By Ryan Rogers
LSUsports.net
You hear all the time stories of athletes who faced injuries and were able to play through the difficult pain and physical limitations to help their teams succeed.
Two-time All-American Bruna Colosio took that scenario a step further. Not only did she play through an assortment of injuries, but she carried the LSU women’s tennis team to the postseason. For her efforts Colosio was named the SEC Player of the Year last weekend.
“I wasn’t expecting to do this well this year,” said Colosio. “I had so many injuries and I wasn’t able to play at my best level. I wasn’t able to try and improve my game due to the injuries.”
Colosio’s injuries include tendonitis in her shoulder, elbow and wrist, strained muscles and ligaments in her shoulder and a muscle dysfunction in her forearm.
“The more I played the worse the injuries have gotten.”
Her injuries are non-surgical, and will only heal if Colosio takes a break from tennis for a while. Because of these injuries Colosio wasn’t able to practice the entire season. The everyday workouts would have put too much stress on her injuries.
How many athletes do you know can never practice and be named the SEC’s best player?
Colosio was playing in a tournament in Uruguay when she heard the news that she was voted SEC Player of the Year.
“I was very excited when I heard the news. I wasn’t expecting to be in consideration for this award going into the season. It wasn’t my goal to be the best player in the SEC, but I knew by doing what I did I was setting myself up for the honor.”
So who is Bruna Colosio?
Colosio grew up in Cascaval, Brazil. She is the daughter of Flavio and Raquel Colosio. Both of her parents are dentists. She comes from a very athletic family. Her older bother is a great athlete back home and her parents both encouraged athletics in her life.
She began playing tennis with her parents socially as a kid. By the time she was 10 years old she was the Brazilian National Champion in her age group. She won the Brazilian title a number of age groups growing up.
“My whole family played socially,” said Colosio. “I liked it a lot and I started competing and winning. Then I got a sponsor and I traveled everywhere to play. I got a lot out of traveling to different countries.
I played in the U.S. Open and other events like that. It was just such a good experience to come to college with that behind me. It helped give me an advantage over a lot of collegiate players.”
Colosio was a jewel of a recruit for Coach Tony Minnis. He got her to come to LSU by establishing a pipeline in Brazil prior to Colosio’s emergence.
“There were a few girls from Brazil that came to LSU before me. They encouraged me to go there and one of their coaches told Tony (Minnis) about me and he invited me to go to LSU without ever having seen me play before.”
Coach Minnis probably had no idea that he had just extended an invitation to someone who would turn out to be one of the NCAA’s premier tennis players in Colosio.
“At first I didn’t want to come to college, but now that I’m here I realize that it was the right thing to do.”
Outside of tennis, Colosio is a quiet girl who stays dedicated to the task at hand. She enjoys hanging around with friends, catching movies and occasionally going to an party. However, local bars around campus are not a place you will find Bruna.
Colosio is an Interior Design major. She has aspirations to give professional tennis a shot after graduation.
Colosio has made some great memories since her arrival at LSU.
“Beating Pepperdine in the regional last year is something I’ll never forget. We were ranked No. 34 and they were ranked No. 6. We beat them and it was something no one at LSU had done before.”
Colosio will be back for her senior season next year. She should be healthy for the 2002 campaign. After accomplishing so much under the circumstances in 2001, even bigger horizons lie ahead for Bruna Colosio in 2002.