Bremer receives Division II Honda Athlete of the Year award in New York City
Lake City native Natalie Bremer and her parents, Steve and Michelle, were in New York City Monday for Natalie to receive the Division II Honda Athlete of the Year award.
The award, which honors the top athlete in NCAA Division II women’s sports, was presented on a CBS Sports Network broadcast of the Collegiate Women Sports Awards.
Bremer amassed numerous accomplishments, awards, and accolades as a guard for the Minnesota State University - Mankato Mavericks women’s basketball team, including leading the team to a NCAA Division II national championship in her sophomore season.
On July 24, ncaa.org published a feature story on Natalie describing her progression from mimicking her older brothers’ Andrew and Zach’s basketball moves as a small child to becoming the leader of an NCAA Division II basketball team.
A farm kid, her “daily chores included lugging around a 5-gallon pail of food for the cows, cleaning the pens and bottle-feeding the calves. The work stared around 5:30 a.m., with she and her brothers alternating between the morning and afternoon shifts.
“After her chores, she played basketball. When she was 7, her brothers promoted her to play PIG and one-on-one with them.
“‘It mostly would end up with me crying,’ she said. ‘I would probably get blocked almost every single time.’
“But when Natalie would inevitably run into the house through tears of frustration, her parents would turn her around. If she wanted to play with her brothers, she would have to suck it up.
“‘It really developed the mental aspect of my game.’”
In high school, Bremer became the Tigers’ scoring and steals leader and led the team to its first state tournament appearance in decades.
When it was time to choose a college, she chose Minnesota State because of its arena and dedicated fan base, she told ncaa.org. “Immediately when I stepped into the gym, I was like, ‘I love this place.’”
With a national championship and now a Honda Cup bearing her name en route to the school, she’s leaving a program with an example that she hopes will inspire future recruits.
“The Honda Award caps off the amount of work I put in for the four years,” she told the site. “Great athletes before me built me up to be able to receive this award. Now, our program can show future recruits they can build people up here and that you want to be here. This is the place to be.”