BRAGS: 

In the 2015/2016 season, Coach Sammy took his 17’s team to Gold at Gulf Coast Classic and Pounders, Silver at Battle of the Bay, Tallahassee Invitational and Regional Championships, Bronze at the Moulton Pre-Qualifier in Tampa!

In the 2016/2017 season, Coach Sammy’s 18s team won Gold at Lil’ Big South tournament in Atlanta, Silver at the Tallahassee Invitational, and went into Gold or Silver bracket in every tournament they entered. They finished by taking Silver at Regionals!

More importantly, 10 of Sammy’s players went on to play in college after that season!

Sam joined the Air Force in April 1983 and retired September 2007.  He has two wonderful children, Kody and Keanna, and his #1 priority is spending time with his kids. 

Sam has been involved in competitive sports all of his life.  Since June 1986 he coached and played indoor and beach tournaments on USAV club teams.  His teams have won countless military and civilian tournaments, and he was selected as Most Valuable Player numerous times.  In 2001 and 2002 his team won the Regional Championships. They went on to win a Gold Medal in 2001 and a Silver Medal in 2002 in the A-Silver Division at U.S. Open Nationals.

From 1988, he was a member of the U.S. All-Air Force team for 18 years.  He won 9 Gold, and 6 Silver Medals.  Also during this period he was selected as member of the U.S. All-Armed Forces team 7 times.  The highlights of this team were representing U.S.A. in Military World Games and other international championships around the world.

From 1998-2015, he coached Junior USAV for Northwest Florida Volleyball Club, Panhandle Volleyball Academy, and Pilialoha Volleyball Club.  He led his teams to numerous tournament wins and qualified for JO Volleyball National Championships.

From 1990-2015 Sam has coached and assisted for numerous area high schools, including:

*1990-1995, Niceville High School where they won Florida Class 5-A District Championships.

*1998-2001, Sam coached Choctaw High School.  The team won two, Florida Class 5-A District Championships and set the school record for number of wins.

*In 2005-2006, in Okinawa, Japan he received Coach of the Year award for coaching junior volleyball.

*2007-2008, Sam coached Crestview High School.  Finished third in the district of six teams with only three losses.

*2008-2009, Sam coached Fort Walton Beach High School, Finished 2nd in District Championship and Regional Semi.

*2009-2010, Niceville High School, coached Freshmen team to only 1 loss and trained the varsity team to Class 5-A District, Regional Championships and State Final Four.

*2013-2016, coach at Rocky Bayou Christian School.

Sam is USA Volleyball Increased Mastery and Professional Application of Coaching Theory (IMPACT) and USA Beach Volleyball Coaching Accreditation Program (USAV-BCAP) certified. He is also Gold Medal Squared certified and coached clinics for GMS in 2015.

He loves eating boiled peanuts. 

In her 2015/2016 season with 850 Elite, Ligia took her 14s team to tournament gold at Pounders, Silver at Wavefest, 2nd in the Bronze division at the Disney Showcase, and Bronze at the Moulton Pre-Qualifier in Tampa and at the Gulf Coast Classic!!

Ligia Willis spent three seasons with the Troy volleyball program.  Willis served as assistant coach in her first two seasons with the Trojans, and her first as a volunteer assistant coach.  In 2012, Willis was part of a staff that led the Trojans to a second place finish in the Sun Belt, after being picked to finish ninth in the preseason poll. 

Willis came to Troy after spending the previous two seasons as an assistant coach at Northern State University in Aberdeen, S.D.  The Wolves posted a combined record of 26-32 in her two seasons. 

Prior to her tenure with the Wolves, Willis spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Berry College in Rome, Ga., including a stint as interim head coach in 2008.  During that 2008 season, Willis coached an AVCA NAIA All-American as well as the SSAC Player of the Year and Libero of the Year.  During Willis’s tenure, the Vikings also produced a pair of All-Region players, four first team All-SSAC players and four NAIA Scholar Athletes.

Willis has coached club teams such as the NESD Juniors Volleyball Club in Aberdeen, S.D., and the Dig to Win Volleyball Club in Chattanooga, Tenn.  She also spent time in 2010 as the lead tryout coach for USA Volleyball.

As a player, Willis was an NAIA All-American and Academic All-American at Lee University in Cleveland, Tenn.  She helped lead the Flames to four straight conference and regional tournament titles from 2004 to 2007.

Ligia is a Certified Gold Medal Square coach who has taught multiple clinics for GMS over the last 8 years.The Curitiba, Brazil, native received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Lee University in 2007 before earning a Master’s in Business Administration from Berry College in 2009.  She also enjoys fishing (when she catches fish), running, watching football, country music and boiled peanuts (do we see a theme developing, here?) !

BRAGS: In his The 2015-16 season, Coach Lab took his 16s National team to a tournament gold at the Kari Frazier tournament in Mobile, AL!! 

Daniel Labrador II, aka “Lab,” picked up his first volleyball in 2001 and started training and playing more seriously in 2003 in Navarre Beach, FL. He moved to Okaloosa Island and continued playing and training there. Lab traveled all over the south playing in beach tournaments.  Then in 2006 he was invited to play indoor for the first time and fell in love with that game as well! He has been playing both indoor and beach ever since.

Lab started his coaching career in 2011 with ECVC coaching the 13’s team. In the same year he was offered the assistant coaching position for Fort Walton Beach High School program and head coach of the Junior Varsity team. The next year Lab took a 14’s Regional team and made them competitive, which lead to his promotion the year after to a strong 13’s National team.  

Coach Lab is a certified Gold Medal Squared coach.

Player History: 

Notre Dame Preparatory High School – Pontiac, MI – 2008 State Champion, 3rd Team All-State, Team Captain

Hillsdale College – Hillsdale, MI – Received Athletic Scholarship, 2 year Captain, 2009 Honorable Mention All-Conference, 2009, 2010 & 2011 GLIAC Conference Champions, 2011 NCAA DII Regional Champions and Final Four Participants

Coaching History: 

2012 Charger Spirit Volleyball Club 18U Head Coach

2013 – 2014 – Novi High School JV Volleyball Head Coach

2013 – Legacy Volleyball Club 16-2 Head Coach, 16U Lake Erie Power League Champions

2014 – Legacy Volleyball 17-2 Head Coach – Lake Erie Power League Champions, North Coast Power League 17 Elite Division Champions, Central Zone Invitational 18 Club Division Runner-Up, Placed in the Top 5 at Disney Nationals, Qualified for Junior Olympics and Placed in the Top 30 in the 18U age group

We are so excited to have Brogan’s big club experience at 850 Elite!!

Scott started playing volleyball in 1984 on the beach in Charleston, SC. An avid player, he expanded his playing when in 1986 he started playing indoor for The Citadel’s Volleyball Club team as a setter. He played grass, beach, and indoor while active duty in the USAF. He coached and played at the Base Varsity Level and on USAV teams during his 23 years of service.

In 2003, he started coaching girls at our own Ruckel Middle School and for Northwest Florida Volleyball Club. In 2005 he started Dig It! Alabama Volleyball Club in Montgomery Alabama, which grew to 8 teams and had its own 2 court facility. During this time, he also served as head coach for the 16s and 18s teams. 

His volleyball experience is: 

-2014 Beach Coach for boys—Niceville Volleyball Club 

-2010 Head Coach for North Carolina USA Volleyball Boys High Performance team 

-2010 Court Coach & Judge for North Carolina USA Volleyball High Performance Tryouts 

-2009 Director Dig It! Alabama Volleyball Club Head Coach Dig It! Alabama 18-1 Team 

-2008 Director Dig It! Alabama Volleyball Club Head Coach Dig It! Alabama 18-1 Team 

-Team Coach University Alabama Birmingham summer Team camp 

-University of Alabama, Birmingham Coaching Clinic with Taras Liskevych University of Oregon 

– Head Coach 2007 Director Dig It! Alabama Volleyball Club Head Coach Dig It! Alabama 16-1 Team 

-USA Volleyball CAP 1 Certification 

-Atlanta Boom Coaching Clinic, Atlanta Ga with Brain Gimmilaro-Long Beach State Head Coach 

-2006 Director Dig It! Alabama Volleyball Club Head Coach Dig It! Alabama 16-1 Team 

-USA Volleyball Coaching Clinic with Penny-Lucas White-United States Air Force Academy Head Coach 

-2005 Director Dig It! Volleyball Club Head Coach Dig It! 14-1 Team 

-2004 Head Coach North West Florida Volleyball Club 14-1 Team 

-2004 Head Coach Ruckel Middle School Varsity team 

-2003 Head Coach Ruckel Middle School Varsity team 

-2002-1992 Varsity Level Coach for various Men’s team while active duty USAF. 

Scott has been happily married for 28 years, and has been assisted in his volleyball coaching and club director roles by his wife Angela. His daughter Bethany played Division II volleyball as a setter for Brevard College, and has been active in coaching USAV since her graduation. His son Trevor has recently caught the volleyball bug which is what has brought him back to the coaching scene…this time coaching boys. He enjoys fishing, diving, boating, and roasts his own coffee! 

Scott will coach our boys’ teams, to grow the boys’ volleyball presence in the area.

Jenna played on her first volleyball team at age 12. She was on Coach Sammy’s team In high school and for travel club, (she thinks he’s awesome, by the way!). She lived one year in Central Florida, where she played on Tampa United’s 16-Elite team. After moving back to Niceville, she was captain of Niceville High School’s volleyball team, helping lead Niceville to the 5A State Finals in her Junior year and to the Elite 8 in her Senior year. After high school, she went on to play college ball at Florida Community College of Jacksonville, in Jacksonville, FL (2004-2006). 

After college, she moved back to Niceville, and was the Assistant Director for Gulf Coast Select, where she coached their 17’s team. During that year, our team won a highly competitive invitation-only tournament, Beast of the Southeast in addition to Qualifying for Junior Olympics, as well! 

After two seasons of coaching, she decided to take some personal time off from volleyball to finish her Master’s in Business Administration and to focus on my career as a civilian Financial Manager for the BEST Air Force in the world! 

She is excited to be back in the world of volleyball, especially as a member of the 850 Elite Academy coaching staff! She looks forward to sharing her passion and love for the game with the next generation of volleyball players! We are blessed to have Coach Jenna leading our Grassroots players and furthering their love of the sport!!

Gil moved to Okaloosa County in May 2016 from Germany. This is his first year joining the 850 Elite Volleyball Academy family, and he couldn’t be more excited!  He started playing volleyball with his father in Ewa Beach Hawaii and Lemoore California. He first learned to play on the beach (of course) and transitioned to the indoor game.

His playing experience includes playing for various Central Valley VBC Men’s Teams in California and Columbia Volleyball Club teams in South Carolina.  His most memorable playing experience, of which he is very proud, was playing for the AIRCENT Men’s Volleyball Team in Europe and winning Gold and Silver medals with the US Air Force Men’s Team!

His coaching experience includes coaching 15U, 16U and 17U boys and girls teams in Visalia California, Spangdahlem and Ramstein Germany, and Columbia South Carolina. He also had the opportunity to be the head coach of a German Women’s team for VBC Kaiserslautern.

Outside of volleyball, Gil is a huge movie buff.  He’s a water fanatic, and is starting to enjoy boating (minus the sea sickness). Lastly, he’s never had boiled peanuts, but he’s willing to give them a try!