Barnwell Trojans have banner season

Barnwell Trojans boys volleyball team continued its dominance by taking the 2J zone banner over the weekend.

The team won five of the six tournaments it entered all season, progressing nicely from its finals loss in its first tournament of the season.

“Our first tournament we let the mental aspect of the game get the best of us, but we learned a lot from that and fixed it. We pretty much from there beat everyone in two sets,” said Cindy Johnson, head coach of the Barnwell Trojans boys volleyball team.

“We have at least four boys that can hit harder than any team I’ve seen. We absolutely had the best setter (in the field) one of the best blockers and the boys were phenomenal passers and were smart about the game.”

It has been a long voyage for the veteran coach at Barnwell of 25 years of volleyball, basketball or badminton, as Johnson has been coaching three of the kids on the team since they were in Grade 4.

“They are a great group of kids. There was never a time they haven’t supported each other. They all pat each other on the back and give words of encouragement with every point won or lost,” said Johnson.

“There were amazing bench players that supported the starters 100 per cent and they could fill in at any position and do it well. The kids thought I was emotional because we won, but I was emotional because I love them to pieces. They are all a good group of boys who got along well.”