Prep volleyball | Following in her father's footsteps - and with his help - Coulter makes Manatee history

BRADENTON -- Manatee trickles out of the locker room and on to the court about an hour before a typical match. When everyone is out on the floor the Hurricanes can begin their more formal warm-up routine. Until then, the Canes pair off for a brief pepper drill.

The common warm-up technique sets two players about a dozen feet apart. One tosses the ball to the other, who passes to the initial player for a set. The second player gets a chance to spike and the first tries to return with a dig. Then the drill starts over.

Most players would just pair off with a teammate. Sometimes, though, one could get a chance to work with a professional. Chuck Coulter has played professionally for more than 20 years and his affinity rubbed off on his three daughters, who helped elevate Manatee to new heights the past two years.

"I don't really remember a time when I wasn't playing with a ball or anything," said Haley Coulter, who recently completed her final season with the Hurricanes and is the Herald's All-Area Player of the Year. She'll play at Tulsa next year.

The Coulter family's volleyball itch was obvious each time the Canes took the floor the past two seasons. Haley was joined by sisters Gabby and JoJo Coulter, then freshmen, in Manatee's starting lineup during the Hurricanes' Class 8A state championship campaign in 2014. This year, Haley finished her final season in Bradenton with a trip to the state semifinal and again her sisters, now sophomores, were critical components.

JoJo started every match as an outside hitter and, when she was healthy, Gabby was the starting setter.

But their path to Canes history -- the 2014 state title was the first in program history -- began decades earlier when Chuck Coulter's family moved from California to Florida.

The Coulter patriarch was raised in Newport Beach, where volleyball was mainstream. At Manatee, where he enrolled when his family moved to Bradenton, there wasn't and still isn't a boys team. He initially considered playing for the girls team before heading out to Anna Maria Island and the nearby beaches.

More than 30 years later, Coulter has a reputation in beach volleyball circles as something of a Florida legend.

"If you Google his name," his wife, Lisa Coulter, said, "you'll see where at one point -- there are some little blogs about him -- they still think he was one of the best players in the state at one point."

The Google searches turn up another familiar name: Cothron. One of Coulter's original beach partners was Nancy Cothron, the head coach at Bayshore. Another teammate was Tony Cothron, who now coaches his three daughters with the Hurricanes.

Coulter actually introduced Cothron to the sport when he left the United States Navy, meaning he was partially responsible for the head coach of a state championship team, including a two-time All-Area Player of the Year.

As the oldest sibling, Haley has just been around volleyball the longest. Although all three began playing organized volleyball together during elementary school, Haley can't remember a time when there weren't volleyballs around the house or when she wasn't spending weekends at her dad's matches.

"They were gym rats. All three of them grew up in the gym," Lisa Coulter said. "We used to joke we didn't give them Easter eggs, we gave them Easter balls."

There was never a volleyball net set up at the Coulter household, so they improvised. Lisa still has a picture of Chuck levitating a ball with a leaf blower and JoJo trying to whack it out of the air.

Most of the time Chuck would just pepper his three daughters with his high-angle spikes and they'd try to return with a dig. At an early age, they were honing the reflexes which let all three be gifted all-around players and athletes. Haley also plays soccer and sometimes coaches would put her at goalkeeper because she had the instincts to block shots.

"A lot of this was because the quick hit balls from dad," Lisa said. "That made her a better goalie."

This season, the Canes followed up a Class 8A championship with another trip to the state semifinal, and Coulter led the team in both kills and digs. JoJo ranked second in kills and third in assists. Even Gabby, the team leader in assists, recorded double-digit blocks and 50 digs.

"All of us are very scrappy," Haley said. "Not everything is always the right technique, but we always make an effort for the ball."

What Tony Cothron saw in the Coulter sisters was the rare sort of instincts and understanding of the sport which can only come from watching it played at a high level. Haley credits it partly to time spent on the beach when she had to play a variety of roles and partly to starting at a young age when coaches required her to run a real offense rather than just hitting balls back over the net.

Cothron doesn't necessarily see much of Chuck's game in his daughter's play. He does see the way he taught her, though. She watched enough high-level play and competed with enough talented players to see the game played differently than most and it let her become a star.

"She just read so well the hitters and knew how well the ball was going to come off the block," Cothron said. "Haley got it immediately."

This story was originally published December 25, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Prep volleyball | Following in her father's footsteps - and with his help - Coulter makes Manatee history ."