Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 10, 1994 TAG: 9402100230
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FLOYD LENGTH: Medium
To be sure, the O'Neill household is modest in number - at its fullest, the house was occupied by Mom, Dad and three children - but its residents had stature. Father Tom is 6-foot-1, Mother Jeanie is 5-10.
The two oldest sons are the real family trees. Doc O'Neill, 24, measures in at 6-5, but is dwarfed by younger brother Jabe, 21, who is 6-11 and plays basketball at the University of North Carolina at Asheville.
Young Brennen looked up to her big brothers, who taught her some things about sports, especially the family pastime of basketball.
Often, she wandered onto the court with her towering older siblings, the small kid on the block.
"They'd always stuff me," she said.
Not that having her ears and jump shots slapped back by her big brothers hasn't helped her out in the long run. There was a lesson in every blocked shot and hard foul. She learned how to really play the game.
"They helped me out a lot as I got older," she said. "They were typical older brothers."
Nowadays, Brennen O'Neill gets to show people her stuff. All grown up, the 5-11 Floyd County High School senior has had a heck of an athletic career. She's been a member of a girls' basketball team that played in two state championship games, she's currently one of the best players on the best volleyball team in the Mountain Empire District, and she'll be one of the top two players on the tennis team this spring.
Trouble is, her individual achievements have virtually been overshadowed by the many team accomplishments Floyd County's girls have racked up the past couple of years. When she was a kid, O'Neill stood in the long shadows of her older brothers. Now, she's been overshadowed by her sisters on the Buffalo teams.
The past couple of years has been a golden era for Floyd County girls' sports. The basketball team won the Group A state championship last fall and went 27-1 in 1992. The volleyball team, which was 10-1 heading into this week, made it to the regionals last year and has a chance to go farther this season.
Both the basketball and volleyball squads are comprised of many of the same players - girls who have been on the same team for about four years, girls who have played several years of summer basketball, high school hoops in the autumn, and volleyball in the winter. Basically, it's a group of girls who have grown up together. Like a family.
"We know each other too well sometimes," said O'Neill. "Sometimes it can get tense out there, being around everybody so much. We just shake it off and go along. We're all so much alike. We're all competitive, let's put it that way."
Sort of like a pseudo-sibling rivalry.
"They are close-knit," said April Underwood, Floyd County's volleyball coach and girls' basketball assistant.
There are stars, like Lynette Nolley, who is bound for Virginia Tech on a basketball scholarship. Mostly, though, the Floyd girls are a bunch of good kids who love sports and have worked hard to become good players.
Like Brennen O'Neill.
O'Neill was a solid forward who made unselfish contributions to the Lady Buffaloes' drive to back-to-back state tournament appearances. On the volleyball court, she scorches opponents with her serves and stuffs them at the net with blocks that would make Doc and Jabe proud.
Next fall, O'Neill will be playing volleyball or basketball at her choice of small colleges. She could play basketball at Clinch Valley, Concord or Emory and Henry. Bluefield would like her to play volleyball. It's possible she could go to college and play both sports. Playing tennis in the spring isn't out of the question, either.
"I really don't care where it is," she said. "I just want to play."
Of course, going to college means leaving home and saying goodbye to the family, or families, as the case may be.
"I doubt that I'll ever have friends like the ones I have here," O'Neill said. "At least, not as close as we all have been."
by CNB