Three of a Kind
The Prots sisters Joni, Jaclyn and Jamie Coach the Berkshire Volleyball Team
by Zach McMurray, BP Staff Writer
October 08, 2007
The Berkshire Volleyball Team is led by a familiar face to Berkshire Students. Head coach Joni Prots is a math teacher at Berkshire, but if you look next to her on the bench you might see similar looking faces. They are her younger sisters Jamie Bower and Jaclyn Prots. Jaclyn is the assistant head coach and Jamie is the JV head coach.
The Prots sisters all graduated from West Geauga High School were they all played volleyball, basketball and softball. For West Geauga volleyball, Joni and Jamie played setter, and Jaclyn played outside hitter. They all made CVC First Team and First Team Districts twice.
After graduating from high school they all went on to attend Baldwin Wallace College. Joni got her Bachelor of Science in Mathematics. Jaclyn majored in Business Administration, while Jamie majored in elementary education.
After graduating from Baldwin Wallace, Joni got a job at Berkshire High School as a math teacher. In her first year at Berkshire, she was the freshmen volleyball coach. Joni got the Varsity Head Coach position her third year at Berkshire. She brought Jamie to become the JV Coach, and then a year later Jaclyn to become the Freshmen Coach.
When asked what it was like coaching together Jaime said, “It is fun getting to coach with my sisters. It is also convenient for bouncing ideas off each other.” Jaclyn also said, “Awesome. It is great to be able to experience and coach with my sisters. I think we all have different strengths that compliment each other. I feel we make a perfect coach together.” When asked if they all have the same coaching style or ideas they said each one brings something different to the team. Joni said, “In some regards we are the same. We stress fundamentals, hard work and being a team on the court, but we also have our differences which makes us work even better together. I am the organizer and practical one, Jamie is the fun one. She knows how to relieve tension and Jackie is the drill sergeant.
The Prots’ good coaching led the Badgers to wins over CVC opponents Cardinal and Grand Valley. They beat Cardinal with the scores of 25-8, 25-7 and 25-17 and Grand Valley by a three game sweep. With those two wins the Badgers improved to 7-0 in the CVC and 15-2 overall.
