Student Athlete Spotlight: Chris Bradley

In 1986, Caltech men's water polo player David Bruning (BS '88) set the record for the most goals scored during a season: 117. The record stood until 2014, when it was broken by then-sophomore Chris Bradley, who amassed 134 goals.

Bradley, now a junior, received an Honorable Mention in the All-American Awards for Division III by the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches for the 2014–2015 season and was named to the Capital One Academic All-District Men's At-Large Team this past spring. "Chris brings passion, competiveness, and leadership to our water polo team," says water polo coach Jon Bonafede. "He demonstrates remarkable athleticism and endurance for one of the most physically demanding sports."

This season, Bradley has once again earned a spot on the all-time top scorers list, notching 88 goals to put him as the fourth highest scorer.

We sat down with Bradley to talk about water polo, academics, and the halfway point in his college career.

What brought you to Caltech?

I was attracted by the school's rigorous academic reputation, and I wanted to study mechanical engineering. I chose Caltech for purely academic reasons, but it's definitely a plus that Caltech is a place where I could continue playing sports.

When did you start playing water polo?

Well, it started because, as a high school freshman, I was cut from the football team! My older sister played water polo, and she encouraged me to try it out. Additionally, I grew up in the Bay Area of California, and California is kind of like the state to play water polo—most collegiate players come from here, so that was a big inspiration. I've been playing at Caltech for the last two years as a perimeter player—sort of a driver or attacker. It's a fluid position, and I get to play both offensively and defensively.

It's really nice that Caltech affords you the opportunity to play sports without really extreme expectations. Last year, the baseball coach asked me to see if I could pitch. I hadn't played baseball before, but I wasn't doing any sports in the spring, so I gave it a shot.

Do you have a favorite match or moment in a game?

We're still sort of looking for that magic moment: getting our first SCIAC [Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference] win. A SCIAC win would be super important to me and my teammates.

Last year, the team went on a trip to Annapolis, Maryland, to participate in a water polo tournament. It was a cool experience because it was one of the only times I was able to just focus solely on the sport—school hadn't started yet so there was no pressure of academics, just hanging out with the guys and playing water polo.

How have you balanced athletics with academics?

I just make the time. Of course, there have been plenty of long nights that probably could have been shorter if I weren't playing sports. But I really enjoy it; it's a great way to release competitiveness and get a good workout for a couple hours each day.

What got you interested in mechanical engineering?

In high school, I really enjoyed science and math. But high school physics is actually more similar to mechanical engineering than the kind of theoretical physics at Caltech. As a junior, I'm taking ME 72—the big design class for all mechanical engineering majors. Every year we participate in a different kind of competition. This year, each team has to design and build three robots to play a kind of soccer-style game against robots from another team. We've already designed the robots, and we're in the process of building the first one. We're pretty busy, but I'm really enjoying it.

What do you do when you are not studying or playing water polo?

I'm a member of Fleming House, and I'm what is called the "cannon master." Several times a year the big red cannon outside of Fleming House fires an explosive charge to mark big events—the end of rotation, the end of every term, and graduation. As cannon master, I'm in charge of buying the powder, making the charge, and keeping things safe.

I'm also a founding member of the Caltech Unmanned Aerial Vehicle club. We work on building drones and quadcopters, and we've gone from five to about 30 members in a year. We're currently talking with JPL about collaborating on a project.

What would you like to do after Caltech?

As I'm still a junior, I've got time to decide. I've been spending my summers exploring both research and industry. In the summer of 2014, I did a SURF [Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship] in Professor Guillaume Blanquart's lab, studying fluid dynamics and combustion, and in 2015, I worked in the Air Force research labs in Ohio studying low-observable materials for stealth. So I'm considering both graduate school and industry after graduation. I'm just going to see what happens in the next two years.