Brian Terrell, Norwood Volleyball

Having a relative that coached volleyball on the high school level, one would assume that Norwood’s Brian Terrell would eventually play the sport himself. However, while his cousin (Michael Gearty) continued to pursue him, Terrell just wasn’t interested at least at first.
“My cousin was the Norwood junior varsity coach and the assistant varsity coach and he kept pressuring me to try out for the team,” Terrell said. “Eventually, he wore me down and talked me into it. I had no idea what to expect (at the try outs) as I didn’t really know the sport.”
Being a basketball player at 6 foot-one, Terrell figured that his background would help on the volleyball court, but still had no idea how to play the sport. During his freshman year, despite his inability and lack of knowledge about the sport, he found his way onto the junior varsity team, most likely due to his size.
“At the try outs, I was as nervous as you’d expect, but I really wasn’t worried about my skills,” Terrell said. “Everyone there knew that I had no volleyball skills whatsoever. I guess that year went alright for someone who had never played the game before.”
Once the Norwood native got onto the court, he found that his cousin was right in trying to encourage him to play the sport. While he truly loved volleyball, he really wasn’t worried that he was not all that great at it.
“I felt like it was a good fit for me as well as my body type, being a basketball player,” Terrell said. “On the basketball court, I enjoy playing defense, trying to block shots and being aggressive. Volleyball is a lot like that.”
Following his junior varsity campaign, Terrell was moved onto the varsity team. Although he was not a starter and had a smaller role, he felt it was a big step up. As a middle hitter for the Mustangs, he found himself behind Jake Fleming for playing time, but again he was not worried.
“Jake was an amazing player and I learned a lot being playing behind him,” Terrell said. “I learned quite a bit from watching him. One thing in particular that I noticed was his footwork right before he hit the ball over the net; so I tied to copy him when I was on the court.”
Following his sophomore year, Terrell decided to try and improve his hitting and attended Attacker Camp through Smash Volleyball. According to the now junior, entering the camp his hitting was not that hard, but by the time he left he felt that his hitting and spiking were now on another level.
“After playing second fiddle to Jake last season, I think he knew that he had some big shoes to fill,” Norwood Head Volleyball Coach Paul Nimblett said. “He focused heavily on his game and should be a key player for us this season.”
Terrell will primarily be a middle hitter, but the Coach may occasionally switch him to outside hitter now that Fleming is gone.
“He’s defiantly a stronger middle player,” the Norwood Coach said. “But his hitting and blocking are being done with force this year. He has gotten stronger and is able to adjust on the fly now – you can see the improvement now that he has gone to the hitting camp.”
According to the Norwood junior, hitting is complicated and there are many different facets to doing it right. In the past, he had all the components down, but now that he has attended the camp he feels that he is putting it all together.
Coming into his junior season being named a captain, Terrell is looking to lead his team to a successful season. Now that Norwood has left the Bay State League, where they continuously faced top notched teams, the Mustang captain is hoping that Norwood can take what they learned and apply it to their new opponents in the Tri Valley League. As for his individual goals, he has not set anything in stone.
Although he still has two full seasons on the Norwood court, Terrell would like to continue his newfound love of volleyball when he leaves high school.
“I definitely would like to keep playing volleyball past high school,” Terrell said. “Although I am not good enough to play in college, I will continue to play club or intramural volleyball.”
Having not participated in the tournament in some time, Terrell would love nothing more to help lead the Mustangs there if not this spring, then defiantly by his senior season.