University of Georgia Athletics
Quick Chat: Brynn Chandler
November 07, 2019 | Volleyball, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
To say that Georgia volleyball junior Brynn Chandler comes from an accomplished sports family would be an understatement.
You may remember her father, Chris, from his many seasons as the Atlanta Falcons' quarterback during a 17-year NFL career. Her mom, Diane, played collegiate tennis at USC; her sister, Ryann, played volleyball at UCLA. Chandler's grandfather, John Brodie, was a star quarterback at Stanford and with the 49ers (he was the NFL MVP in 1970) and is in the College Football Hall of Fame. Brodie also played golf professionally on the Senior PGA Tour for more than a decade.
During a Quick Chat after practice Tuesday, Chandler, from San Diego, talked about her family, growing up in San Diego, being a "Super Bowl Baby" and much more. Here's some of what she had to say:
Frierson: When you have a family as athletic and sporty and competitive as yours, how does that manifest itself? Are there super-intense games of basketball in the driveway or anything?
Chandler: Yeah, for sure. My family is overly competitive, to the point where it turns into arguing because we're all so competitive. It's like, who can get home fastest from the mall? Or who can get to dinner quicker? Or who finishes their food first?
It's like every little thing is a game.
Frierson: Is there a family sporting event where everyone can chime in with their different abilities?
Chandler: We would play baseball kickball, which is like kickball but on a baseball field, and we're a really big pickleball — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqLRRNOpe8U — players, so we'll do that during family holidays with the whole family, including my mom's side of the family which is all a bunch of athletes.
That usually turns into a rowdier scene, I would say.
Frierson: Your serve seems to be one of the most effective on the team, you have a team-high 29 aces, so did that come from your mom and tennis? Did you play a lot of tennis growing up?
Chandler: I definitely played a lot of tennis when I was younger, but what I have been told is that I get it from my dad, because the mechanics of throwing a football and hitting a volleyball are very similar. I know when I was younger, my dad would take some of my sister's club teammates and throw the football with them, and do that over and over again.
I think that motion has been something that kind of came naturally to me and that's why I've kind of taken off with it.
Frierson: You grew up in San Diego, which is beautiful and has perfect weather and a million other things going for it, so what is it like being from there and surrounded by perfection?
Chandler: It is definitely hard to beat. I know when I'm there, I can't wait to come back and see the seasons here. But then when I'm here and I'm like, I hate that it's cold, I don't want to see any more bugs and I don't like when it's humid and hot.
It's somewhere that I could see myself going back and living, just because it maybe rains two weeks the whole year and it's spread out through the whole year so you don't even remember that it ever rained.
I definitely feel a little spoiled with living in San Diego, for sure.
Frierson: What's something you could eat every day and never get tired of it?
Chandler: Pasta with vodka sauce on it, which is like the red and white sauces mixed together. I could eat that for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and I'm not even kidding, for the rest of my life. It is my favorite food and every time it is at any of the places we eat, that's what I'll get.
Frierson: We just had Halloween last week, so what is your favorite Halloween candy and what's the best costume you've ever worn?
Chandler: My favorite Halloween candy would probably be, I like Reese's and I like the king-size Reese's that people give out, that's probably my favorite. As for my favorite costume, I'm actually really bad at dressing up for Halloween but one year I dressed up as my dad and it was fun because I had all the authentic stuff. I wore a real Falcons helmet and a real jersey, and I just wore my soccer cleats from when I played. It actually turned out cool and it made my dad happy, so that was fun.
Frierson: How old were you when he got to the Super Bowl (in 1998)?
Chandler: I was actually born four days before the Super Bowl, so I'm not remembering much at all. We flew down (to Miami) right after I was born and we went to the game, I guess, not that I remember it.
Frierson: You were about as newborn as you could be at the Super Bowl.
Chandler: Yeah, so I got the nickname Super Bowl Baby for like five years while we lived in Atlanta, before we moved. Now, every time we come back, if we got to any of the Falcons organized events, everyone's like, "Oh my gosh, the Super Bowl Baby!" [Laughs.]
Frierson: If you could go anywhere in the world on somebody else's dime, where would you like to go?
Chandler: Paris, I would go to Paris. I am obsessed with Paris ever since I saw the movie "Ratatouille" and I want to move there and live there for like six months. But I don't think that I can live there because I don't speak the language, so that might be a little difficult.
If I could go to Paris, I would leave right now.
Frierson: If you could be great at anything for a day, just to experience it, what would you choose?
Chandler: Dancing. Yes, I'm the worst dancer ever and everybody on our team always laughs because we like to make funny dancing videos and I can't do them — at all. I'm coordinated, I would say, from playing sports that take a lot of coordination, but I cannot dance for the life of me.
Frierson: In a perfect world, what are you doing 10 years from now?
Chandler: I would like to be a sports broadcaster, any sport, preferably a sideline reporter. And I want to either be living in Atlanta, Miami or L.A.
Frierson: Have you talked to Maria Taylor about this yet? She has to be the perfect role model, of course.
Chandler: I've gone to some of the things that she's hosted here and then she comes and talks to us, but I just get so nervous. [Laughs.] Sometimes I just listen and try to take it all in, just remember what she did and what she said and go from there.
Frierson: Who is the funniest person on the team?
Chandler: We all have a very acquired sense of humor, individually; I think if I was to have the hardest laughs with anyone on the team, it would be Kayla Rivera, and she'd say the same thing about me.
We don't even have to really say anything, if something happens the first person I look at is her because we just know what the other one is thinking. We stayed up one night for like four and a half hours just in tears laughing and were sore the next day. Our humor is so similar and just the way we find things funny is identical.
(This Q&A was lightly edited for length and clarity.)
John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
