The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

WHILE Terae Sweeting completed her tenure as the first student athlete to receive the Outstanding Senior award during her graduation from Benedict College in December, the Tigers’ volleyball team will still benefit from another Bahamian as Je’Nae Saunders hopes to follow in her footsteps.

Now in her junior year, 20-year-old Saunders, who plays the libero or defensive specialist position, said she had to endure one of her most difficult semesters, trying to concentrate on her major in accounting and playing volleyball at the same time with Sweeting.

“The season was good. Since I’ve been there, this is the best we’ve done. We came third in our conference and this is pretty much a new team, having mostly freshmen play, so it was pretty good. We did very well,” said Saunders, who is home for the Christmas break.

“For me, this was my best season. I got the defensive player of the week during the third week and I finished third in digs in the conference. I just have to get back in the gym and start working out so that I can be prepared for next semester.”

Although she had an exceptional year on the court, Saunders said her efforts in the classroom wasn’t that bad either.

“This semester, I got a 4.0 (grade point average),” she said. “I did a lot of studying and made sure that I got a lot of my work done in between games. I was surprised with the 4.0. I expected at least a 3.8, but to get a 4.0 was just a great accomplishment.”

One of the things that impressed Saunders was the fact that she and Sweeting were about to build on the bond they developed when they first started competing together for the St Augustine’s College Big Red Machine and the Cougars, now the Panthers women’s team in the New Providence Volleyball Association before they left for school.

“It’s always good to have somebody there who you know,” Saunders said. “Terae and I played together at home, so it was really cool to play with her in college,” said Saunders, who returns to Benedict College today.

During her trip home, Saunders got a chance to stay in shape as she reunited with some of her Panthers teammates, who are now playing for the Big Red Machine.

And over the summer, Saunders also played on the women’s national team in Trinidad & Tobago.

“Starting on the team for the first time, I was kind of nervous. But it was a good experience. I know that probably in the future, our team will be really good,” she said. “The girls just need to want it for themselves. I feel we are just a bit too laid back and lazy. We have to get into the gym, start training and be more physically fit before we come to practice.”

Saunders, the daughter of former national team volleyball players Kimley and Jason Saunders and the brother of Je’Vaughn Saunders, one of the rising young men’s national team players, said she and Sweeting have followed the progress of the Big Red Machine and they are looking forward to them adding the BAISS title to the Ministry of Education’s National High School title they won in November.

Sweeting, the daughter of Monique Miller and Bahamas Baseball Federation secretary general Teddy Sweeting and brother of Theodore Trae Sweeting, a sophomore at Georgia State University, graduated with a degree in accounting from the School of Business and Economics with a 3.95 GPA.

A Trustee Club Scholar and President’s Trophy recipient, Sweeting made the Dean’s List for four consecutive years. She has accepted a position with the prestigious accounting firm KPMG in Atlanta, Georgia.

Another graduate from St Augustine’s College, Sweeting was a standout volleyball and track athlete. She earned SIAC All-Conference honours in both sports, including winning the SIAC championship in the javelin throw. She was also a member of the softball team for two years.

The 22-year-old was named to the Capital One Academic All-Region team in track and field. She was also one of 16 national finalists for the Arthur Ashe Jr Sports Scholar Award. Additionally, she dedicated significant time and effort working with community organisations such as Walk for Diabetes and the Tutor and Research Assistant Programme to assist local high school and college students with improving their academic performances.

While at Benedict, she also served as a student representative to the Board of Trustees.

Putting her tenure at Benedict College into perspective, Sweeting said it was truly a wonderful experience.

“I had an awesome time and I took advantage of every opportunity that was granted to me,” she said. “When I went there, I went there for volleyball and softball and I was just recovering from an injury, so I thought it would take a very slow pace, but once I started playing volleyball and getting back in shape, it went very smooth.

“Then I started doing track, but I didn’t actually think that I would be able to do it again because I injured myself doing track at the CARIFTA Games in 2010, so I just told myself that I will never throw the javelin again. But I was asked and I said yes and I went ahead and did it and won the conference title twice in javelin, so it went much better than I expected.”

As an international student, Sweeting said she was really thrilled, not just to have a Bahamian, but to have Saunders as her teammate on the volleyball court.

“It made it feel like home because I grew up with my parents being around and having someone at games cheering you on, but having played with her in high school, night league and on the national team, it was a good experience. It was good to know that there was someone there who you could actually count on. If there was anyone to keep me going, it was Je’Nae. So it was a plus having her on the team.”

As she gets set for life after college, Sweeting said she is going back into the classroom as she focuses on getting her CPA (Certified Public Accountant) degree before she starts working for KPMG in Atlanta, Georgia, in July.

And if the opportunity presents itself, Sweeting said she would only like to continue playing volleyball because, of the three sports, it’s the one that she really enjoys the most. But for now, she just wants to bask in her success as a college graduate.

“It’s exciting. It’s a milestone, but I’m not yet ready to be finished with college,” she said. “God allowed me to start and end in four years and get my degree without any setbacks while I was in college, so I’m happy for that. I’m happy that I finished and that I did as well as I did.”

For all of her achievements with God’s help, Sweeting said she attributes a lot of her success to her parents, her family, her coaches and the Bahamas Volleyball Federation, all of whom played a huge role in her life. She said she will forever be grateful for the support she received from everybody.