TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Grosso Sisters Team Up For Volleyball

ADVERTISEMENT

By DAREK SHARP

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 3, 2008

PLANT CITY - As the new head volleyball coach at Plant City High, Kerri-Ann Grosso is hoping to bring her sport into more prominence at the school. Part of reaching that goal, Grosso thinks, will include incorporating her way of doing things.

Good thing for Grosso that her top assistant is pretty well in tune with that way.

Grosso, 29, will have her younger sister, Kristin, as coach of the junior varsity squad. Both are teachers at Plant City High.

"After getting the job, I told the administration that I knew someone pretty well who could take the JV position," Kerri-Ann Grosso said. "To have her coaching here with me is awesome."

The Grosso sisters are back together for the first time in a while. Kerri-Ann has been an assistant at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va., for the past five years while Kristin, 26, has been in the administration at Florida State University for three years.

Kristin's presence in Florida is the main reason Kerri-Ann ended up at Plant City.

Kerri-Ann, who prior to James Madison spent two years in graduate school at Texas A&M, where she assisted on the volleyball team, wanted to do more than just coach.

"I love volleyball and it's a big part of my life, but it was driving my life and I decided I wanted to teach," she said. "My sister was in Florida, which is a great place to live, maybe for my folks to retire, and so basically, I drove to Florida - from Virginia."

After visiting her sister in Tallahassee, Kerri-Ann Grosso traveled to Tampa, where her friend Mike Flynn is the coach at Tampa Prep. He helped her get set up with the Plant City job.

It's fairly apparent that Grosso will stress defense to the Raiders. She was a college standout at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va. From 1998 through 2000, she was named the Colonial Athletic Association's defensive specialist of the year.

And as a coach at James Madison, Grosso worked closely with Jena Pierson, who became the school's first-ever Colonial Athletic Association's defensive specialist of the year and was named one of the top five defensive players in the country.

As a player, Grosso captained William and Mary her final two seasons there. Kristin was a tremendous tennis player at State University of New York-Cortland.

The sisters are originally from Long Island, N.Y. Grosso was a two-time all-state athlete at Deer Park High School for both volleyball and tennis.

"I'm very competitive, very driven," said Kerri-Ann of her approach to coaching. "This first year, obviously I want to win. But mainly we want to establish a volleyball environment at Plant City. We want girls to want to play volleyball and be ready to do the work."

Plant City's season began Tuesday with a match at Armwood and continues with the home opener Thursday against Newsome. The JV team is scheduled to play at 6:15 p.m. with the varsity to follow at 7:30 p.m.

Reporter Darek Sharp can be reached at dsharp@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT