Volleyball a way of life for Janowski
By Jason S. Rufner
In sports, the term “lifer” refers to a person whose life has been dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in her chosen endeavor, one who is inseparably in love with her field.
As a rule, the word isn't applied to someone as young as a high school sophomore. Tori Janowski is the exception.
She also is exceptional. A gym rat since age 5, the Potomac Falls volleyball player returns to Dulles District courts after a freshman campaign that landed her on the All-District first team. She paced the Panthers in kills (193), assists (275) and aces (94), and was second in digs (235).
Janowski's teammates and coaches voted her their Most Valuable Player, and PrepVolleyball.com selected her as one of the nation's top 59 freshmen. After the season, she turned 14.
Always playing
"I actually have about five volleyballs lying around my house right now," Janowski laughs. "Just sitting watching television, I'm always setting a ball to myself. My brother and I made a volleyball net out of string and two lampposts, so we play a lot outside."
Janowski didn't suddenly burst onto coach Linda Lachey-Helms' scene. Since the third grade, she had hung around the Potomac Falls gymnasium, where her father's adult league played.
Lachey-Helms tells a story about her protégé from the fifth grade:
"I remember when her dad promised her a cell phone if she could serve 10 over the net in a row," Lachey-Helms recounts.
"I was here all night trying to do it," Janowski jumps in, sending both of them into gales of laughter.
The 12th-year Panther coach compliments her 14-year-old player.
"She carries herself much more maturely than her years," reports Lachey-Helms. "She doesn't seem to let things rattle her. She sees things on the court."
That precociousness has not gone unnoticed by one opposing coach.
"She was very experienced [last season]," notes Loudoun County's Jenica Matthias. "If I didn't know that she was a freshman, I would have thought she was a sophomore or junior on the team."
In the genes
Janowski's father, Michael, was a national-level player in his native country of Poland, and has passed his love of the game on to his daughter. He has coached her the past two years on select squads of the Northern Virginia Volleyball Association, leading the Select 15s -- dubbed the Surge -- to the Chesapeake regional championship and a berth in the national tournament in Dallas in June.
"My dad has brought me up in a very strong volleyball-focused environment," Janowski says. "I always look at him and think, 'He hits so much better than me -- I want to be like him.' I definitely look up to him."
Janowski stands an athletic 5 feet, 10 inches, with a reach of 7 feet, 3 inches. If she played basketball, she could almost dunk. Janowski uses a jump-set, hits a polished line-shot and has made herself into a very good server.
"She's very fluid," praises Lachey-Helms. "The athleticism and the knowledge of the game combines to make a better package."
Fit to hit
It was as an eighth-grader that Janowski threw herself into a physical fitness regimen, focusing on core strength, which directly enables her performance on the court.
"I made a huge jump toward being more physically fit," Janowski recalls. “I was very intensely training.”
Lachey-Helms says, "She trains, and it's evident. She has control in the air that most kids don't have."
Most kids also don't have their own fan club. Hers arose in the bleachers through her first high school season.
"I really didn't expect that," Janowski says. "For them to come out just to see me, it was really amazing, actually."
Janowski and her coach hope for an amazing season in 2008 after the team's inconsistent 2007, which ended in an 8-6 district mark, 14-8 overall.
Potomac Falls opened the season with a 3-0 home victory against Handley Aug. 20. Janowski led the Panthers with 13 assists and nine aces, adding six kills.
Matthias, whose Raiders defeated Potomac Falls three times last year on the way to the Group AA state championship, looked at the Panthers' prospects in the new season with a more veteran Janowski.
"I think that she will be one of their go-tos and be a strong leader as long as she can play consistently," Matthias said.
Getting vocal
Lachey-Helms, who Janowski says is "like a second mother," expects more than just consistency from her experienced sophomore. She expects her to become a more vocal leader on the court.
"I need her to help run the show," says Lachey-Helms, noting that Janowski was cautious and deferential last year. "She knows what it is she should do; she needs now to just do it."
Part of what Janowski needs to do is to continue improving. Both coach and player agree that Janowski must work on her cut-shot and her overall defensive skills in order to achieve her goal of playing at the highest level of college competition.
Looking ahead
"I don't know if I want to have a career in volleyball, but I definitely want to play in college, as far as I can go," says Janowski, who has already been contacted by potential suitor universities.
Lachey-Helms, who runs a system similar to that which many colleges run, projects the impact that Janowski may ultimately have on the Potomac Falls volleyball program.
"She'll set a wonderful visible example to the younger players on how to play the game," the coach predicts. "With the accolades that she'll receive, she'll motivate younger players to want to do that too."
Janowski is off to a good start in her academic life, having compiled a 3.7 GPA at Potomac Falls with possible career interests in law, political science and medicine. Beyond that, the 14-year-old is intent on a family of her own, and has her future kids' future already planned.
"My kids are definitely going to play volleyball," she states emphatically, intent on producing the next generation of volleyball lifers.