High School beach volleyball: Winter Haven's Tori Martin starts program

Winter Haven beach volleyball last week advanced to state in the first year the sport was officially sanctioned in the state of Florida. But before this glorious occasion for the program was possible, it took the love of volleyball from current Blue Devil beach volleyball player and key cog Tori Martin to participate in a long and arduous journey to get the sport started at Winter Haven.

It all started in 2019 ― the summer before her freshman year ― when Martin was running, exercising in her area neighborhood before running into her new neighbor, Gretchen Hand, who is a former professional beach volleyball player. Martin said to Hand that her goal was to start in volleyball as a freshman at Winter Haven.

Hand said that was a bold statement, especially at a large school that enjoyed success for a decade before her newfound inspiration in being a part of the sport.

Martin would go on to be successful and accomplish some of her goals, but it was imperative to let Hand know.

“We would see each other in the neighborhood, and I kept her posted as the year progressed after I made varsity and ended up starting as setter by the end of the season, beating out a senior and making All-County Honorable Mention,” Martin said.

More: Beach volleyball: Winter Haven wins regional quarterfinal

Fast forward to 2020 ― COVID-19 year ― and Martin was playing volleyball in her neighborhood when Hand ambled by and said, “You should try beach.”

As COVID became more of a plague across Florida ― and the nation — typical places to train at such as the Winter Haven Advent Fieldhouse was closed. Developing a love for beach volleyball, Martin still found a way to train with Hand.

Eager to play the game despite Winter Haven not having a team, Martin heard that Lakeland High School already established a beach volleyball team. Martin ultimately became friends with Lakeland volleyball player Erin Miller before the Winter Haven volleyball player was invited to play on the Lakeland team.

“Since it wasn’t a sport yet in Polk, we got permission from Dan Talbot (Polk AD) and Darren Collins (Lakeland AD) and LaDawn Gibson (WHHS AD) for me to play with the Lakeland club team,” Martin said.

This was a common development for lacrosse, hockey, among other sports, when the school in the county doesn’t have a team, but another local school does. Martin joined the team, participating in two to three practices.

It was revealed that Martin, a player on Winter Haven, joined the Lakeland team. So, an appeal to the Sunshine State Athletic Conference was made. The president of the SSAC called Martin, confirming that she couldn’t play on Lakeland.

“Coach Hand heard this, and she was angry that girls were getting denied the opportunity to play sports,” Martin said. “She called the president (Stuart Weiss) of the SSAC and had a conversation and in the heat of that conversation said, ‘Fine, if you don’t allow her to join the Lakeland team, she should at least be able to be allowed to create her own club team at WHHS and join the conference even if it was past the deadline to register a team.’”

The president said yes. Additionally, Hand then called Martin and asked her to go forward with organizing the team. Hand was the coach the first year Winter Haven competed in beach volleyball.

Martin recruited her mom, Darcy Martin, to handle the administrative work, while Martin dovetailed players on the indoor team to play beach volleyball in the SSAC. The-then sophomore also secured a school sponsor, uniforms, and set up a practice and game schedule.

The Blue Devils in the first year (2021) in playing beach volleyball advanced through regionals before becoming a state qualifier.

In 2022, Hand took a head coaching job at Missouri State University, which left a vacancy for Winter Haven’s team; Katie Chillario took the position. Murmurs began to swirl about the sport becoming officially sanctioned, so Martin led a group of students to petition for the sport if the sport became official, but Talbot was already working on the paperwork for 2023.

There was also an ongoing effort to solicit the Polk State College outdoor courts to eventually compete on. And permission was granted late in the 2022 season.

That year, Winter Haven advanced all the way to states before getting knocked out the Gold Bracket, but then the program won the Contender Division.

In the year 2023 the sport was officially sanctioned as an FHSAA sport, Chillario moved on to coach beach volleyball at Southeastern. So, indoor Winter Haven volleyball coach Dylan Sechrest stepped up to fill the void, and now the program is undefeated at 16-0 and will be heading to state at Florida State this week thanks to a dearth of big plays from the players.

“And now we are reigning district champs in both indoor and beach for my senior year,” Martin said. “This has been the perfect ending to my senior year.”

Martin is far from finished, though, as she earned a Florida's Bright Futures Scholarship from her Cambridge Diploma her junior year, which will catapult her to Florida State University for college next year. She also secured a job with the FSU football coaching filming staff.

“Though my competitive sports chapter may be closing on a high note, I can’t wait to see what the next chapter at FSU holds,” Martin said.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Winter Haven's Tori Martin starts program