Serving, setting, and spiking his way through his senior year, Finn Janes has a plan for college: play volleyball at a college level while pursuing a law degree in England. Janes tried out for volleyball after one of his friends mentioned that he would do well in the sport because of his height. Five years later, he plays volleyball for Edmond Memorial and the volleyball club Kaizen and hopes to make the United Kingdom’s Olympic team.
“There’s a lot more opportunities overseas because I’m a British citizen,” Janes said. “I’m able to play for their national team and I’m able to continue my law career over there. I’m able to do just a lot more stuff than I would in the States.”
Janes explained that although his father was British, he still had to apply for citizenship rather than receiving it automatically.
“Around when I was two or three, I applied for citizenship through my father, and I got approved,” Janes said. “Since I wasn’t born in the UK, I didn’t immediately start with it. I had to go through the whole process of getting it, but it was substantially easier since my father was British.”
Though reaching his dreams hasn’t been easy, Janes has created a routine to achieve his goals.
“It’s gonna be a lot of work,” Janes said. “Of course, playing at a national level is not something that comes naturally. I’m starting workouts at the moment with the Olympic coach over there. I’m putting in a lot more time than I normally would, and just making sure everything happens, making sure my grades stay high so I can get in.”
Janes has faced several injuries in his volleyball career, typically having one severe injury a year, but has learned to overcome the setbacks.
“Injuries happen a lot,” Janes said. “I fractured both my patellas before. I’m having severe back problems at the moment, but it’s a lot. It happens, and you just have to learn to overcome it, and learn to actually stretch, learn to work out in the correct ways, and learn to do everything in the correct way. Injuries happen, but they don’t last a long time.”
As a British citizen, Janes has additional benefits in attending college in England.
“It’s also a lot cheaper for college than staying in the United States,” Janes said. “They have a cap on how much they can charge every year.”
Janes hopes to make the team, but has a backup if his plan fails.
“I plan on getting my law degree while I’m playing volleyball and hopefully I’m good enough to play for the Olympic United Kingdom team,” Janes said. “But if that doesn’t work out, I’ll end up going into international law and then coming back to the U.S and doing politics.”
