SARASOTA JUNIORS COACHING STAFF
CHAD DAVIS
- Coach Davis has over 20 years of coaching experience at all levels (NCAA, Club, and High School). His teams have won four High School State Championships, two National Championships, numerous National Qualifiers and he has helped over 50 players sign college scholarships.
- Coach Davis is currently the Varsity Head Coach at Cardinal Mooney
- Coach Davis has over 20 years of coaching experience at all levels (NCAA, Club, and High School). His teams have won four High School State Championships, two National Championships, numerous National Qualifiers and he has helped over 50 players sign college scholarships.
- Coach Davis is currently the Varsity Head Coach at Cardinal Mooney High School, Cardinal Mooney won the 3A State Championship in 2019.
- At the NCAA Division I level: In his first season at Quinnipiac University in 2016 Coach Davis helped create the largest single-season turnaround (18 wins) in the entire country at the Division I level, improving the Bobcats from 3 wins to 21 wins. The Bobcats more than doubled their previous record for most wins in a season as full Division I members while reaching the championship match of their conference tournament for the first time at the Division 1 level in 2016.
- Previously, Coach Davis was the former Club Director of Gainesville Juniors. He qualified fourteen teams for the Junior National Championships, including three times in the Open Division. In the 2001 season, his U15 National Team finished ninth overall in the country in the Open Division. His teams have won the Big South, Disney (now Sunshine), Colorado Crossroads, Northeast, and Northern Lights National Qualifiers. In 2015, his U17 Elite Team finished runner-up in the U17 American Division at the Junior National Championships. His 2014 and 2015 teams won the AAU National Championship in the U16 and U17 Club Division. Over 50 players signed scholarships during his time as Director at Gainesville Juniors. Coach Davis also served as Co-Director of Siesta Key Juniors.
- Coach Davis is also the former Head Coach at P.K. Yonge High School. During his three-year run at the helm, the Blue Wave posted an overall record of 89-5, including back-to-back State Championships in 2014 and 2015. His 2015 team was simply dominant as the Blue Wave finished with a record of 31-1 overall and was ranked No. 4 nationally by PrepVolleyball.com and MaxPreps. The Blue Wave were nationally-ranked all three years when Davis was head coach.
- Coach Davis was named Florida High School Coach of the Year in 2015 in addition to being named the 2015 Class 3A Coach of the Year, 2014 Class 4A Coach of the Year, 2006 Class 5A Coach of the Year and also was decorated as a three-time Gainesville Sun Coach of the Year.
NANCY HOPPER
Jac'cara Walker
Jac'cara Walker
- Coach Hopper graduated from Florida Southern College with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Physical Education and Health and received a Master’s degree in School Counseling (K-12) from Marshall University. While in high school, Coach Hopper and her volleyball team won three State Championships. She was recruited by Indian River State Colle
- Coach Hopper graduated from Florida Southern College with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Physical Education and Health and received a Master’s degree in School Counseling (K-12) from Marshall University. While in high school, Coach Hopper and her volleyball team won three State Championships. She was recruited by Indian River State College where she played for two years, and then she transferred to Florida Southern College on a full athletic scholarship. At Florida Southern. Coach Hopper was the MVP of the Sunshine State Conference in 1984, All Sunshine State Conference Team in 1984 and 1985 and Team Captain in 1983 and 1984.
- Coach Hopper started coaching volleyball in 1997. When she moved back to Florida, she was hired by her alma mater, John Carroll High School, to be the Head Coach and served from 2003-2017. While at John Carroll, Coach Hopper led her team to 5 District Titles, 4 Regional Quarter-Finals, 5 Regional Semi-Finals, and 1 Regional Final Runner-up. In 2006, her team won the Sunshine State Conference. During this time, Coach Hopper also served as the Director of Rampage Juniors and coached several age groups in both USAV and AAU.
- During her coaching career, she was named the 2006 Fort Pierce News Tribune Coach of the Year, FACA Coach of the year in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. For her contributions to volleyball as a player and coach, she was Inducted into the Hall of Fame at Indian River State College in 2017.
- Coach Hopper is a varsity assistant coach and Head JV Coach at Cardinal Mooney High School, Cardinal Mooney won the 3A State Championship in 2019.
Jac'cara Walker
Jac'cara Walker
Jac'cara Walker
- Coach Jac'cara is entering her third year coaching club volleyball.
- Coach Jac'cara recently completed her playing career at USF.
- AS A JUNIOR (2018): First team all-conference selection…finished fourth in The American with 394 kills, averaging 3.52 per set…finished sixth in the league with 427 points…led USF with 23 double-digit kill perfor
- Coach Jac'cara is entering her third year coaching club volleyball.
- Coach Jac'cara recently completed her playing career at USF.
- AS A JUNIOR (2018): First team all-conference selection…finished fourth in The American with 394 kills, averaging 3.52 per set…finished sixth in the league with 427 points…led USF with 23 double-digit kill performances…had 20 or more kills four times…led the Bulls with 15 double-doubles…had 21 kills and 20 digs against Stony Brook on the first day of the season (8/24)…had 14 kills and 18 digs at LIU Brooklyn (9/7)…tallied 19 kills on a .594 hitting efficiency with 10 digs against North Dakota (9/14)…had 21 kills and 10 digs in her first conference match against UCF (9/21)…tallied 22 kills and 14 digs against Houston (10/28)…earned her 1000th career kill against Houston (10/28)…finished first season as a Bulls with 19 kills and 19 digs against Georgia Tech in the opening round of the NIVC (11/29).
- AS A FRESHMAN AND SOPHOMORE AT MARSHALL UNIVERSITY (2016-17): Totaled 712 kills, 369 digs, 54 blocks and 55 aces in her two years at Marshall ... Named to the Conference USA All-Freshman Team and earned Conference USA Freshman of the Week honors twice in 2016 ... Recorded 336 kills, 133 digs, 29 blocks and 22 aces as a freshman ... Tallied 376 kills, 236 digs, 25 blocks and 33 aces as a sophomore.
- HIGH SCHOOL: Recorded 1,700 kills, 154 blocks, 260 service aces and 1,100 digs during her high school career at P.K. Yonge, playing for coach Chad Davis. Walker was named a prep volleyball All-American and the Gainesville Suns Player of the Year as a sophomore, junior and senior ... Walker was named the District 4A Player of the Year and a Max Preps All-American as a junior ... Gatorade Florida Player of the Year and District 3A Player of the Year as a senior. Walker's team at P.K. Yonge won the state championship in her junior and senior seasons.
ADAM PHILLIPS
Jac'cara Walker
ADAM PHILLIPS
- Coach Adam has over 13 years of coaching experience. He played competitive volleyball as a young adult, but quickly learned he enjoyed leadership more than playing. He was the operations manager at Winter Park Volleyball Club for 5 years. While there, he head coached several teams to a top-3 finish at AAU Nationals, and qualified a 17U t
- Coach Adam has over 13 years of coaching experience. He played competitive volleyball as a young adult, but quickly learned he enjoyed leadership more than playing. He was the operations manager at Winter Park Volleyball Club for 5 years. While there, he head coached several teams to a top-3 finish at AAU Nationals, and qualified a 17U team for USAV Nationals.
- Coach Adam is the dedicated father to three amazing daughters, Shyenne(24), Grace(15), and Auburn(11).
ANGIE BYRD
Amberly Carrington
DEANNA GRUHL
- Coach Byrd is the former Head Coach of State College of Florida. She has over 15 years of college coaching and brings expertise in coaching as well as college recruiting. Byrd’s college head coaching career began as she served as the Head Coach of Northwest Shoals Community College in Alabama. During her time there, she was named Conferen
- Coach Byrd is the former Head Coach of State College of Florida. She has over 15 years of college coaching and brings expertise in coaching as well as college recruiting. Byrd’s college head coaching career began as she served as the Head Coach of Northwest Shoals Community College in Alabama. During her time there, she was named Conference and Region XXII Coach of the Year four times and the volleyball program won four NJCAA Region XXII championships, resulting in four appearances in the NJCAA Volleyball National Tournament. The volleyball program captured four Alabama Community College Conference Championships under her watch.
- Coach Byrd took over as Head Coach at Seminole State College in Oklahoma following her time at Northwest-Shoals Community College. In her single season, she led the volleyball program to its best record in program history, a region championship and national top 20 ranking.
- Coach Byrd led University of North Carolina at Pembroke to two Peach Belt Tournament appearances.
- Coach Byrd currently coaches Indoor and Beach Volleyball at Cardinal Mooney High School and has coached for several club programs around the country.
DEANNA GRUHL
Amberly Carrington
DEANNA GRUHL
- Coach Deanna grew up near Toronto, Ontario and played three years of club volleyball in Canada for the Hamilton Seekers and the Waterdown Raiders Clubs as a MH and an OH before being asked to participate on Team Ontario which identifies athletes with a potential to play at a Junior National level. Her team placed 4th in the 1990 Canada S
- Coach Deanna grew up near Toronto, Ontario and played three years of club volleyball in Canada for the Hamilton Seekers and the Waterdown Raiders Clubs as a MH and an OH before being asked to participate on Team Ontario which identifies athletes with a potential to play at a Junior National level. Her team placed 4th in the 1990 Canada Summer Games. She moved to Florida for her senior year, playing for the Tampa Bay Juniors and for Berkeley Preparatory School where her team won the 1990 1A Volleyball State Championship and Deanna garnered All-State honors and the St. Pete Times and Tampa Tribune Volleyball Player-of-the-Year.
- Coach Deanna went on to be a four-year starter as an outside hitter at Florida State University from 1991-1994, playing both OH and RS and named Co-Captain her senior year. She received the Atlantic Coast Conference Honor Roll for three years and All-ACC Tournament Team. She still ranks in many categories at FSU with 3rd in Service Aces (170), 4th in Total Attacks (3479), 6th in Kills (1436), 8th in Sets Played (444) and 11th in Digs (1054) plus 187 Total Blocks. Deanna is 1-of-6 players in FSU history to be in the 1000 Kill/1000 Dig Club and still holds the record for Total Attacks (77) and Total Kills (31) in a Florida State match.
- Coach Deanna received a post-graduate scholarship through the athletic department and remained at FSU for two Masters’ degrees in Dietetics and Business Administration. While in Tallahassee she coached at Florida State High School, first as Varsity Assistant and then as Varsity Coach. The team went to the Florida State Volleyball Championship and lost in the State Semi-Final game. Deanna moved over to Godby High School and she was named the 2000 All-Big Bend Coach of the Year. She also coached for Big Bend Juniors in Tallahassee and spent many summers working volleyball camps at Florida State, University of Tampa and Florida Tech plus assisting with private team school camps.
- In 2004, Coach Deanna moved back to Canada to help run their family business and coached with the Durham Rebels and Aurora Storm volleyball clubs.. Deanna has coached many players that have played volleyball at Canadian Universities and Division I and II in the United States.
- Happy to be back in Florida, Coach Deanna will be the Junior Varsity Coach at Out-of-Door Academy while assisting the Varsity Team.
Amberly Carrington
Amberly Carrington
Amberly Carrington
- Coach Amberly is entering her 10th season coaching club volleyball, most recently with Mizuno Club North in Kansas City. Amberly and her husband, who recently got a job at IMG Academy as a Strength & Conditioning Coach, just moved down to Bradenton from Kansas City.
- Coach Amberly grew up in Iowa and attended Shenandoah High school and was
- Coach Amberly is entering her 10th season coaching club volleyball, most recently with Mizuno Club North in Kansas City. Amberly and her husband, who recently got a job at IMG Academy as a Strength & Conditioning Coach, just moved down to Bradenton from Kansas City.
- Coach Amberly grew up in Iowa and attended Shenandoah High school and was a four-year letterman as an outside hitter and defensive specialists. In 2004 she received 2nd Team All-Conference and in 2006 she received 1st Team All-Conference, All-District, All-Southwest Iowa, and was selected to play in the all-star game. She also played for Premier Volleyball Club out of Omaha, Nebraska and Top Ten out of Council Bluffs, Iowa as a defensive specialist.
- Coach Amberly went on and played 3 years at Dana College in Blair, Nebraska. She was a 2-year starter as a defensive specialist. The team finished with their best record in in school history in the 2010 season. In 2010, Dana shut down going into her senior year and Amberly finished school at Missouri Western State University graduating with a degree in Recreation Sports Management.
- At Mizuno Club North, coach Amberly has coached mostly every age division, with most recently the 11s. In 2014, her 14&U team won the Northern Lights Qualifier, the first one in club history. She has also coached at the high school level in the Kansas City area. She has coached multiple athletes who have went on and played at all levels and some winning National Championships. She has had great mentors through-out her coaching career and is super excited to coach talented athletes here in the Sarasota area. One of her biggest passion's is building strong female athletes to be great volleyball players, but even better humans off the court.
RICK FISHER
RICK FISHER
Amberly Carrington
- Coach Rick played for University of Wisconsin men’s volleyball team where he was the starting outside hitter all four years. He led the team in kills each year and was nominated for all-conference his senior year for the Wisconsin/Minnesota volleyball club region.
- After college he moved to FL and started playing competitive 2-man beach vo
- Coach Rick played for University of Wisconsin men’s volleyball team where he was the starting outside hitter all four years. He led the team in kills each year and was nominated for all-conference his senior year for the Wisconsin/Minnesota volleyball club region.
- After college he moved to FL and started playing competitive 2-man beach volleyball. For the past 30 years coach Rick has played beach tournaments in WI and all over the state of FL. He continues to play on Siesta Key beach when he can.
- Coach Rick starting coaching in 2010 for Suncoast Volleyball club. Since 2010 he has coached for several clubs in the Sarasota area including Coastline Volleyball Club, Wave Volleyball Club, and OTVA-Sarasota.
- Coach Rick also has helped run several beach volleyball camps and clinics for the past 12+ years for various beach clubs in Sarasota/Manatee Counties.
- Coach Rick is currently one of the assistant coaches at Cardinal Mooney High School.
TBA
RICK FISHER
TBA
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