Waking up and getting ready for school can get pretty monotonous. Your alarm always goes off too early, you never feel like you have enough time and it’s almost always a rush.
However, for Braelyn Even, this one morning in October was different. After checking her phone, she saw an email from her club soccer coach. It turns out she was selected to play with Team USA in Portugal.
“We had no idea,” Braelyn’s mom, Christy Even, told The Hamiltonian Magazine. “We were all shocked. When she went to the camp in June, that was her first camp and she had never gone through the process or knew much about it.
“She was 50/50 on how she did at the June camp… We were not anticipating a callback. When she got the email, we were like, ‘Oh, we better get you a passport — and fast.’”
Even just completed her final year with Badin’s girls soccer team, helping lead the Rams to the state final where they fell to Bay Village High School.
“We were really skilled this year, but I think the thing that did it was we were a really close group,” Even told The Hamiltonian.
She led the Rams in goals in three of the four years she played, scoring nine in 2025, 10 in 2023 and 15 in 2022 during her freshman year. She started playing the sport as a little kid, around five years old. Her mom says she was always bigger and faster than the other kids, but was quickly told that her athleticism and physical attributes would only get her so far.
“When she began training, she fell in love with it,” Christy Even said. “She would just keep asking, ‘Can I go back to training? Can I go back to training?’ Not just the team training, but individual training. We were like, ‘Oh. You really love this.’”
Her mom noticed that she had what it takes to get to the next level during her 15-goal campaign during her freshman year, and in June before her junior year, her phone blowing up with college coaches trying to get in touch confirmed Christy’s suspicions.
“That day was very overwhelming,” Braelyn said.
“It was a lot to deal with. But then I narrowed down my top five schools, and went on visits, and then after that just kept on narrowing down other schools.”
Those visits were to Cincinnati, Ohio State, Virginia Tech and Michigan. She ultimately chose to play for head coach Erica Demers and the Bearcats, staying home and following in her mom’s footsteps, as Christy also played for UC.
“Honestly, so excited. The experience was phenomenal for me, obviously,” Christy said.
“That was back then, though, and I was there from 1997 to 2003. The game and the facilities have changed drastically. To be able to play in a Power Four and the culture — Erica’s doing an absolutely phenomenal job, and she’ll just keep building that program… Selfishly, we were excited that she’s in our backyard.”
Even with this hyper-focus on soccer, all the accolades that came with committing to a Division I school and getting an invite to play with Team USA in Portugal, Even still had the ability to be an impact player on Badin’s girls basketball team, reaching the 1,000-point mark as a junior, becoming the 10th player in Rams history to reach that mark. She was also named the GCL Defensive Player of the Year.
Just a few months after the conclusion of her junior year, Even hopped on a flight to Portugal for one of the biggest challenges of her athletic career — not just playing against some of the best talent in Ohio or the United States, but some of the best players in the world. It was also her first time leaving the country.
She spent 10 days across the Atlantic, going through tough training and the rigid process that it takes to be part of Team USA. Even learned a lot, especially what a Mediterranean diet looks like, saying she had a very fish-heavy diet, which she jokingly said she didn’t exactly love.
“At the camp, it’s very much like a collegiate professional environment where they bring the food in and everything is very controlled from a nutrition standpoint,” Christy told The Hamiltonian. “It was a lot of fish, rice, protein shakes, that type of thing.”
Even played in two friendlies against Ireland and Portugal. Team USA drew with Portugal 3-3 but beat Ireland 1-0, and Even assisted on the lone goal, which led to the Americans reigning victorious.
“I’d say the buildup to the game felt a lot different because, when you walk out for the national anthem and you’re wearing a U.S. jersey, it means so much more. But as soon as we started playing, it felt like a normal game.”
The highs of making a state title game, being selected to the Team USA roster and reaching 1,000 points on the basketball court couldn’t be put in proper perspective without including the lows. Even has torn her ACL twice — once in middle school and once during her sophomore year.
Nothing would stop her from overcoming that adversity and continuing to be the athlete she was before and has been over the last two years. Even plans on finishing out her senior year at Badin and continuing her stellar basketball career in lieu of enrolling early at Cincinnati.