Hall of Fame

 

 

 

Inaugural Hall of Fame Inductee

 

Trinity Christian School is proud to present our inaugural Trinity Christian School Hall of Fame inductee: Janelle (Sykes) Barrineau.

Janelle attended Trinity from Grades 4 – 12 and graduated from TCS in 2011. In tenth grade, she joined Trinity’s Girls Varsity Volleyball Team and quickly fell in love with the game. Even though she was relatively new to the sport, she picked it up quickly and spent the weekends of her senior year traveling to different colleges and tournaments across the country. Janelle ultimately attended Virginia Commonwealth University where she was a walk-on volleyball player her freshman and sophomore years and then earned full athletic scholarships her junior and senior years.

At VCU, Janelle was a team captain for three seasons and earned several awards, including A10 First team all-conference, VaSID First team all-state, 5 A10 Defensive Player of the Week awards, and 2 all-tournament teams. She currently is fifth in blocks per set and 10th in total blocks in VCU history.

After graduating from VCU, Janelle played professionally overseas in Azerbaijan and Belgium from 2015-2017. She played in the CEV league which is the second-highest league in Europe, traveling to Romania, Finland, Italy, and Russia to compete.

After playing overseas, Janelle transitioned her volleyball expertise to coaching where she joined the College of William & Mary volleyball coaching staff as an assistant under her former assistant coach when she played at VCU. Janelle joined the William and Mary staff in 2018 and has been coaching since. 

When asked what she remembers most about TCS volleyball, Janelle said, “I remember having coaches who believed in me and saw potential in me even when I was extremely raw at the sport. My coaches at Trinity were the first people to plant the seed that I could play college volleyball one day. Coach Coulter supported me and came to cheer me on at my club volleyball matches - this meant the world to me. I’m thankful for the friendships that brought me to the sport. I loved basketball so much that it was hard to envision myself playing another sport but with encouragement from friends, I decided to give volleyball a try and I’m so grateful they inspired me to do so. I loved the speed of the game and was quickly hooked on volleyball - my senior year at Trinity was when I flipped the switch and committed to mastering my craft as a middle blocker in the hopes of playing in college, which meant that my dad, the varsity basketball coach, lost his starting center.”

I remember having coaches who believed in me and saw potential in me even when I was extremely raw at the sport. My coaches at Trinity were the first people to plant the seed that I could play college volleyball one day.