Introducing Brittain Dearden
Click to watch a short video interview
No. 4 Mercer, NJ
Dearden will play either as a defender or midfielder at BYU. She played as an outside back during the Blue/White scrimmage.
She is the farthest away from home of all the freshmen this year, but has already enjoyed her time in Provo.
"Everyone is super nice and if you're in the dorms and you don't know somebody or you're passing in the hallway they'll say hi," Dearden said. "Everyone's super nice and they're just great people to be around."
She enjoys being part of close-knit groups, that's something that intrigued her about BYU and the soccer team.
"The girls and the coaches, the freshmen especially, we're super close right now," Dearden said. "We went to the cabin with the older girls on Friday and we're starting to get closer to them. "They're taking us under their wing and are super nice. The coaches are helping us adjust to the speed of play.
"As I visited other schools and came to camp here there's an environment here that you can't find anywhere else. The coaches were great and I noticed when I came to camp all the girls were super close on the team and that's something that wasn't there on other teams."
Dearden won a national championship as a youth soccer player and received awards as a player from the time she was a freshman. Her opportunity to play at BYU is also a shot at new experiences her freshman year and hopefully new heights.
"I love Utah and I've never really been in a setting where a lot of kids are members together," Dearden said. "So I think that will be kind of fun. That' s a different experience. Just meeting a bunch of new people. Soccer-wise I'm excited to start the season and see how far we can go and how great we can be."
One thing that she's always loved is crafts. "I love doing all different kinds of crafts," Dearden said. "Paint, make signs, for Christmas I painted my brother a picture frame. I just like to do little crafty things like that. "This might sound funny, but ever since I was little, I liked to paint birdhouses. My mom puts them up around the kitchen or I'll give them to people for presents or give them to my grandma for Mother's Day."
Making decorative birdhouses might have been her passion, but she has goals for herself at BYU as well. "To become the best player I can become and hopefully get really close to the team," Dearden said.