Collegiate Conference of the South All-Tournament team honoree. Three-time CCS Rookie of the Week. A member of the CCS All-Academic team and someone whose life has been changed by an NCAA Division III institution.
Piedmont University women’s tennis player Bri Laidman reset her life without a dollar to her name. A small college built on community made sure she came back better than ever.
Laidman started playing tennis competitively in middle school and continued throughout grade school. Despite some early burnout from an intense academy, she verbally committed to Piedmont University at the end of her junior year of high school.
“I think DIII was my goal,” said Laidman. “I didn’t want tennis to be my entire life, because it has always been my entire life. So DIII was that balance between friends, school and tennis.”
In her first semester of college, like many students, Laidman struggled juggling that balance. However, there was one extra factor on top of the stress. A new relationship was forming in her life, one that caused a divide between her and her loved ones.
“I got some backlash. People who I thought I could count on supporting me didn’t.”
While Laidman was happy in her new relationship, others did not share that same joy. At the end of her first semester, Laidman lost her external financial support to attend Piedmont.
Without the finances to afford school, she had to spend the spring away from her friends, partner and the tennis court. Laidman missed her freshman season of college athletics, but she was determined to make sure it was the only one she missed.
During the holiday break, Laidman made the tough decision to leave her home in order to create a future for herself. Without a driver’s license, birth certificate or social security card, she had one goal in mind.
Laidman was intent on returning to college, and with the support of the community she had at Piedmont, she made it happen.
“It’s really hard to get to the point where you decide, ‘Okay, I need to leave,’ because that’s a total life changer,” said partner Haylee Dornan. “I don’t know how many people could do that. It was incredible.”
When Laidman left her hometown, she worked jobs in the food industry and in retail to make money for herself and pay for school. The Piedmont community came to her aid and ensured that she would return as a Lion her sophomore year.
Friends, as well as relatives of these friends, sent Laidman money, offered to house her and continuously reached out to support her. While the aid was difficult to accept, Laidman learned to open up and ask for help.
“I told my advisors, I told Trey [Martin] and the president at the time. I did email him and he sent me a long list of scholarships, and he helped me kind of get back on my feet,” said Laidman. “I would not be here without them.”
Piedmont women’s tennis head coach Trey Martin checked on Laidman’s well-being, sent Laidman discounts on tennis equipment and encouraged her to continue trying to get back to Piedmont for her education. Laidman had her spot reserved on the tennis team, but under one condition.
“We had an honest conversation. I said, ‘I don’t want the kid that I had in the fall,’” said Martin. “It was like her mind was elsewhere.”
Laidman more than accepted the clause, and she thrived with it. Refusing to have her hand held, Laidman returned to Piedmont as a completely new person. She no longer had expectations from anyone but herself.
“For a long time, tennis was kind of like a job to me and not so much as ‘Oh my gosh, yes, I get to play tennis!’” said Laidman. “I love to play tennis. I’m not out here because I have to be. I wanted to love tennis again.”
In Laidman’s first season playing collegiate tennis as a sophomore, the doubles-specialist posted a 13-3 record with doubles-partner Imani Vincent. The pair ended the season with a 10-match win streak, playing every match in the first line of doubles.
In the 2023 conference championship against rival Covenant College, Laidman and Vincent won their match, 8-3. In the sixth line of singles, Laidman’s victory clinched the Collegiate Conference of the South conference championship.
After not having a dollar to her name one year prior, Bri Laidman cemented a fairytale ending for her and her team.
“I thought it was kind of poetic that a kid that had went through so much, and had done so much just to be here, clinched the conference championship for us in the spring,” said Martin.
The success hasn’t stopped there. Halfway through Piedmont women’s tennis’ 2024 season, Laidman and doubles-partner Abbey Grace Venham have an 8-4 record in the first line of doubles. In singles, Laidman is 5-3.
With the help of a small Division III university, Laidman returned as a key member of a championship-winning team. Despite adversity, Laidman gained the confidence to live for herself.
“I think that’s why you come to Piedmont, why you go DIII, because there’s people around here that care. I think that’s one of the benefits of Division III,” said Martin. “Just the small community and how everyone kind of rallies around you in that sense.”
With a school population under 2,000 and a student-to-professor ratio of 12:1, Piedmont University represents NCAA Division III as a strong community school. Piedmont’s slogan “Be a Lion, Not a Number,” is proven in the story of Bri Laidman.
“I have been a better version of myself today than I was two years ago,” said Laidman. “I don’t think I would be here, what I’m doing and who I am today, without Piedmont.”
