Team camp update

We are at the Univ. of Tampa Team camp for about 4 days. There are 41 varsity teams here from around the state. The camp is designed to prepare high schoool teams for the upcoming season. The first couple of days, teams play each other in 6 vs 6 drills and compete against each other with similar skill level. We are in the top group and we work on things like serve receive offense, transition defense and offense, out of system attack, etc. Tonight was the 1st time we were able to play matches against other teams and record scores. Scores were taken to seed the teams for the camp tournament. Venice was the only team to go undefeated. We beat Plant, Leon, Timber creek, Tampa Prep, Gainesville, and East Lake so we are seeded #1 in the 41 team tournament tomorrow afternoon. Our team has steadily improved and players are having a good time. The best part of the camp besides actually playing other schools has been to see the Venice players confidence level rise. After each session, I am seeing the light go on from all of the things they have worked on all summer and they are starting to believe more and more. The best match of the night came against Timber Creek who has a 6'4" middle comitted to Hawaii. We were down 12-4 and made a furious comeback during the timed match and won 14-13. We also got a little revenge on Leon who knocked us out in the final 4 last year. Our offense is actually a little faster this year and our defense is improving day by day. And o yes, I pulled the old toothpaste on the back of the doorknob prank to get the week started and there is definitely more of where that came from coming up tomorrow.

End of Summer Activities

We have had a very productive summer. Players have been coming in from 7-10:30 AM Mon-Thurs and we will be finishing up this week. On Wednesday, our two teams that are going to team camp will be scrimmaging 2 teams from Cardinal Mooney at 7:30 AM with new coach and former VHS stud, Kristen Batt. Anyone is welcome to watch. On Thursday, Venice volleyball players will take their game to University of Tampa team Camp. We will stay there til Sunday. Team Camp is a very important part of our program as we get to finally compete against teams from around the state. Last year, our team flew to Auburn Univ. to win the camp championship. There are many great teams that go to Tampa Team Camp. Some that are signed up are Plant, Tampa Prep, St. Thomas Aquinas, Ft. Myers, Bishop Verot, Bucholtz, Leon, and about 40 other schools. It is amazing competition to see how we are progressing but the most important part of team camp is the building of team chemistry. Players room together, eat together, and have a lot of fun together. Play hard on the court, be silly off the court. Coach Wheatley always has many pranks up his sleeve to make the week even more exciting. (Got some good ones this year). This year, I am particularly interested in camp because we have many potential newbys on the team and I want to see how our returners handle their new leadership roles. Also, we have been working on some new techniques this summer that I really think will help our volleyball IQ and quicken up that learning curve to start the season. Another thing I would like to see is that mean green aggressive style of defense that we are known for in the vb world as well as an offense that will sideout and score on tough teams because "defense gets you to the Final 4 but offense wins it".
Tryouts are scheduled for Aug. 9th. Times will be given later. We are the only female sport on campus with a freshmen, JV, and varsity team. After a player makes a team, practices will start for the two weeks before school starts so make plans to be around. If you make varsity, clear your schedule as we will be practicing 2-A-Days to prepare for the season. Also, all players should be well conditioned coming into tryouts. Don't be a couch potatoe for 2 weeks. Be sprint ready and be able to run a mile in at least under 8 min.
"Hunter or Hunted"