By JOSE HERRERA

A determined mindset combined with the ability to lead and encourage others is what makes junior Sienna Tinoco a great volleyball and team player.

Tinoco has been on Birmingham Community Charter High School’s girls volleyball team for three years now.  She started out on the freshman team and now two years later is on varsity.

 “During season we played fairly well and we made it to playoffs,” Tinoco said.  “We ended up playing against Palisades High School for our first round and we lost but overall we played very strong during season.”

Although the girls volleyball season wasn’t as smooth as they would have liked, with losses here and there, a person’s character such as Tinoco’s prevails during such times.

Being a team player is an important aspect to any sport ,but being able to change the attitude of a player and team is crucial in determining the result of a game.

“The game that I played my best and the remember the most is against El Camino Real,” Tinoco said. “There were five sets and we lost the first set and were losing the second set, but then we changed our attitude, gave it our best effort and ended up winning  that set.  It brought us together and really boosted our morale, in the end we won that game.”

Tinoco sees herself in college but not playing for the volleyball team or any sport.

“I don’t see myself playing for a sports team because I want to focus on my studies but if the opportunity presents itself I definitely will because its a great opportunity,” Tinoco said.