Team Coaches

Coach Wheatley

Coach Brian Wheatley has completed fourteen years of successful teaching and coaching.  He teaches and serves as the Head of the Department in Physical Education at Venice HS.  He earned a B.S. in Physical Education at Auburn University in 1994 and earned his Masters degree in 1999

Coach Wheatley learned the game of volleyball growing up on the beaches of California.  He played two years at San Jose State University. (finished 9th in the country), one year for the club team at Auburn, and four years in the N.C.V.A. which is a two-man grass tour that travels throughout California.

Brian’s coaching career started when he was an undergraduate assistant at Auburn University for the Women’s program.  He is currently the Head Volleyball Coach at Venice High School in Venice, Florida.  His overall record in fourteen years is 381 wins and 85 losses.  His team has won twelve District Championships, five Regional Crowns, four Final Four Appearances, State Runner-Up in 1997 and 2004, and his team was the 1998 and 2005 Class 5A State Champions. 

Coach Wheatley was voted the Sarasota Herald-Tribune 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2004, and 2005 Volleyball “Coach of the Year” by area coaches.  He has worked summer camps at Stanford U., Michigan St. Univ., Univ. of Florida, Notre Dame, Univ. of Tampa, and Auburn.  Under his guidance, 31 players have received volleyball scholarships to universities around the country and he has served on the FHSAA state volleyball advisory board.

Coach Wheatley is the Director for the Venetian Bay Volleyball Club.  He has been involved with club volleyball for the past fourteen years.

He was also a speaker at the FACA Coaches Convention on “Motivating Your Team” and “Building Team Unity.” His wife, Lisa, is also a teacher and they have a 7 year old girl, Brooke, and a 5 year old boy, Luke.

Coach Peters

Coach Peters is this year's Junior Varsity Coach.  She recently finished up a great JV season at Venice High School this year with a record of 20-4. She is originally from a suburb of Dallas, TX and graduated from Denton HS.  She played outside hitter on a full scholarship at Western Carolina University.  Highlights of playing high school volleyball include winning both District MVP and District Offensive Player of the year and being District champs every year. At WCU, beating the University of Tennessee in 4 games and being on several All Tournament teams (Western Carolina, Campbell, and Clemson tournament) were some of her highlights.

Coach Lanham

Coach Lanham is entering his 7th season of coaching volleyball at Venice High School. Coach is a graduate of Venice High and Anderson University where he began his coaching career as an assistant. He received his Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership in 2006.  Coach Lanham is currently teaching PE at Atwater Elementary in North Port. He lives in Venice with his wife Marla and their three children Maylee, 5, Jayda, 3 and Ty, 2.

Vern Gambetta

Vern Gambetta is the former Director of Conditioning for the Chicago White Sox and Director of Athletic Development for the New York Mets. Vern is recognized internationally as an expert in training and conditioning for sport having worked with world class athletes and teams in a wide variety of sports. He is a popular speaker and writer on conditioning topics having lectured and conducted clinics in Canada, Japan, Australia and Europe. Vern's coaching experience spans 39 years at all levels of competition.

Vern Gambetta is  the Director of Gambetta Sports Training Systems. He has been the a conditioning coach for several teams in Major League Soccer as well as the conditioning consultant to the US Men’s World Cup Soccer team. 

He has authored six books and over one hundred articles related to coaching and sport performance in a variety of sports. He received his BA from Fresno State University and his teaching credential with a coaching minor from University of California Santa Barbara. He obtained his MA in Education with an emphasis in physical education from Stanford University.

His Blog: http://functionalpathtraining.typepad.com

His Website: http://www.gambetta.com/