Lady Sailors' Bradtmueller Looks to Keep Singing

SARASOTA - Before discovering Sarah Bradtmueller’s true talent, Rob Jutras saw all the makings of a ballplayer.

Jutras, whose girls basketball team will play visiting on Tuesday night for a spot in the Class 6A-Region 2 championship game, remembers encountering an energetic and hustling seventh grader three years ago when he was s head coach. That initial observation was confirmed earlier this season when Jutras observed a junior varsity game at the beginning of the 2010-11 season.

“She was all over the floor defensively during that first jayvee game,” Jutras said. “That’s what I really look for in a player. I don’t care if they ever score a point.”

Bradtmueller, a sophomore who plays for the Lady Sailors because her school does not have a basketball team, was expected to spend the majority of her first high school basketball season on the junior varsity team. However, the plan was scrapped after a string of anterior cruciate ligament injuries and concussions hit Sarasota’s varsity squad.

“(Promoting Bradtmueller to the varsity) has been good and bad,” Jutras said. “It’s good that she has fit right in and been a really good teammate. It’s bad because she really needs the minutes down at the jayvee level in order to continue to develop.”

Although content to develop her game against the established varsity players, Bradtmueller soon found herself drafted into a more fitting role. A performer from the age of two, Bradtmueller has all eyes on her for the two-plus minutes it requires to belt out a stirring rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” prior to the start of Lady Sailor home games.

“I have just always sung in my bedroom with the hairbrush,” Bradtmueller said. “I always sang Britney Spears. When I was six, I went up to the band at one of my cousin’s weddings and took the microphone to sing a Britney Spears song. That’s when my parents knew that I would be singing the rest of my life.”

Before impressing Sarasota resident Jerry Springer with her vocal talent, Bradtmueller danced in front of thousands at venues such as the and sang for patrons at an Osprey karaoke establishment.

“I met Jerry Springer at a talent show, and he fell in love with me,” Bradtmueller said. “They had the talent show the next year and he asked for me to come back, so I got to perform for him again.”

Springer told Bradtmueller that she had the poise and talent to pursue a singing career. He advised her to gain as much experience through local showcases, but said nothing of performing the national anthem at her own basketball games.

Bradtmueller had never attempted the national anthem prior to singing it before the start of a 36-33 loss to Riverview on Dec. 17. Jutras had difficulty finding singers before his daughter and Sarasota point guard, Kelly, recommended Bradtmueller.

“I was actually sick the day that I had to sing it (for the first time), but everyone thought I was just backing out,” Bradtmueller said. “Then, I missed three days of practice after that because I was sick. No one believed me.”

Bradtmueller is currently looking into the audition process to sing the national anthem for spring training games at Sarasota’s Ed Smith Stadium and Tampa Bay Lightning home games. If the Lady Sailors can beat Riverview for the third time this season, Bradtmueller’s next performance will come prior to the start of a region championship game against either Orlando Dr. Phillips or Olympia.

“If we make it to the Final Four, maybe they will let her sing it in Lakeland,” Jutras said.