VENICE - You may notice him at the end of the bench but don’t know him.  He is not in the limelight but make no mistake his importance.  He is Vern Gambetta, the strength and conditioning coach for the Venice High volleyball team.  Gambetta, who has worked with this year’s team since January, puts the players through conditioning and strengthening drills which directly relate to volleyball.

“All coaches are looking for that edge,” Venice head coach Brian Wheatley said. “Vern is our edge. No doubt. When kids become strong they believe in themselves more. They have more confidence and confidence in their abilities. That directly relates into the gym.”  Venice (22-8) will get another test at 2 p.m., Saturday as the Lady Indians host nationally-ranked Tampa Plant (25-3) in the Class 5A-Region 3 final at Venice High. The winner advances to the 5A state tournament.

“You have the physical capabilities to do some of the things they are doing,” said Wheatley. “A lot of teams I’ve had we’ve wanted them to do certain things but they physically could not do it. This year they are able to do all those things. We are able to teach the whole game of volleyball. Yeah, we don’t have the 6-foot-5 kid who can put it straight down but our weakest player is really a strong kid.”

The Lady Indians have had to put the endurance to test this season. Venice has played seven five-game matches against some of the top teams in the state including Tampa Berkeley Prep, Fort Myers and Tampa Prep. Venice picked up wins in three of the seven five-game matches. The Lady Indians also played four four-game matches with three victories.

In addition to the physical part of sports, Gambetta teaches mental toughness.  “He trains in a way that he uses volleyball scenarios all the time,” Wheatley said. “Everthing they are doing in February, March and April, he is always saying this is why we are doing it. We want you to hit the ball harder and this is how we are going to hit the ball harder. Not just strength.”

Wheatley said the players have all bought into the program and in fact, sometimes work harder at that than on the volleyball part.  “For a while they were actually going harder in that than they were in practice,” Wheatley said. “We had kind of say ‘look get the connection here. Volleyball is the fun part. Not the other way around.”

Since January, Gambetta, a volunteer assistant coach, has worked with the Venice High volleyball players for four days a week.  “This is their second year they’ve had him,” Wheatley said. “We think that each class is going to get that much stronger. Last year kids got real strong. These kids are 10 times ahead of them in the strength and endurance department.”

Gambetta, who is friends with former Venice High assistant coach Gary Halbert, was watching the Lady Indians and thought he could help them.  “He called me up and said ‘I’ve been following you guys for a while now,’ ” Wheatley said. “I want to work with the amateurs.”  Wheatley said he talks to Gambetta every day. “We talk about the practice plan and what we are doing. He’s invaluable.”

Visit

CLASS 5A-REGION 3 FINAL

TAMPA PLANT (25-3) at VENICE (22-8)
When: 2 p.m., Saturday
Where: Venice High School gymnasium
Cost: $6
Next round: Winner advances to Class 5A state semifinal on Nov. 21 against the winner of Stuart Martin County (22-7)-Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas (23-5).
How they got here: Plant: def. East Lake 25-16, 25-11, 25-18; def. Palm Harbor University 25-14, 25-15, 25-21; Venice: def. Northeast 25-9, 25-7, 25-5; def. Lakewood 25-14, 25-17, 25-12.
OF NOTE
Plant: Seven state titles in school history including five this decade. . . Two-time defending Class 5A state champion. . . . Ranked 19th in nation by PrepVolleyball.com . . . Have won 11 straight matches and lost just one game in those matches . . . Only losses this year were to nationally-ranked No. 1 Mercy Academy of Louisville, KY, No. 15 Tampa Berkeley Prep and No. 18 Sacred Heart of Louisville, KY . . . Five seniors including Danielle Erb, who leads team with 306 kills and 80 aces . . . 6-foot-2 junior Maddie Martin, who was injured part of the year, has 159 kills . . . Senior Jordan Dickie and junior Leah Jordan have combined for 121 blocks . . . Junior Ali McCurdy leads team with 388 digs . . . Setter Becca Howard, a transfer from Berkeley Prep, has 634 assists . . .


Venice: Fifth straight year teams have played in the postseason with each winning twice . . . Last year, Plant rallied from 2-1 deficit to beat Venice in five games . . . Sixth time the schools have met in postseason with Venice winning in 1994, 2004, 2005 and Plant winning in 2006 and 2007 . . . The last five times Venice has been eliminated in the postseason was to the eventual state champion or runner-up . . . Last time Plant played at Venice was in 2006 (a 3-0 victory) . . . The Lady Indians have played 12 of their last 13 matches at home . . . Venice has no seniors . . . 5-foot-8 outside hitter Dorothy Rahal has 357 kills . . . Emily Daniels is second on team with 304 kills . . . Setter Taylor Capasso distributes the ball and has 859 assists . . . Venice’s defense has combined for 2,157 digs including 442 by Daniels and 411 by Rahal . . . This is Venice’s 3rd trip to the regional final in the last four years.


Perry D. Pentz is Sportsota.com's senior writer. He can be reached via e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it