Lady Spartan looking to motivate

The Lady Spartans will be saying goodbye to one of their star players this season as Adrienne Barbour takes one more step towards graduation. There is still a lot of soccer left and she remains focused on the craft.

Shortly after the game against Pender, she began packing up her things. Evert Cruz, coach of the soccer team, praised the young athlete, citing her work ethic and character on and off the court or pitch.

Barbour was all laughs in the opening moments with the microphone in front of her.

She spoke about her time as a dual athlete and about her soccer career. Shockingly, despite her skill on the pitch, volleyball is her favorite sport. On the court she was a stout defender, leaping high above the net, stopping shots and keeping the Lady Spartans in the game. Offensively, she was just as vicious, having no qualms with hitting deadly spikes over to the opposing side or slyly undercutting the opponents with soft touch hits that would trickle over for points.

“I’m better at volleyball; I’ve been playing way longer,” she said. “I just have a bigger passion for it. I’ve been playing since I was so young. Don’t get me wrong, I really like soccer, but volleyball is just a different type of feeling.”

On the pitch, that mindset carried over into her game as she remains a ruthless defender at heart, keeping the backline in check and showing no fear when bodying an opposing player for possession. This season she has been upfront as a striker, translating that defensive mind into a skilled shooter.

What drew her to soccer? Her friends, she said. Barbour came to the sport fresh with no experience and has developed into a stout player. She started back in the seventh grade and played at Clinton U to help develop her skills along with some extra help from her brother.

Barbour commented on her transition to striker but stressed that she loves playing defense more. She passionately spoke about playing in the backline.

“I feel like on defense, I’m better at communicating with the defensive line than I am with strikers, because you can’t necessarily control their movements.” she said. “I feel like defense is more competitive because you have to move the ball up to the strikers.”

Barbour has been captain of the Lady Spartans for two years, starting as a junior. She spoke about the chemistry she has with her other striker (Marlene Sanchez) that has made it easier than she thought. There, aren’t, she said, too many differences between leading from the back to the front.

“I really respect Cruz for putting me as captain and keeping me accountable for the team. and trusting me to get the team to the win and doing their job.” she said.

She has been focusing on bringing motivation to the crew as she enters her final year, helping the Spartans ascend to new heights when she departs. She spoke candidly about how they can find themselves in a slump and struggle to get out of it during a game. Barbour aims to bring them the confidence to push past the mistakes on the pitch and dig deep to rebound.

”I feel like when everyone gets down, we don’t come back from it,” she sai, “so just making sure that everyone’s positive even if they aren’t having a good game. Like tonight, was not my best game, but everyone was still positive because we still got to score. Keeping everyone in a good mood, having good motivation and supporting each other, I feel like that is what gets us to the win.”