Braves athlete concentrates on 2 sports

October 20, 2017

Grace Jaynes played volleyball and basketball and ran track while attending St. John’s Sauers Lutheran School.

She said she enjoyed those sports so much at an early age, she decided to play them at Brownstown Central.

This school year she is concentrating on volleyball and track.

Jaynes played middle hitter with the volleyball team this fall.

“I block all over and hit,” Jaynes said. “You look at the block and you want to find the holes on the court so if somebody is sucked deep you want to tip it closer, just wherever the holes are.

“In blocking, you press with your hands. It depends on what side of the net you’re on, and you want to turn your hands in to make sure it doesn’t hit your hands and go out of bounds. Whenever we block middle, the left side will come in and help me block.”

She said she preferred the weekday matches that were the best 3-of-5.

“I like a 3-out-of-5 because, especially with our team this year, sometimes we didn’t start out super strong so if we do ended up losing the first set, we had more time to come back and win down the stretch,” Jaynes said.

“If you get down on yourself it affects everybody else, and if you’re down its easy for the other team to score quick points against you and it just keeps compiling. If you make a mistake you’ve just got to forget it and go on.”

On the floor, Jaynes made sure communication was always clear.

“If you’re defense isn’t talking and telling you where to hit the ball, or where the holes are, then you can’t score,” Jaynes said. “if your defense isn’t talking to each other, then they’ll either run into each other or not pick up a ball, and if nobody yells ‘there’s a tip,’ then nobody is going to shift in that direction and nobody gets to the correct spot.”

Over the years, Jaynes has seen the benefits of hard practice.

“Practice is super important,” Jaynes said. “We had to stay focused. We had a tendency to think that it’s not that big of a deal to make a mistake in practice, but we really need to focus on no mistakes. That way that transfers into a game.”

Jaynes said the home matches were fun and exciting.

“I love the home matches,” she said. “That way more of my family can come, and I feel we have more fans here, and that’s always nice. The student section is always bigger at home, and that’s nice too.”

Jaynes said big wins for her was beating Indianapolis Roncalli and Columbus East in the Providence Tournament.

Grace played against her sister, Sydney – a member of the Trinity Lutheran team – twice this year, and the Braves won both times.

“It was fun trying to make big play against each-other,” Jaynes said. “We just talked back-and-forth across the net. It wasn’t a big deal to me.”

She is looking forward to track where she throws shot put and discus with the discus being her main event.

“I broke 110 last year,” Jaynes said. “So my goal is to keep extending that. My problem is I think about it too much. I’ll think about one thing and forget another thing. So if I’m just going out there and not thinking about it I do better.”

Jaynes placed second in the Mid-Southern Conference meet, and third in the sectional to advance to the regional.

The senior’s glad she attended Brownstown Central.

“All of my friends from Sauers were coming here,” Jaynes said. “I kind of wanted to stick with that because I knew people. I’ve made a lot of friends throughout my high school career.

“The bus rides are super fun. We always put on loud music and dance and sing so those are fun. I will definitely remember all the friends I’ve made. I would have made other friends at other places, but these are friendships I’ll take with me for the rest of my life so that’s really awesome.”

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Name: Grace Jaynes

School: Brownstown Central high School

Parents: Doug and Mary Ellen Jaynes

Sibling; Sydney

Sports: volleyball 4 years, track and field 4 years, basketball 3 years

Athletic highlights: volleyball- most improved JV 2015; track- 2016 regional qualifier in discus

Organizations: National Honor Society, Lettermen’s Club, Booster Club, Student council

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