By Neto Baptiste
National women’s volleyballer, Josanne Lewis, has added another feather in her cap on the collegiate level after she was adjudged Player of Year for a third straight time by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Announced earlier this week, Lewis was named among the college’s top performers in the sport this year.
Speaking to Observer media, the 23-year-old said she was confident of winning the award for a third straight time.
“I would be surprised if I didn’t get it because I am at the point where I work really hard, I play really hard and I have this dedication to the sport since the day I knew myself. My father, I grew up watching him play sports, so it’s in my blood and I’ve always been determined to always be the best. I practice the best, I train the best, I show up the best and I get the results, so for me, I think of it as what I deserve,” she said.
The Antiguan recently led the college’s women’s volleyball team, the Bloodhounds, to its first Cunyac women’s volleyball championship with a 3-1 win over top-seeded Hunter College in the USA and was named Most Valuable Player (MVP) in the championships tournament.
Lewis, daughter of former men’s national volleyballer and coach, Urvin Lewis and Althea Lewis, said her desire to always excel fuels her drive.
“No matter what it is, whether it’s sports, school, an assignment, a test, a practice, a scrimmage, I like to win and I’ve been taught that winning don’t just come to you, you work for it and when you get it then it feels better because you know that’s your reward. I just go off of winning; everyday I show up for everything I just win,” she said.
Looking back at her team’s performance in the championship final in November, the Antiguan said it was more of a mental battle after having gone under in the final the previous year.
“I can say that I am very proud of my entire team because no man can do it by himself. Last year we made it to the finals but we lost. I don’t think we were mentally prepared for the outcome of a championship, staying strong, staying mentally tough.
“This year, I continue to show up for my team as a leader and we really pushed ourselves. We had a strong mindset, we were determined and we worked hard all this year so going into that game we were pretty confident even though we loss the previous game to that team but we had team chemistry so we just worked together and it felt like what we deserved because we played really well,” the player said.
Lewis is pursuing degrees in forensic psychology and criminal justice.
