Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
#TitleIX50: Anne Marie (Lanning) Brentz
12/18/2022 12:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball, BRAA
Looking back on my basketball career, I can certainly say God blessed me in way more ways than not. Even though softball was the first game I played growing up, I still think back on the days when my dad used to take my sisters and I to the gym and we would shoot over and over and over until our arms would get tired.
Honestly, I wouldn't have had it any other way. Those were some of the fondest memories I have of my childhood. Playing for some of the first girls basketball teams at McFadden in the Murfreesboro Boys and Girls club and not having anything to worry about really set the foundation for who I am today as a wife, mom, sister, and businesswoman.
During my career, I guess one of the biggest blessings that I had was not having to worry about some of the things that Title IX has brought into the female athletes' world over the past 50 years. I was blessed to live in an area of the country in which I can honestly say women's basketball was ELITE.
I say that with all capital letters because our AAU teams were top notch. Coach Rick Insell's Shelbyville teams are some of the most legendary High School girls' basketball teams in history, and yes, even though I'm a Blue Raider for life, you have to respect Pat Summit and what she meant to girls' basketball. All of that was at its peak when I was growing up, and being able to immerse myself in the game and be just a small fabric in what has grown into a truly national presence is a big blessing in and of itself.
You don't ever think about that at the time when you're playing, but my senior season at Riverdale in 2007 when we won the first state championship in school history had a major impact on girls basketball in Murfreesboro. Even going back to my freshman year, I knew we had talent, and as the years went by, we continued to get better and better, and we played as one true unit that year, and I learned that even though I wanted so badly to go play with Coach Insell at Shelbyville when I was growing up, the impact that he had on high school basketball here in middle Tennessee spread to Murfreesboro because that team fired on all cylinders that season at Riverdale, just as many of his Shelbyville teams did.
One of the major blessings of playing at MTSU was honestly not just getting to play for my hometown fans, but just realizing as I reflect on that period how blessed and lucky we were to play for a fan base who really loves and respects women's basketball. At the time, we were still in the Sun Belt Conference, and I will never forget going down to the University of Louisiana-Lafayette and looking up at the walls in the gym and seeing what seemed to be paintings of people on the walls. I still to this day don't know exactly what that was, but I always thought that it was to make it look like there were more people in the gym to watch the games.
We are blessed as Blue Raiders that our fans really respect the women's game. Sure, it certainly helped that I had some amazing teammates at MTSU and I got to play for a coaching staff that I wouldn't trade for anyone else, but our fans were always there. I could look up in the crowd and see the same people who watched me growing up from my days in the Boys and Girls Club, to Riverdale and to the Murphy Center. When we went on the road, we always had a following to watch us play. I may be a little biased, of course, but I really think the stigma surrounding the women's game of 'they don't dunk,' or 'it's too slow,' didn't and doesn't exist in Murfreesboro. I think I can speak for a majority of our fan base and student body when I say they share the same sentiments as me when they watch the Lady Raiders. It's a game where you have to work harder and lean on fundamental basketball in order to succeed more so than men's teams have to do, I think. Not to say that there's anything wrong with that, but I think there's a different appreciation that's been brought here to the game at MTSU, which of course doesn't exist everywhere else.
Title IX, of course, brought about that opportunity, because without it, there wouldn't have been a Kim Webb, Alysha Clark, Cheyenne Parker, Krystle Horton, Chrissy Givens, Ebony Rowe, Ty Petty, Alex Johnson, and coaches like Larry Joe Inman, Stephanie Smith or Rick Insell for me to look up to and to continue on after me in the special tradition that it is to be a Lady Raider in any shape, form or fashion, whether it's player, coach, manager, trainer, administrator, you name it.
I was blessed to have the best experience surrounding everything that it meant to be a Lady Raider. I know today, if I called any of my former teammates needing anything, they'd drop whatever they were doing in a heartbeat, and vice versa. Coach Insell really had an impact on me as a young woman, showing me that I could be a leader during my time at MTSU. Sure, I'd taken on leadership roles before, but I really started to realize it in my time playing for him. After I graduated from MTSU, I coached for a while and today am blessed to say that I am running my family's business, Rick's Barbecue, right down the street from Riverdale. That is special to me because I get to see people every day who say they watched me play when I was growing up and it makes me smile. I hope I get to make an impact on them and make Murfreesboro proud with our business because it's given so much to me over the years and I truly enjoy being able to now give back.
Of course, the biggest blessing I got from Title IX and playing at MTSU was the opportunity to meet my husband, Bryce, who was a baseball player here when I played basketball and went on to play professionally. Growing up as an athlete, we both learned many of the same lessons as kids and getting to support him in his professional career and watching him retire a few years back on his own terms was one of the coolest things that I've gotten to experience in my life. He worked hard to be able to help start our family and set an example for our kids.
Being able to have our own family and having a house near my family and seeing what it's like to just live life over the past couple of years running my family's business has been great, but God has blessed us in more ways than I can count, and I owe a majority of that to basketball.
As our kids start to get older and are now starting to play sports themselves, it's really cool for us as parents to be able to take a step back and pour ourselves into them and start teaching them the important life lessons that sports teaches you growing up.
I hope that one day, my daughter, Everlee, has a chance to accomplish everything I've accomplished and then some in sports. Of course, I want my son Landry too outdo dad also (sorry Bryce), but I hope that as we move forward with Title IX, other girls the same age as Everlee get to have the same experience I did as a female athlete.
I know I've said it at least ten times throughout this story, but I just can't get over how blessed I was to have such a top-notch experience as a college athlete, and I pray that as women's college sports continues to move forward, other young women, no matter where or what sport they play, can feel the same way I did playing basketball in Murfreesboro and being a Lady Raider.
Honestly, I wouldn't have had it any other way. Those were some of the fondest memories I have of my childhood. Playing for some of the first girls basketball teams at McFadden in the Murfreesboro Boys and Girls club and not having anything to worry about really set the foundation for who I am today as a wife, mom, sister, and businesswoman.
During my career, I guess one of the biggest blessings that I had was not having to worry about some of the things that Title IX has brought into the female athletes' world over the past 50 years. I was blessed to live in an area of the country in which I can honestly say women's basketball was ELITE.
I say that with all capital letters because our AAU teams were top notch. Coach Rick Insell's Shelbyville teams are some of the most legendary High School girls' basketball teams in history, and yes, even though I'm a Blue Raider for life, you have to respect Pat Summit and what she meant to girls' basketball. All of that was at its peak when I was growing up, and being able to immerse myself in the game and be just a small fabric in what has grown into a truly national presence is a big blessing in and of itself.
You don't ever think about that at the time when you're playing, but my senior season at Riverdale in 2007 when we won the first state championship in school history had a major impact on girls basketball in Murfreesboro. Even going back to my freshman year, I knew we had talent, and as the years went by, we continued to get better and better, and we played as one true unit that year, and I learned that even though I wanted so badly to go play with Coach Insell at Shelbyville when I was growing up, the impact that he had on high school basketball here in middle Tennessee spread to Murfreesboro because that team fired on all cylinders that season at Riverdale, just as many of his Shelbyville teams did.
One of the major blessings of playing at MTSU was honestly not just getting to play for my hometown fans, but just realizing as I reflect on that period how blessed and lucky we were to play for a fan base who really loves and respects women's basketball. At the time, we were still in the Sun Belt Conference, and I will never forget going down to the University of Louisiana-Lafayette and looking up at the walls in the gym and seeing what seemed to be paintings of people on the walls. I still to this day don't know exactly what that was, but I always thought that it was to make it look like there were more people in the gym to watch the games.
We are blessed as Blue Raiders that our fans really respect the women's game. Sure, it certainly helped that I had some amazing teammates at MTSU and I got to play for a coaching staff that I wouldn't trade for anyone else, but our fans were always there. I could look up in the crowd and see the same people who watched me growing up from my days in the Boys and Girls Club, to Riverdale and to the Murphy Center. When we went on the road, we always had a following to watch us play. I may be a little biased, of course, but I really think the stigma surrounding the women's game of 'they don't dunk,' or 'it's too slow,' didn't and doesn't exist in Murfreesboro. I think I can speak for a majority of our fan base and student body when I say they share the same sentiments as me when they watch the Lady Raiders. It's a game where you have to work harder and lean on fundamental basketball in order to succeed more so than men's teams have to do, I think. Not to say that there's anything wrong with that, but I think there's a different appreciation that's been brought here to the game at MTSU, which of course doesn't exist everywhere else.
Title IX, of course, brought about that opportunity, because without it, there wouldn't have been a Kim Webb, Alysha Clark, Cheyenne Parker, Krystle Horton, Chrissy Givens, Ebony Rowe, Ty Petty, Alex Johnson, and coaches like Larry Joe Inman, Stephanie Smith or Rick Insell for me to look up to and to continue on after me in the special tradition that it is to be a Lady Raider in any shape, form or fashion, whether it's player, coach, manager, trainer, administrator, you name it.
I was blessed to have the best experience surrounding everything that it meant to be a Lady Raider. I know today, if I called any of my former teammates needing anything, they'd drop whatever they were doing in a heartbeat, and vice versa. Coach Insell really had an impact on me as a young woman, showing me that I could be a leader during my time at MTSU. Sure, I'd taken on leadership roles before, but I really started to realize it in my time playing for him. After I graduated from MTSU, I coached for a while and today am blessed to say that I am running my family's business, Rick's Barbecue, right down the street from Riverdale. That is special to me because I get to see people every day who say they watched me play when I was growing up and it makes me smile. I hope I get to make an impact on them and make Murfreesboro proud with our business because it's given so much to me over the years and I truly enjoy being able to now give back.
Of course, the biggest blessing I got from Title IX and playing at MTSU was the opportunity to meet my husband, Bryce, who was a baseball player here when I played basketball and went on to play professionally. Growing up as an athlete, we both learned many of the same lessons as kids and getting to support him in his professional career and watching him retire a few years back on his own terms was one of the coolest things that I've gotten to experience in my life. He worked hard to be able to help start our family and set an example for our kids.
Being able to have our own family and having a house near my family and seeing what it's like to just live life over the past couple of years running my family's business has been great, but God has blessed us in more ways than I can count, and I owe a majority of that to basketball.
As our kids start to get older and are now starting to play sports themselves, it's really cool for us as parents to be able to take a step back and pour ourselves into them and start teaching them the important life lessons that sports teaches you growing up.
I hope that one day, my daughter, Everlee, has a chance to accomplish everything I've accomplished and then some in sports. Of course, I want my son Landry too outdo dad also (sorry Bryce), but I hope that as we move forward with Title IX, other girls the same age as Everlee get to have the same experience I did as a female athlete.
I know I've said it at least ten times throughout this story, but I just can't get over how blessed I was to have such a top-notch experience as a college athlete, and I pray that as women's college sports continues to move forward, other young women, no matter where or what sport they play, can feel the same way I did playing basketball in Murfreesboro and being a Lady Raider.
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