Race to the Finish

Concurrent success – and sanity – in athletics and academics is a careful balancing act, one with which Erika Bradley, a traditional BS nursing student at the UB School of Nursing (SON), is well acquainted.

Bradley, who has been skiing since age 3 and ski racing since age 7, enjoyed some impressive triumphs during the 2015 season in the Mideast Alpine Ladies Division of the United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association (USCSA) Mideast Conference. At the January Alfred University Invitational at Swain, she captured first on the giant slalom
and third on the slalom; the following weekend she again placed first on the giant slalom and third on the slalom at the UB/St. Bonaventure University Invitational at Holiday Valley. Bradley won the overall title for the weekend and was subsequently ranked the number one individual female athlete in the Mideast region – this underpins the recognition she received as UB’s sole victor in the 2014 season, in spite of UB lacking any recent team championships.

Bradley’s skill on the slopes is even more noteworthy when considering that UB’s ski team does not have a coach – the success of individual team members hinges entirely on self-assured drive, independence and critical thinking, all of which also characterize successful nursing students. Bradley, who has a private coach, taps into this drive in her daily life, whether missing that Friday night party to rise at 6 a.m. Saturday or relentlessly cramming training into a few short weeks before a new semester begins. Her academic and athletic lives are parallel, each with teachers who strive to prepare her for that moment when, despite intense pressure, she must carefully apply those skills she’s been learning.

“The pressure I face in ski racing has really helped me as a nursing student,” explains Bradley, who currently works in critical care at the Buffalo VA Medical Center. “As a nurse, you have a human life in your hands. Nursing students have that extra level of professional accountability, often at a younger age, and I feel being a student athlete prepared me with a sense of confidence and the ability to prioritize my own needs as well as those of my patients.” The UB SON, Bradley says, has been incredibly supportive of her extracurricular endeavors. “Having the encouragement of the faculty and the dean definitely made me feel, even with 30,000 undergraduates at UB, that I’m more than just a person number,” she says. “It’s humbling and makes me proud to be a UB School of Nursing student.”

Bradley’s sage advice for other student athletes and nursing students? “Be willing to take a step back from a situation to take a look at the bigger picture and your goals. Stay positive – get rid of self-doubt and uncertainty and just go for it.”

- SARAH GOLDTHRITE