Short on Stature, not creativity

Lecanto's volleyball team is short. Very short. Most of the Panthers are 5-foot-5 or shorter. The shortest is 5-foot.

After Lecanto's 25-9, 25-22, 25-22 loss to Crystal River on Aug. 25, Lecanto volleyball coach Freddie Bullock began mulling over a new plan.

Crystal Rivers' 6-foot-3 senior middle blocker Brandy Worlton had dominated the front row, and her 17 kills overpowered the Panthers. It wasn't just Crystal River. Nature Coast, Hernando and even Seven Rivers Christian's 5-foot-10 junior middle blocker, Rachael Capra, have towered over Lecanto. The Panthers (3-4, 2-1 in 4A-6) tried to compensate with speed, but they still were getting beat.

You usually work in practice what you messed up in a game," Bullock said. "But you can't work on this. There ain't anything you can do. You've just got to use what the good Lord gave you and this is what he gave us."

So she recruited the Lecanto boys basketball team.

Bullock gave the boys a five-minute tutorial on how to spike and put them on the court.

"She just told us it's like follow through on shooting a free throw," said Lecanto senior center Greg Simerly said, who is pictured below with some of the volleyball players. "You just flick your wrist."

It seems to have helped Lecanto.

I'm curious, what have other teams and players done because they are extremely short?

- Dawn Reiss

Photo credit: Stephen J. Coddington