LaFAYETTE — Trevond Barnes is headed to Europe.

The 2015 LaFayette High School graduate recently announced that he was signing with BC Beroe in Bulgaria on a one-year deal with a second-year option.

“It feels really good,” Barnes said. “It feels like a big sigh of relief because going into my senior year [at Hampton University], I wanted it to happen, but you don’t figure out where you’re going to go until the summer. To have that done, after all of the hard work, it’s a sigh of relief. My hard work paid off.”

Barnes’ freshman year at LaFayette High School was also the first season that Obadiah Threadgill was at the helm for the Bulldogs. During his four seasons in high school, Barnes led the program to two final four appearances and the 2015 2A state championship.

“I learned that being a part of a championship team is more than just basketball,” Barnes said of his time at LaFayette. “The camaraderie, brotherhood, those are the things that make a championship team. Being accountable for each other, caring for each other like brothers when it comes to the goal at hand. If you have a family environment and hold each other accountable, it’s all worth it at the end of the day, no matter what you go through. That’s the one thing I remember about that team, we cared about each other and we were going to get to our goal no matter what.” 

He signed to play basketball at Hampton University, where the Pirates won a MEAC Championship, a regular-season MEAC championship and joined the Big South Conference his senior year.

“It was great,” Barnes said of his time in college. “It showed me that there are different ways to build a legacy … we played in the postseason each year. The NCAA [Tournament], NIT, CIT, CBI, we played in every tournament. It was great. I met a lot of great people, my game grew a lot, I learned so much from the coaches and teammates from traveling and playing against other people. I got the chance to go to Puerto Rico, it was just so many great things that happened there and I grew so much as a person, not just a player.”

Turning professional is genuinely a dream come true for Barnes.

“When I was growing up, I always wanted to play for the Lakers,” he said. “When I got to college, I started to think that I wanted to do something else. I was thinking about being an athletic director. Then, the more I played in college and proved myself as I did on the high school level, I thought that I could still be pro, maybe not the NBA. Once I got to the point of deciding that I wanted to go pro my senior year, I saw it happened and I told myself that I could still follow my dream.”

The 6-foot-9 Barnes said that he plans on putting his finance degree to work already budgeting his money for this upcoming season. He is also interested in other avenues that he didn’t want to release too much information on just yet, but his goals include releasing an app.

Barnes said that he worked out at home in LaFayette this summer and still keeps up with Bulldogs athletics. He called LaFayette starting point guard Corey Boston his “little brother,” and he said he hopes his signing can motivate other local kids in the community.

“I try to lead by example by always being in the gym,” he said. “I’m trying to show them everything that I learned, which was the hard work and dedication.”

Beroe finished this past regular season atop of the Balkan League with an 11-1 record. Last season’s team featured former Georgia Tech forward James White.