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At the beginning of each volleyball season, Brian Wheatley hands his players a manual outlining the rules and regulations involving Venice High volleyball.  This year, the coach handed the players an empty notebook.  It was the players’ job to fill it.

“We were just trying to promote a lot of ownership into the program,” Wheatley said. “It doesn’t matter what the coaches think. We don’t play on the court. It has to be the team.”

The players decided on what it took to be quality leader, good teammate and successful team.

They also developed a motto: 11/19/09.

That date, and that date only, is on the back of the players’ T-shirts.

It is the date of the Class 5A State Final.

“As a team,” senior middle hitter Jillian Allen said. “We all decided we wanted that to be on the back of our shirts.”

“We’ve got a plan from A to Z,” Wheatley said. “Right now, we are at Y.”

The Indians are at ‘Y’ because tonight they are playing in a state semifinal.

At 6 p.m. they will take on Tallahassee Leon at The Lakeland Center for the right to play on 11/19/09 in the state final against the winner of the Lithia Newsome-Stuart Martin County match.

That is ‘Z.’

“We all were very much on the same page,” Allen said. “We all wanted to get to Lakeland. That was the first goal.”

The Indians have been building toward their goal since last season, when Wheatley did not carry a senior on his squad.

Venice added to its core group, which has remained intact on the varsity level for two years.

“Since we’ve played together last year, it made us more ready to play as a team this year,” Allen said.

“We made a lot of strides with no seniors,” Wheatley said. “We put them in the fire every chance we got, as far as the competition. That’s why we don’t get panicky or a deer-in-the-headlights look. They’ve been in the fire for two years.”

Of the Indians’ eight losses, six came on two days — three during the second day of the Mother McAuley ASICS Challenge in Chicago and three in the second day of the Tampa Berkeley Premier.

Venice’s season turned around after the most recent setback.

After losing Nov. 14 at Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas, Wheatley locked the players out of the gym for four days.

The Indians are 7-0 since, having dropped only one game during that stretch.