KEEPING HER HEAD IN THE GAME West Orange volleyball’s Taylor Head draws strength from sports family
WINTER GARDEN — Let’s start with the dirty work.
When the pots and pans in Bob and Michelle Head’s household are as filthy as an embezzler’s hands, they become more than a chore.
They’re fodder for competition.
“Monopoly, we always get into that,’’ West Orange High sophomore Taylor Head said. “We’ll just be in the pool and see who can hold their breath the longest, or the handstand contest, or who can do the dishes fastest. Anything, we’ll get into it.’’
What Taylor gets most is volleyball.
An outside hitter, she is part of an undefeated squad entering West Orange’s Class 9A, District 3 tournament semifinal against Evans at 7 Monday night. Taylor has emerged as a top athlete at the west Orange County school where her father is the football coach and her mother is the freshman volleyball coach and a varsity assistant.
“We don’t put too much pressure where she feels she needs to go out and win the game, but all our kids, we tell them their role is extremely important,’’ said Bob, the father of three. “The way they play and the way they carry themselves is going to be judged each and every day.’’
The Heads are wrapped around sports.
Bob played defensive back at Eastern Kentucky, where Michelle was on the women’s basketball team. into VARSITY VOLLEYBALL Their oldest son, Bobby, is a freshman baseball player at Austin Peay in Clarksville, Tenn. Taylor committed to Arkansas shortly before the school year began.
And the youngest?
“He might be better than all of them,’’ Bob said of Tyler, a sixth-grader.
Said Michelle: “We were very big on our kids playing all sports as they grew up. Taylor, too. Basketball, soccer, we tried softball, cheerleading, so she has done everything. At a certain age, I make them all choose, ‘What is your passion?’ ’’
Taylor recalled trying out for a volleyball team in Converses and jean shorts when she was 8 or 9.
Since then, she has become a fixture on travel teams for the Orlando Tampa Volleyball Academy. With West Orange, Taylor has produced 240 kills, 168 digs, 58 aces and 26 blocks this season.
“She’s pretty mellow about everything,’’ Warriors senior setter Baylor Bumford said. “She could mess up multiple times, but she never stops trying. She doesn’t go for the easy kill.’’
Warriors coach Ross Usie said Taylor’s yearround commitment to volleyball has paid off.
“She’s played in some high-intensity matches,’’ Usie said. “Her coaches have really pushed her.’’ Not only her coaches. “I talk to her just like I talk to one of my football players,’’ Bob said. “If you played awesome, ‘Hey, baby, you played awesome.’ If you played terrible, ‘Hey, Taylor, you played terrible.’ I’m proud of her. She works really hard.’’
Despite his football commitments — West Orange (4-4) upset Apopka 31-27 on Friday night — Bob said he has missed only a couple of Taylor’s matches this season. He prefers to sit with the other parents, staying largely quiet while Taylor plays.
A logical reason might exist for Bob’s decision to check his emotions in those moments.
“He likes to think he knows a lot about volleyball, but sometimes … he doesn’t,’’ Taylor said, laughing.
Admitting he is not “a big volleyball expert,’’ Bob said he truly realized the extent of his daughter’s talent during the recruiting process. He said Taylor was receiving four or five letters a day from colleges while his elder son was getting one or two a week for baseball.
Besides Arkansas, Taylor visited Alabama, Georgia Tech and Florida Atlantic.
West Orange’s football players have noticed Taylor’s skills, and they aren’t shy about telling their coach.
“All the time,’’ Bob said. “‘Man, she’s good.’ [Recently] we played Timber Creek, and their assistant coach says, ‘I was at the volleyball game, and I saw your daughter. Man, she’s a beast.’ I try not to brag too much.’’
The compliments will fly if West Orange (21-0) were to bring home the school’s first state volleyball championship next month in Jacksonville. The Warriors were swept out of regional finals by Winter Springs in 2015 and Oviedo in 2016.
The 9A-3 district championship match will be at 7 Thursday at West Orange. Apopka and Wekiva are in the other semifinal.
“Since we’re undefeated, people are trying to break that record and say, ‘Oh, we beat West Orange,’ but that’s the last thing we want to happen,’’ Taylor said. “We don’t want them to have the satisfaction.’’
A state title might even get Taylor off dishwashing duty for a night or two.
Not that the Heads necessarily consider it a chore.