Braden Bishop, freshman forward of Northern kentucky University’s Soccer Team and graduate of Centerville High School, has earned the Freshman of the Year honors in the Great Lakes Valley Conference this year. He leads the Norse with nine goals this season, is this week’s guest on the Hot Seat.

Tim: Braden, what do you find is the biggest adjustment between the high school and college game? Braden: The pace of the game is much faster. I could tell from the first practice.

Tim: How did your coach at Centerville prepare you for the college game? Braden: Coach Loveless taught us that the game is as much mental as it is physical and to always have the right mindset for games and even practices.

Tim: How much does it help when you have D.J. Todd, a former teammate at Centerville, play alongside you at NKU? Braden: We are used to how each other play and are comfortable with each other. It also gave me someone to talk to in the first few days when I didn’t know anybody else on the team.

Tim: Do you have any superstitions that you believe in when it comes to soccer? Braden: No not really, other than if you score more goals than the other team, there’s no way you can lose.

Tim: What do you think of Coach Basalyga? Braden: I think he is a good coach who knows what he wants out of a team from the start and won’t stop until he gets it.

Tim: When Coach Basalyga is upset with the team’s play during the first half of a game, how does his halftime tirade motivate the team for the second half? Braden: It depends. He either threatens us with running the next day at practice or just tells what we need to improve on and we usually step our game up.

Tim: What do you absolutely hate during a practice? Braden: I enjoy practice for the most part, so I guess the part I hate most is the cold weather.

Tim: Braden, you have been chosen Freshman of the Year in the GLVC. How will this help you in your career at NKU? Braden: It gives me and our team a certain amount of respect that opposing teams will have to honor in the coming years.

Tim: You are leading the Norse in goals this year with nine. Were you this big of a scorer during your career at Centerville High School? Braden: In high school, the scoring was pretty much done by me and another player so I’d say I’m about the same as in high school.

Tim: What do you believe NKU’s chances are in the post-season play this year? Braden: I think we have a good chance because we have proved that we can play with and beat the teams in our conference and region.