South Boston is home to some outstanding professionals, and thirty-six-year-old Brittany Bushman is a prime example. She is the recent MVP and elite quarterback in the International Women’s Football Championship Games, having also been unanimously voted as the MVP for Team USA. Impressive awards aside, she is unfailingly polite, articulate and fiercely motivated to inspire others, including in her role as a biology teacher at Brighton High.
“We are trying to overcome the notion that women can’t play football,” she explained, and no one can deny her leading that charge by example. “I started in fourth grade in Portsmouth, NH. and was the first female to go on and get a varsity letter,” she explained in a matter-of-fact way. “My mother (Cheryl Bushman) didn’t even blink when I said I wanted to play football. The school thought maybe field hockey, but it just wasn’t the same,” she said, and remained determined to play the sport she loves. These early victories set the stage for an athlete who wins without losing perspective.
Playing in Finland she saw far beyond the local, regional, and national arenas where she soared. “Internationally, we played and won three games in nine days, and my body was feeling it, but there were such great athletes and other countries are investing a lot, so the competition was even better,” she said.
Brittany Bushman delivers the same strength to her teaching. Starting as a substitute science teacher, she is hitting her stride this year teaching Advanced Placement Biology and Bio-Medical Pathways. An Emmanuel College graduate, and with a Concordia University Master’s Degree in Coaching and Athletic Administration, she employs everything of who she is to also mentor her students. “I didn’t have the easiest of circumstances, so I know some of the challenges my students face, but my goal is to teach the content and to help them get excited about learning. Being an athlete, I think I can offer context about diet and wellness that can help them,” she said.
Not unlike her students who will soon transition from high school, and as with most athletes at her level, there comes a time to not only love what you have done well, but to think ahead.
‘My mind-set has changed,” she said. “It’s all about leadership now. It’s getting people on the same page and using my ability to get the ball to the teammates and then they get the highlights. That is my joy now,” said this woman not only of huge successful athletic achievement, but one who is thoughtful and appreciative. “Of course, I think about coaching and newscasting, but we’ll see,” she says with a focus on her year ahead at Brighton High.
“My wife, Daniela Ottaiano, my mom, my grandmother, Connie Bushman, are key among the many people close to me have made all this possible,” she said and downplays her own widely recognized work and talent.
Her chosen home after periods playing football in Texas and traveling around the country and world, is now South Boston. “We love it here. The water and green space and neighbors like Norman and Jane (Crump) and it is so calming and liberating. Spectacular, really,” she said. With intensity and reflection, Brittany Bushman is elite in accomplishment and undoubtedly poised for leadership contributions yet to come.
