By BOB SHRALUKA
WZBD.com
For Bri Converset, winning the Patricia L. Roy Mental Attitude Award at the state basketball tournament was no big deal … except for the fact that it came with her teammates surrounding her.
Converset, the only senior on a team which won the school’s first state basketball championship, was announced after the final game as the recipient of the prestigious mental attitude award.
“Everybody’s been talking about it, but for me it’s no big deal,” she told WZBD.com. “Like, it’s something that I did. But I guess it means a lot to me because all the girls were there with me.”
“I am just grateful for the experience. I guess it means a lot of hard work has paid off. It was a long season for me but it was fun trying to get through it.”
How surprised were you to receive the award?
“It’s like the fourth quarter and I look over my shoulder and I see my parents downstairs and I’m like, I don’t really know what’s going on.
“The funny thing is I really didn’t know about the award. We had lunch and I was talking with (coach Andy) Heim about it and he said, ‘I nominated you.’ I didn’t even know I was nominated until that morning.”
“Then they’re about to announce the award and Ashley (Bleke) goes, ‘This could be you.’ I said, well, my parents are down here and I’m like, maybe it is me. But I don’t want to get my hopes up.”
“And then they announced it and I was like, ‘holy crap, this is actually happening.’ So I was surprised but I kind of knew about it but I kind of did not, if that makes any sense.”
It was a double double, to use a basketball term: A prestigious award following the thrill of winning a state championship for the daughter of Matt and Jennifer Converset.
So what is it like, winning a state championship?
“It’s so cool. Even the experience of being there was like worth a million,” Bri said.
“I don’t know if it’s fully sunk in yet with graduation and everything going on. It’s a roller coaster and it’s so much fun, but it takes a lot out of you.”
“But, again, it’s huge – it’s really fun, The winning is just the cherry on top, I guess. It’s being there with all my teammates.”
“I feel so blessed. I thank my whole family, my team for putting me in this place.”
BUSY, BUSY: This is a busy young women winding down her time at Bellmont.
A few of her many non-athletic activities – while maintaining a 4.24 GPA – include the student council, SALT (Student Athletic Leadership Team), BADD (Braves Against Destructive Decisions), the National Honor Society, past member of the Mayor’s Youth Council, and more.
Oh, yes, and this summer you’ll find her with crews painting curbs for the City of Decatur … in addition to her usual role at ABCinema.
Before long, Bri will be embarking on an entire new chapter in her life: St. Francis University.
She will major in elementary education and minor in early childhood education.
Bri plans to continue playing her favorite sport at St. Francis: soccer. As does her Bellmont soccer teammate, Adi Knipstein.
“I always played park and rec (soccer) when I was little, but never really got into it until like seventh grade, middle school. That’s when I really got into it.”
“I used to love basketball then all of a sudden I kind like shifted; now I like soccer better. Before middle school I hated soccer.”
For Brianna Converset, it’s been quite a ride.
“I’m just so grateful for all this. I would not be here without every single person around me,” she said. “I always dreamed of winning state and stuff in soccer. God puts you through things that you’re ready for but I don’t think I would have been ready for that, stress and anxiety wise and all that stuff. I was ready for this.”
NUMBER EIGHT: Bri Converset became Bellmont’s eighth recipient of an IHSAA mental attitude award, but the first in girls basketball.
The initial winner, according to BHS records, was Ben Faurote in wrestling in 1999.
Another wrestler, Jon Sheets, followed in 2003.
The first winner in girls athletics was Erin Braun Whitman, for softball in 2004.
Following are the eight recipients:
1999 – Ben Faurote – wrestling
2003 – Jon Sheets – wrestling
2004 – Jon Zeser – boys basketball
2004 – Erin Braun – softball
2015 – Holly Hankenson – track and field
2019 – Rachel McBride – volleyball
2022 – Paige Busick – volleyball
2026 – Brianna Converset – girls basketball
THE AWARD: The IHSAA annually presents a mental attitude award at the state finals in each classification of girls and boys basketball.
The recipient must excel in mental attitude, scholarship, leadership and athletic ability.
The award is named for Patricia L. Roy, who was born in Goshen in 1938 and grew up in Harlan.
At the age of 15 she played one season with the Fort Wayne Daisies of the All American Girls Professional Baseball League.
She earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Ball State, then began a long career in education.
Roy became a pioneer for girls athletics in Indiana when she was hired by the IHSAA in 1972.
Her first role in the IHSAA was as director of the girls’ athletics department, a position that did not exist before her arrival. As a result, Roy established the guidelines for the tournament series for all sports for girls in Indiana and guided the IHSAA girls basketball team to its first championship.
She spent 27½ years at the IHSSA, the longest tenure for an executive in the organization’s history.
She died in 2017 in Ave Maria, Florida, at the age of 78.
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