the Dustdevils. As much success as Alyson is having in softball, as a senior, Alyson's mind fills with more than just future games and at bats.
With graduation just around the corner in May, Bressie has turned her sights on towards a career of serving her country. Alyson will join the United States Navy after she receives her pilot's license. The Navy has not always been the-soon-to-be pilot's career ambition, but rather one that recently came to fruition.
"Last year for FCA one of our leaders was the chaplain for the Navy base in Kingsville," said Bressie. "He just walked in one day and played a video of himself in a jet".
After the video was over, the chaplain asked the audience if anyone would be interested in flying for the Navy, which drew an eager response from Bressie.
The Navy seems well fitted for the senior, who, when asked if there is a plane she most wants to fly, responded "no not really…one that goes fast".
A pilot for the Navy, a career some would refer to as stressful, requires necessary training and critical thinking. The concept of critical thinking is of the upmost importance and something that Bressie has experience with as a catcher and as a pilot.
A 2-2 count with runners on the corners late in a one-run game needs careful analysis by a catcher of several variables in order to preserve a lead, just as a pilot must focus on airspeed, altitude and pitch to ensure a safe flight.
In several ways softball has prepared Bressie for her career dreams. Flying and catching present their own unique obstacles and consequences when unplanned events occur. However, the same thinking skills are always present; quick activation of brain cells that coordinates with an advanced ability of hand eye coordination, skills that Bressie has mastered.
One of those unplanned events came when Bressie flew a Cessna 172, a heavier aircraft than her usual two-seater Cessna 152. During the routine taxi on the runway, Alyson started to notice the airplane was hard to steer and was giving her some trouble, which she attributed to her the aircraft's size.
Landing created a hazardous ordeal for the Bressie, as the 172 continuously pulled towards the side of the runway once the wheels were on the ground. Bressie tried to control the plane and slow it down but was forced to abandon the runway and park in the grass.
After returning to the hangar, Alyson received word that the plane did not respond properly was due to front brake, as it had completely broken away during the flight.
The knowledge and skills Alyson has learned in softball have crossed over into her alternate world of flying. Softball player to Navy airplane pilot may seem like an unlikely sequence of events, but it is the path for Alyson Bressie.
"It's very peaceful and relaxing to just be up there in your own world and look down on everything going on," added Bressie.
In years to come when looking to the sky remember the name Alyson Bressie.
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