For an athlete, sitting on the sidelines usually means they’re just taking a rest, and that they’ll re-enter the game soon.
In the case of Bradley transfer Charnelle Reed, however, she couldn’t get into a game last season. Or, more accurately, she was not allowed to.
The redshirt sophomore, who transferred from Western Illinois University, was required by NCAA rules to sit out one year.
The wait to play was tough for Reed, who had never experienced this before in her playing career.
“I never had to completely sit out and actually watch my teammates play and not be able to contribute anything,” said Reed. “The year off was a struggle.”
It may have been tough to endure, but Reed said she believes it made it easier for her to transition from Western Illinois to Bradley.
She said the move to the Hilltop made a big difference and not just on the basketball court.
“I have a different work ethic here, in school and on the court,” said Reed. “It was the best move for me.”
Before coming to Bradley, Reed was a sharpshooter for the Western Illinois Leathernecks where she made 40.2 percent of her three-point shots, averaged 8.5 points per game and averaged 2.6 rebounds per game.
Although Reed enjoyed a productive freshman year in her time in Macomb, she found that Western Illinois just wasn’t for her.
“It was rocky,” Reed said. “My style of play works a lot better at Bradley. It’s just a lot more competitive.”
Reed’s style of play as an outside shooter will benefit Bradley’s up-tempo style of play, but that’s not the only role to take on this year.
“My role is to basically be a leader… role model,” Reed said. “The year of me sitting out kind of had me figure [that] out.”
With a total of seven newcomers on the team this year, six of them freshmen, Reed’s duty as a role model who knows the inner workings of the Braves system will be invaluable to head coach Michael Brooks.
However, Brooks points to Reed as being a leader for not only the freshmen, but for the younger players that are returning to the team as well.
One reason that Reed became a leader for the returning players was because of her redshirt status.
This makes her a sophomore, even though she graduated from high school three years ago, and places her in the same class as teammates Leti Lerma and Whitney Tinjum.
“She’s got two people on either side of her who are who I like to call her road dogs,” said Brooks. “They’re going to be with her through the end.”
As the 2014-2015 season approaches, Reed has established herself as a teammate and as a role model for her teammates on and off the court.
“We stay very consistent with that we do here versus when I was at Western,” Reed said. “For the most part, I’m getting there.”
