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Plant plays volleyball? Yes, they're the best

By RICK GERSHMAN
Published December 22, 2006

You've heard about that incredible sports team from Plant High School.

It dominated opponents throughout the fall, racking up victories, culminating in a state championship.

Hell of a team.

Hell of a season.

Seriously, you just have to love these girls.

Yes, our beloved Plant volleyball team: the pride of South Tampa.

They're media darlings, athletic icons, hard-hitting princesses with the keys to the city. Right?

Wait, I'm sorry. You mean you didn't know Plant's volleyball squad went 28-2 and won the state title?

Perhaps you're just not paying attention. The volleyball players did join their football comrades on the football field Dec. 11 when Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio celebrated the football team's state championship.

And the girls' accomplishment was mentioned when the city held a special celebration at City Hall last Friday. For, you know, the football team.

I admit I had no idea the volleyball team had won a state title until I was researching a story a few weeks ago for City Times. About Plant football, of course.

By comparison, it's been impossible to avoid hearing about the football team's 15-0 run and its Class 4A championship.

The Times, the Tampa Tribune and local TV stations expended a ton of resources in covering the football team. The title game was telecast live on Sun Sports. The Tampa Bay Lightning and Tampa Bay Storm even honored the team during recent games.

You might be expecting me to say that we - in the media, as a city, as a community - paid the football team too much attention.

But no. These guys deserve everything they've received. Coach Bob Weiner was stellar. The championship victory was one of the best football games I've ever seen. You can't give an accomplishment like this too much attention.

So, hey, keep going. Erect a statue of Robert Marve downtown. Give Derek Winter his own TV show. Rename the field Weiner Stadium. Though that might raise eyebrows among visitors.

But the volleyball team is just as deserving of star treatment. It hasn't received it.

Outside the school, these girls' efforts were almost entirely under our radar.

I'm not naive. I've loved football my whole life. I know football and volleyball are appreciated on different planes, especially in Florida.

And team sports played by boys simply are more popular than those played by girls.

High school football is so popular it generates revenue that supports schools' other programs, including volleyball.

Both papers reported the football team's championship on their front pages the next day.

A month earlier, when the volleyball team won, the Tribune put the story on the front of its sports section. The Times ran an article on Page 17.

All of which makes me ask this:

By putting the football team on a pedestal and largely overlooking the volleyball team, aren't we saying these guys are far more deserving of praise than the girls?

I covered high school sports for years. If you've never seen a volleyball match, let me tell you a few things you need to win a state title:

You need players willing to hurl their bodies onto hard gym floors to "dig" balls spiked by opponents.

You need players willing to go sprinting off the court, occasionally smashing into benches, to keep the ball in play.

You need players willing to block opposing players' spikes at the net, occasionally taking a faceful of volleyball, point blank, at brutal velocity.

I never have seen the Plant volleyball team play, but I know it must be tough as hell.

In the past six seasons, Plant has won the state title in its size classification four times.

In a state the size of Florida, in a sport often dominated by private schools - that's virtually unheard of in any sport.

That's all the more reason there should be more celebration for Plant coach Leanna Taylor's spikers and setters.

This program is a dynasty. But outside of Plant and the prep volleyball community, who knows it?

The Wikipedia Web site for Plant recently gained news about the football championship.

As of Wednesday, Plant's page also noted that Dad's Stadium hosts soccer and lacrosse games, track and field meets, and pep rallies. Further, "the Flag Team is the Pantherettes and the dance team is known as the Danceros."

On Plant's Wikipedia page, the word "football" appears nine times.

The word "volleyball" does not appear. Not once.

Times researcher John Martin contributed to this report. Rick Gershman can be reached at rgershman@sptimes.com or 226-3431.

[Last modified December 21, 2006, 08:20:22]