USA-USA-USA-USA-USA-USA

In 1984, my parents took me to my first Olympics in Los Angeles. I remember the chant USA over and over in my head. I was hooked! It is where I saw my first real volleyball game and Karch Kiraly with his 42" vertical. We watched Carl Lewis run the 100 in the Coliseum. In 1996, I went back to Atlanta and watched the Dream Team. I remember pulling up to Centennial Park right after the bomb had gone off. Anyways- There are only 10 days left until the '08 Olympics start and I am stoked. Our sport always gets a big boost right after the olympics and I am expecting the same thing this year. You can buy Venice Volleyball gear off our website and the Wackos club will be sporting Neon green shirts this year in the stands as well. All proceeds go straight to the booster club. We finally pulled into Venice after nearly 3 weeks on the road. But we are heading back out for a few days at the end of the week to Paris!!!! Just kidding...... Actually Orlando. I bet you are wondering how the fishing trip ended up...... Day 2 and 3 was awesome. Lots of fish and no near death experiences. We had a blast camping, talking to the locals, and sitting in front of the local gas station debating life. I am reading a great book right now written by Chette Williams called Hard Fighting Soldier. (Yes I read books). He has been the Auburn football Chaplain for the last 8 years. It is basically the story of his life and how Tommy Tuberville was the 1st coach in America to hire a full time Chaplain. Have you heard Kidd Rock's new song with Sweet Home Alabama plaing in the background? Also, I know why Obama will not win the election in November because if you put a G in front of his name, it spells a really bad word........Hey, looking forward to the Alumni game on Monday night. I heard the Fran Valencic will be in the house!

Rocky Top Tennessee

Live from the Smokey mountains of Reliance, Tennessee where the motto here is "if you hear a banjo playing, you better start paddling". Got in late last night with my Auburn buddy, Mike where the plan was to get up early and be on the river for a full day of fly fishing for rainbow trout. How do you do it? Park your car at the top, park a mountain bike at the bottom, get a fly rod with a lot of little fake bugs that the fish eat, put on big heavy waiters, get in a tube and go. Water is about 50 degrees and it gets real hot up here. Let me tell you that half the fun is going through the rapids. Well here is a synopsis (big word) of the day. Not a great day, in fact everything that could go wrong went wrong. Let me tell you about it. Now usually we get a guide the first day so we can scout out hot spots and get the right type of fly at the end of our line but this year we decided to do it on our own. Usually you know what that means!!!

We got up late this morning b/c we were tired, ate some grits at the local shop and bought a snickers for lunch. We forgot the lock for the bike so we decided to hide it in some bushes. (This part of the story comes into play a little later) After parking the car, we put our gear on and got in the freezing river. We didn't know what time the dam was going to release water but we found out pretty quickly as I had a near death experience. My tube was going a little out of control when I hit the log. Rushing white water was pressing against my back as it was squeezing my lungs against the log. I had created quite a commotion that some onlookers watched me slowly die while there was nothing that they could do. Water started to fill my my waiters and I saw myself drowning. I finally decided that my life was more important then the equipment so I lifted myself up onto the log. As I did that, the tube and rod luckily caught a branch and I was able to escape to safety but my float tube broke in the process. Luckily, Mike had brought another one. Dried off, got back in the water and my wet suit had torn and 50 degree water came poring in. I decided to just go with it and finish the day. We both put on many different flys with no luck. Bottom line- No fish caught but hey my motto is a bad day fishing is better then the best day at work unless there is a home vb game at the TeePee that night.

We got out of the river around 6:00 to find out that our bike had been stolen. We walked up the mountain with the gear and some lady picked us up and gave us a ride to the top. Note to kids- Don't hitch hike. Went back to camp to get ready to find some dinner since we were not able to catch it. Got into a little scuffle with some Univ. of Alabama students and then found a place that was called Southern grits. They only served chicken and dumplings but it was frog leg Friday. Oh what a joy! I am proud to say that I ate my first frog tonight for dinner and now I am writing about it listening to the crickets and watching the fire flies. After dinner, we found some guy who will take us in his glider. Not sure I want to do it but will keep you updated. Tomorrow is a new day and in my book, the glass is always half full. Tomorrow we will get at it again and go for the big one or anything that will bite is fine too!

I want to give a shout out to the Shannon and Jackie Ryan, and Amy Sprouse. They emailed me to let me know that they will be at the Alumni game on Aug. 4th. Good night!!

Hough wins Middle Hitter Award!!!

Thanks to Hurricane Dolly, I just got in a few hours of great surfing this morning. Woke up before everyone else around 6:30 and went to the beach with the long board. Surprisingly, there were only a few people out there and there were a lot of clean sets coming in. I must say that surfing is a great workout and really helps clear the mind. It has been quite awhile since I have been able to do that. Lisa has been teasing me lately because I have put on about 10 pounds but I attribute it all to muscle mass as I have been working out pretty consistently over the past 8 weeks. I have never been heavier then my dad but now I am because he has lost over 40 pounds in 6 months. Retired life must rough!! Speaking of rough, Lisa Hough is rough on her opponents as she is the winner of the best ever middle blocker to play at VHS. We had over 800 votes as Dana Dumas and Lisa battled it out. It looked like Dana was going to get the top prize but the Lisa camp made one last push for victory. Lisa was and is an amazing player as she will be going into her senior year to play for the mountaineers at West Virginia Univ. At VHS, She was a 3 year starter and racked up more awards then I can remember. She was also one of the sharpest tools in the shed as she was #1 in her graduating class!!! Lisa was well respected by her teammates and adored by the coaching staff (especially me). Lisa IS the perfect player on a team. She goes at 110% all the time, very positive, extremely coachable, very respectable to her coaches, and plays with passion. Many players think they train hard, Lisa trains harder when nobody is even around. Lisa made herself a Division 1 athlete with her athletic ability but with more perserveance then anything in my opinion. Venice Volleyball has had many great middles over the years and it is a great honor to award Lisa as the greatest middle to ever play at VHS. Make sure you vote on the defensive poll. When that is done, the setters will battle it out.

A word from the airport

Team Camp is finally over and I am catching a flight back up North. I am really looking forward to it as we will be staying at the beach on the Panhandle then it is off to the mntns of North Carolina and Tennessee for a little fishing. Team Camp was a success as I am fairly confident of the path that we need to take for the season as far as training goes. Playing so many different schools makes it fairly obvious what our strengths and weaknesses are and how pre season needs to be approached. Some things we "get" and some things we do not but like I was telling our team after we got ousted from the single elimination tourney on Sunday was that this is the time to "not get it" so from that standpoint, the week was very successful. Plane is leaving. I will write later in the week. PS - I did get the final word on the pranks for the weekend too.

Team Camp- Day 2

Team camp is always pretty exhausting. There are 3 sessions that last about 3 hours each so we basically eat, sleep, and play volleyball for 3 days. I enjoy eating in the cafeteria. Each session has a specific skill that teams work on while competing against each other. For example, yesterday was geared to out of system balls and transition training. Today was more offense and running specific plays. Tonight we started match play where we compete against other schools and we keep records for seeding purposes. Tomorrow night, the camp tournament starts. It is usually very competitive. Five of six last year's state champs are present. In my 14 years, we have only won the Camp Championship one time. (Many 2nd place finishes). Tonight our record was 4-1. We beat Martin county, Jensen Beach, Episcopal from Jacksonville, and Lake Howell. Lost to Timber Creek. We will probably start the 32 team tournament as a 2nd or 3rd seed behind Timber Creek and Buccholtz. Jillian Allen went down with an ankle injury but I think it is minor and should be back tomorrow.
How is the team doing? We are getting a lot of experience playing other varsity squads. Since we lack in that area, it has been good to see them compete. We are working on competing for each point and not taking plays off, talking all of the time b/c that creates intensity, and being in the right spot at the right time. For some, it is starting to click a little. It is a big transition to go from the JV to the Varsity level and games are usually determined by a point or two. At times, we look phenominal and other times, it is hard to watch. As we gain more experience, the phenominal will outweigh the other times. At one point tonight, I told them that I hated mediocrity and our goal was perfection.
Team bonding is another plus at Team Camp. Every year, I usually pull out a couple of college day pranks. This year, they were ready for me. As we ate lunch today, I noticed a lot of texting going on. It turns out that they realized that the key to my dorm room was hanging out of my backpack and they started texting each other on how they were going to get it. Well, they got it w/out me realizing it and after they trashed my dorm room, they were able to put it back in my bag w/out me ever knowing it was missing. When I went back to my room, it was quite a mess. Shaving cream on the mirror and toilet seat, clothes all over and who knows what they did with my tooth brush. I am not really sure if I should be upset b/c it was pretty good team work and planning to pull off a feat like that. It was extremely creative and gutsy whick I like! But I will tell you that at some point my payback will very rewarding! Some of them say that they had nothing to do with it but I think if someone sits in the getaway car during a robbery, they are still going to go to jail.

Dorothy Rahal Commits!!!!

Venice HS has their first 2010 commitment as Dorothy gave a verbal to Marshall University and will receive a full athletic scholarship starting her freshmen year in 2010. She will continue to wear the Forest green and white uniforms with the Thundering Herd. Marshall U. is a Division 1 school that competes in Conference USA. Congrats Dorothy!!!

Auburn's Team Camp

It is a rainy Sunday afternoon in Auburn. Team camp fnished up around noon and some families were suppose to go to the waterslide park this afternoon but it looks like the lightning is going to keep us away so I decided to write a little. On Thursday, it was a one day only beginning team camp. I had a team from the inner city of Montgomery. They had never played volleyball but by the end of the day we were able to get some rallies going. I think the favorite part of the day for the team was the cheers that they had made up. Friday thru Sunday was quite a different story. My team was St. Paul's out of Mobile, Alabama. They are the 2 time defending State Champs. They are a VERY offensive team which suited me fine because I lean toward being a defensive coach. They will have 6 seniors next year and the top player has already committed to Purdue Univ. Catherine is a 6'3" hammer! Their other big gun had a cast on and she will be a junior and is leaning towards Georgia Tech. The other players were extrememly skilled as most of them play club somewhere in Mobile. This team was extremely athletic and loved the play at the net. I decided to take them in a little different direction at the request of their coach and concentrate on passing and defense. The kids were very responsive and we all had a great time. We ended up winning the camp championship as well. They will be at the Tampa Prep tournamnent in the fall and we are talking about them possibly coming a day earlier to the TeePee for a match. I am sure that it would be an extremely entertaining event if it happens and our seven year regular season winning streak would be in jeapardy. The next few days, we will be hanging out and visiting friends before I fly back to Tampa. Did you know During the 1972 Iron Bowl, Auburn blocked two fourth-quarter punts and returned both for touchdowns, giving the Tigers a 17-16 win in a game that's now known simply as "Punt Bama Punt."

Greetings from Auburn!!!

I just woke up after driving a hefty 8 hours to the best college town in America. I don't need to tell you where that is! The Wheatley family will be staying with various college friends over the next week til I fly back to Tampa to work with our amazing 2008 possible varsity players at the University of Tampa camp. After Tampa camp, I fly back up to Pensacola and my family and Wade Banson's family will be renting a place on the beach near Seaside, FL. Ever seen John Carey in the movie, The Truman Show? That is where we will be. Wade is the new head coach at Auburn. And finally after that, I will be ruffing it in the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee with one of my best friends, Mike, who never left his college town and is now a lawyer. We fly fish every summer up there where time is not existent, we have no idea what we will eat for dinner if we do not catch fish. (And if you have ever fished with me, you know that is a great possibility.), and we bath in the rivers. I am hoping that Coach Faulkner can join us for a day in NC as he will also be up that way. As we are camping, Lisa and the kids will be visiting with her family in the metropolis of Atmore, AL. If you have nothing else to do, I will keep you updated on our trip but, in about 2 hours I will be working at the Auburn Univ. Team camp. I will also update you the next couple of days on the team that I will be working with and their progress. Did you know that the last time Alabama beat Auburn in football, gas was $1.29 ? War Eagle!!!!

Who is the greatest defensive player to ever play for the venice Indians?

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Who is the greatest middle hitter to ever play at Venice HS?

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Summer Volleyball- week 4

Wow- week 4 has already come and gone. I cannot believe how fast the summer is going. Our players have really made the most of it so far and have gotten a lot better. Our guest speaker, Dana Dumas, came in on Monday to talk with the players. I think it is always great to have former players like Dana come in and talk about their high school volleyball experience and what it meant to them now that they are adults. The players we have in the program have always heard of Dana and they get to look at her picture in the gym but really have never gotten a chance to know what she was about and what made her tick. Dana talked about her junior and senior years and how she was the only senior on the '05 team. She credited a lot of the success her teams had to the rigorous summer schedule. Many people who attend our matches just see the final result come fall. They don't know about players getting to the TeePee at 6:45 each morning while all of their friends are still sleeping at home thinking about what to wear to the beach that day. They can't fathom (big word) the number of arm swing reps our players do each summer morning to get their spike just to where they want it. Our athletes give up so much BUT they gain so much in return like being able to wear a Venice volleyball uniform in front of a packed house on a cool night at the TeePee or the pride they feel as they walk around town and strangers approach them to tell them how proud they are of the team and want to know about our next opponent. Little kids who come to to the games look up to them as role models and want to be just like them when they get to high school or our vhs alumni who still cheer them on to keep up the great tradition and expectations that come with each season. When someone of the high character like Dana speaks, I think it just motivates our current players to give that little extra each day and that is usually the difference in winning and losing. I was at Windflight surf shop just this afternoon and the owner just kept raving about how he loves to watch the volleyball players compete and get better throughout the season. It made me proud to know that I was a small part of the vhs program.
Some other highlights of the week was the introduction of a new game called "Deal or no deal". It was a big success. I was pleasantly surprised with our Wednesdays conditioning session out on the football field. We had kids pushing hard and encouraging others to give it all they had for the benefit of the team. They seemed to keep going when there was nothing left in the tank. (My former players know exactly how they felt). They were rewarded today for their efforts with popsicles after practice. Speaking of tanks, the "Tankity Tank" story seemed to hit a chord with many players. Why is our Venice teams so successful? It is the same reason why the LSU baseball team, USC football, New York Yankees, the San Francisco 49ers of the 80's, and the the Auburn Tigers (just kidding) are so successful year after year. They are not cocky but confident. Everytime they run out to play, they know without a shadow of a doubt that they will defeat the opposing team and the opposing team usually knows that they are in trouble mostly b/c of the way the other team is carrying themselves. It has not always been that way with Venice but the in the last 10 years, we have won a lot of matches just because we have the name "Venice" on the back of our jerseys!
Our middle hitter poll should be completed by next week. There has been a tremendous number of votes casted. In our next poll, we will have one of the most competitive polls to date and that is to find out who was the best defensive player and there have been many over the years. I have a feeling who will win but I wouldn't want to influence any votes.