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Berkeley Prep's 'Gentle Giant'

Teammates rave about the talent of Janet Okogbaa, and they have to because the eighth-grader isn't very talkative.

By EMILY NIPPS

© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 11, 2001

TAMPA -- As if Berkeley Prep wasn't powerful enough before this season, the Bucs now have perhaps Florida's most intimidating player.

Janet Okogbaa is 6 feet 2, leads the team in kills and can leap to a height of 10 feet, 2 inches -- a feat Bucs coach Randy Dagostino said "puts her in a different level than 99 percent of volleyball players in the country."

The lanky outside hitter never shows emotion, even after big points. And she doesn't cheer -- much less, talk -- during a match.

But what makes Okogbaa's behavior understandable is what makes her opponents cower: She's 13 years old.

"If she makes a mistake, she says, 'Oh, I'm sorry,' and we have to tell her it's okay," Berkeley Prep setter Christine Gladysz said. "She's so quiet, but we understand. I mean, she's in eighth grade and we're seniors."

In fact, Okogbaa is the only eighth-grader to ever start for Berkeley Prep, an 11-time state champion chasing its 12th title. And just as rare as a Bucs eighth-grader making varsity is one who leads the team in kills (Okogbaa has 99 in 16 matches). "What she's doing is remarkable for anyone, but even more for someone her age," Dagostino said. "She has only made 22 errors this season, which is pretty doggone low. That's by far the most impressive stat of all."

Okogbaa caught the attention of Junior Olympics coaches during the summer after she qualified for a "high performance" program, which is the beginning level of Junior Olympics and usually reserved for 14- and 15-year-olds.

"I'd like to do it next year, if they'll have me," Okogbaa said.

As for Dagostino, he noticed Okogbaa when she was in third grade. Kerry Bridenback, Berkeley Prep's department chairman for physical education, discovered the little girl during gym class and gave Dagostino a nudge.

"After that, I'd notice her every time I could," Dagostino said. "She was more than just taller than the other kids. She was good at physical skills, like jumping and running."

Dagostino sat down with Okogbaa and her parents, who are from Nigeria, and encouraged them to get Okogbaa involved in his Tampa Bay Juniors club team. Jeffrey Okogbaa, Okogbaa's father and a professor of engineering at South Florida, isn't surprised by his daughter's success. "She has always been a very active young lady," he said. "Even when she was very young, and I would buy her a toy and have difficulty putting it together, she would take it apart and put it together. She was always like that, and she has always liked sports."

Her silence and flat expression on the court also doesn't come as big news to her father. "She's just that way," he said. "She doesn't really say much at home, either."

It's a trait that has baffled Okogbaa's coaches and teammates, and it has incorporated a new obstacle into the way Dagostino approaches practice. "(Okogbaa) is very intelligent, but for anyone that coaches her, you're going to wonder how much she's absorbing," Dagostino said. "If she doesn't understand something, she will not verbalize it and she will never ask questions. I have to watch her body language ... I am constantly trying to think of things that will happen in a game, and then do those drills with her."

One of Okogbaa's teammates, junior Aline Baker, feels a connection with her shy, younger friend. Baker, one of the Bucs' most gregarious and outgoing players, has made it her season-long mission to get Okogbaa to open up.

"(Okogbaa)'s actually the funniest person on the team," Baker said. "(Teammate) Cally Stolbach, me and Janet are all the goofy troublemakers."

Baker and her teammates like to get Okogbaa to laugh or smile, and have fun with Okogbaa's good-natured sense of humor. But beneath the teasing there's a sense of awe and admiration. "She doesn't even know how good she is," Baker said. "She has everything going for her, but she doesn't act like it. I think she's scared to shine."

Even Dagostino feels humbled by Okogbaa's talent.

"It exciting, but at the same time I'm apprehensive," Dagostino said. "I'm always wondering, as much as I know volleyball, if I know enough.

"This is a kid who I would encourage to take the sport as far as it will take her. And it could take her as far as she wants."

Baker calls Okogbaa "the gentle giant," and said she is grateful to be her teammate for one more year.

"I'm not nearly as good as her, and I probably won't play volleyball in college," Baker said. "But I want to keep playing because I have one more year of playing with her." Okogbaa said she plans on sticking with volleyball, and smiles broadly when asked about the teasing and playful prodding by her teammates.

"I'm actually really proud of my girls," Dagostino said. "They've done more than just welcome Janet to the team. They've helped her open up as a person, and they've been so good with her.

"We know that there's an excitable little girl in that body."

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