Billy Barnds is a standout SF ‘21 midfielder who is committed to follow in his father and older brother’s footsteps and play lacrosse at Princeton University.
Barnds is a long-time member of the ADVNC SF ‘21 team
Billy’s dad, Tom Barnds Sr was an All-American defenseman for the Tigers and Billy’s older brother, Tommy Barnds Jr is currently a freshman middie for the nationally ranked Tigers team.
But Billy wasn’t totally honed in on Princeton just because of that. When September 1, 2019 came around and college coaches could officially start recruiting the 2021 class, Billy said, “Princeton was probably the front-runner for me, but I was very interested to see if there were other schools that wanted to talk.”
“September 1st was a super exciting day,” Billy said. “I remember waking up and seeing some texts on my phone from coaches, wanting to schedule calls. “It was very exciting and I couldn’t wait to get on the phone. All the calls went well, and I scheduled visits with a few … Princeton, North Carolina and Notre Dame.”
Barnds went with fellow ADVNC SF ‘21 and Sacred Heart Prep teammates Paul Barton and Ben Ramsey to Chapel Hill, NC to visit with the Tar Heels and he was really impressed. Then he visited Princeton. Shortly after visiting Princeton, he committed to become the third Barnds to play for the Princeton Tigers. “Their coaching staff is amazing,” Barnds said. “The way they operate and coach the players, I really liked that. The team was really friendly. They all talked to me about what life is like at Princeton. The campus is awesome and I loved the town, and I really want to live there.”
When Billy told his dad and mom, Deb about his decision, “They were all really excited and happy for me and supported my decision,” Billy said. “When I talked with Tommy, he was really excited too.”
Tom Barnds said, “We were going to wholeheartedly support whatever decision Billy made as long as he carefully considered his options. There are so many great schools and programs out there, and each child needs to find his or her own path.”
Billy Barnds will become the third Barnds to play lacrosse at Princeton
Tommy and Billy are two years apart. They grew up together in Woodside, CA, learning the game from their dad. “I remember real early on, him teaching me how to pick up a ground ball properly, and him showing me how to throw with the correct form,” said Billy.
Tom Barnds is not only a great former player, he is also a key figure in the growth of lacrosse around Northern California, having coached the game at the youth level for close to two decades. But despite his dad’s heavy involvement in the game, Billy played multiple sports and didn’t focus on one in particular when he was young. “But as I got older, I started to really like it,” Billy said. “Lacrosse was really fun when I started practicing more and more, and then I fell in love with it.”
Billy would watch games on TV with his family, and then practice with Tommy. “There’s so much creativity and room for expanding your game more and more,” Billy said. “There’s never a limit to what you can achieve in your skill set. There’s always more moves and more skills. It never gets old.”
As a member of the ADVNC SF ‘21 team, Billy had the unique opportunity to represent Northern California lacrosse when his team played at Crabfeast in 2017. Crabfeast is an elite club lacrosse tournament in Baltimore. “I would practice every day leading up to that tournament,” said Billy. The team played really well, beating the prestigious Long Island Express to make the championship bracket. “That was the first time a West Coast team had gotten to the semifinals at that tourney,” Billy said. “It was a super fun run for a team from the Bay Area. It was unheard of.”
Billy started playing with ADVNC as a 5th grader. His team will go down as one of the most talented and successful teams in Northern California lacrosse history. The team is loaded with players committed to play high level college lacrosse. “It’s been great.” said Billy. “We started with only a few guys that are on the team now, and then everyone saw our success and they came to join us because they wanted to win. We’ve bonded through practice and competition. There are so many great players on this team, including a lot of players who have not yet committed to a school.”
ADVNC Founder Chris Rotelli has coached Billy at both ADVNC and SHP. “He’s meant a ton to me,” Billy said. “He’s been my main mentor throughout. He’s given me so many tips and he helped with the recruiting process so much. Talking to coaches about me, getting them to call me and informing them about me and my team. At SHP, he’s a very successful coach and it’s been great playing for him, and the amount of success we’ve had is awesome. I owe a lot to Coach (Jack) Huber and Coach (Max) Feeley (ADVNC SF ‘21 coaches) as well. They have stuck with our team over the years, moving up with us at every age level. They are great coaches and role models. I hope I can coach like them some day.”
When Billy leaves ADVNC and SHP, and joins his brother at Princeton, the two will have a bond forged through countless hours of playing lacrosse together. “We would always just go out and shoot together,” Billy said. “Since I was really young, until right before he left for college, we’d always compete with each other. I always wanted to win but he probably won most of them. Sometimes when we’d do 1 on 1’s those would get heated, but still fun. I think we made each other better.”
The Barnds brothers will have two years together on the Princeton team. “I’m really excited for that,” Billy said. “It’s gonna be super fun to try to continue the success we had in our high school careers together. Hopefully we get the chance to play on the field together and help each other win and score goals.”