Venice Girls Volleyball 2007

Unfortunately our season came to an end Saturday two games short of our goal of the State Championship with a loss to Plant High School of Tampa. Plant was ranked #1 in the state and we were ranked #2, obviously one very good team was not going to make the final four. It was very frustrating for the athletes and the coaches because we had the match within our grasp and could not put them away. We did not play up to our standard of play that we had exhibited all season and still led them two games to one, but they executed and we did not so they prevailed in five games.

This journey began on January 11 when these young ladies and coaches to committed to begin a program of very hard work. They never wavered. Their dedication and focus was amazing. This is an exceptional group of young ladies. I am honored to have had the opportunity to work with them. Over the years I have worked with many teams, but this was special. It ranks right up there with my cross country and track teams from Santa Barbara high school. They made tremendous gains in their physical capacities and their technical and tactical skill. They had no injuries that caused a girl to miss even a practice except for a broken wrist and she kept training and came back after five weeks to make significant contributions to the team’s success. Their final record was 27 wins and 4 loses, certainly nothing to be sneezed at. They were a real TEAM, no superstars, just a bunch of talented girls working together who thrived on their work ethic, dedication and focus in pursuit of a common goal.

Each situation is a learning experience and I learned a lot from this team and coaches. In so many ways it reaffirmed my faith in youth. They still can focus and dedicate themselves. I also was reminded that they are kids in so many ways. As adults the goals and objectives and the means to achieve them are so clear, but they do not have the reservoir of experience and backlog of success and failures to put everything they are taught and the expectations in context. I hope they can take this loss and disappointment and learn from it and also take satisfaction in their accomplishments and focused pursuit of excellence.

Below are some pictures from recent Training sessions: