Classical’s Brennan Johnson, front, was a troubled and angry preteen before she became involved in volleyball, a sport that has both changed her life and landed her a possible scholarship to Division I Butler University in Indianapolis.

The Providence Journal / Glenn Osmundson

PROVIDENCE –– “Can I call you back?” Brennan Johnson politely says to the reporter at the other end of the phone.

It’s just that Penn State and Stanford are battling for the NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship on television, she explains excitedly.

“Whenever women’s college volleyball is on, I’m always watching,” she says.

Unless, of course, she’s playing in a match herself –– which she usually is.

“Brennan gets crazy when it comes to volleyball,” Johnson’s mother, Tina, says when Brennan hands her the phone so she can continue watching the NCAA Championship.

The sport has had a profound effect on the Classical senior ever since she began playing it in seventh grade. And in ways that far transcend the volleyball court.

“I was hoping that would be the effect sports would have on my girls,” Tina Johnson said. “But I had no idea it would have this kind of an influence, especially on Brennan. I think this sport actually saved my child.”

Violin lessons. Piano lessons. Gymnastics. Dance. Basketball. Softball. Soccer. Swimming. Track. Volleyball. The list of activities Jaren and Brennan Johnson have been involved in goes on and on.

When Tina Johnson adopted the girls as infants, she vowed she would expose them to all of the opportunities she had missed out on as a child growing up in Harlem.

“I was never into sports, but I always wanted to do them and I always loved watching them,” she said. “And I knew that, particularly for girls, sports gives them a certain amount of confidence and just the ability to deal with everyday things.”

In the case of Brennan and Jaren, those “everyday things” became particularly challenging for a time after their mother was hospitalized for an illness. Because Tina Johnson is a single parent and has no immediate family in the area, her daughters were placed in temporary foster care.

“When my mom was hospitalized, I didn’t know why,” said Brennan, who was just 6 years old at the time. “I got angry and frustrated because I really didn’t understand what was going on.”

“Brennan especially had a hard time because she was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and her behaviors were not fully understood by others,” Tina Johnson added. “I had done my homework and had found marvelous ways of dealing with her, and this allowed us to become extremely close. … Jaren and Brennan were not sure why they could not see me whenever they wanted and why I could not come home and care for them. They just could not make sense of it all.”

Even when Brennan was reunited with her mother a year later, she continued to have a difficult time, as she struggled with her ADHD and unresolved issues over the separation.

“Although she wouldn’t have called it that, Brennan had a real self-esteem problem,” Tina Johnson said. “The separation was really hard for her. She could never understand, so there was a lot of misplaced anger. And it was affecting her in school. She was not getting along with her classmates or her teachers.”

Then volleyball came into Brennan’s life.

She admits she wasn’t all that enthusiastic about trying it when friend Cara Kaplan encouraged her to play for a team organized by the Providence chapter of United Synagogue Youth. Basketball was her favorite sport at the time, and she didn’t think volleyball would be intense enough for her, she said.

Before long, though, volleyball became her new first love.

“Oh my God, I love volleyball,” she says. “Slamming the ball down really got me hooked. I’m an outside hitter and that feeling when you’re either blocking the ball or smashing the ball down, it’s like the best feeling in the world.

“It helped me escape,” Brennan said. “Even though it’s not a contact sport, hitting the ball every time relieved all my stress and anger. It was sort of my safe haven.”

Tina Johnson says that almost immediately she could see all of the positive changes in her daughter as a result of playing volleyball. The sport, Tina said, “propelled her from an angry and moody preteen to a smiling, happy and vibrant youngster eager to work hard and play hard.

“When she started playing volleyball, it was an amazing transformation,” she said. “Brennan started feeling really good about herself because she was so naturally good at the sport, and she blossomed. She calmed down considerably. She has always been kind of an aggressive kid, and this helped her relax a little bit and step back enough to learn the skills of the game and enjoy the game and learn how to be a team player.”

Off the court, things got much better, too. Johnson’s grades went up and her interpersonal relationships improved.

“She was able to focus, complete tasks and express herself more appropriately,” Tina Johnson said. “She went from not doing well at all in sixth grade to being on the honor roll in seventh grade.”

Johnson, now 17, has steadily grown as a volleyball player over the last several years. In the summer of 2007, she was selected to the New England Region Volleyball Association team that competed at the International High Performance Volleyball Championships in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Last summer, she helped the Blast Volleyball Academy 18-year-old girls club team capture the New England Region Volleyball Association Championship, which earned the squad a berth to the USA Junior Olympic Volleyball Championships in Dallas.

And two months ago, the three-time All-Stater guided Classical to the finals of the Rhode Island Interscholastic League Division I Championship.

“Brennan’s a great player,” Purple coach John Polinick said of his 5-foot-9 tri-captain during Classical’s playoff run. “She can carry a team. When she gets hot, there are really not too many people that can stop her.”

Next fall, Johnson plans on taking her talents to Butler University in Indianapolis, where she plans to study anthropology and play for the Division I Bulldogs.

According to Tina Johnson, Butler’s associate women’s volleyball coach, Karen Weatherington, has informed Brennan that although all available scholarship money for next season is already earmarked for other players, she will be eligible for scholarship money for her remaining three years.

“I’ve always envisioned myself playing sports in college,” she said. “I think everyone should have a dream.”

And thanks to volleyball, Johnson’s dream has come true.

cthorn@projo.com