ANNA MARIA – Following in the footsteps of former Anna Maria Elementary School Dolphins, a new generation of talented high school volleyball players have their roots on the Island.
With hard hitters Mallory Cosfeld, Mackenzie Cosfeld Fortenberry, Sarah Howard and Kelly Stewart blazing the trail playing volleyball in high school, several AME alumni are set to play for Manatee High School (MHS) and Bradenton Christian School (BCS) this year.
As a freshman, making the varsity volleyball team at MHS was a hard-earned accomplishment for Natalie Talucci. An Island girl through and through, Talucci started at the School for Constructive Play, graduating to becoming an AME Dolphin. She went on to King Middle School and in the summer of 2020, with COVID protocols in place, discovered beach volleyball was a safer sport to play. A passion was born when Talucci took to the sand with Nancy Cothron, director of the Manatee Area Volleyball Club (MAV).
Playing on the Bradenton Riverfront beach volleyball courts in the beginning, Talucci expanded her game to Manatee Beach. She went from playing to competing with AME alumni Ava Baugh in a Coquina Beach tournament. The duo continued to play this summer and her love of the sport grew. Talucci joined the MAV indoor club in 2020.
As a seventh grader, she played for King, and by the eighth grade, Talucci decided she wanted to improve her game.
“Being shorter I have to work harder to get on the court usually. I play back row as Defensive Specialist or Libero,” Talucci noted in an email. “My dad warned me that I will probably need to play myself onto the court where taller girls usually have to play themselves off the court.”
Understanding her strengths and weaknesses and liking the hardcourt, she played with the Wave Volleyball Alliance in 2021 seeking opportunities to improve. The weaknesses only made Talucci want to work harder.
“I want to play,” she said.
After finishing the eighth-grade season, Talucci joined the Bevolley Beach Volleyball Academy in St. Petersburg, Florida, to stay on the court year-round.
“I knew that I could not take the off-season off. I had to keep working,” she said.
With her sights set on making the varsity squad, Talucci enlisted the assistance of her older brother, Evan. An inspiring personal trainer, Talucci’s brother jumped at the chance to help her improve her overall fitness and ability in time for MHS tryouts.
“I wanted him to push me,” she said. “I needed more conditioning.”
She has seen him running before school and going to the gym during the summer after football practice.
“He works hard and we are both super competitive,” Talucci said, adding that “Don’t you want to be great?” is one of Evan’s favorite things to say around the house.
The trainer-athlete relationship was not without its challenges as siblings, but the goal prevailed. Working together, Evan’s motivation toward his personal goal propelled his sister with a sense of accomplishment.
“When she first came home from school the day she made varsity as a freshman, I knew I helped her get there,” he said. “The summer conditioning we did helped her show up when she needed to.”
Training whenever they could this summer, Talucci and her brother saw results. The hard work paid off.
After making the team, her mother, Amelia “Amy” Talucci, noted on a Facebook post, “We are so proud of Natalie, she has spent the last year determined to learn more and become a better athlete and volleyball player and teammate.”
Her trainer/brother made clear, “She is a TALUCCI – she is loud and brings the energy to the court!”
Fiona McCarthy joins Talucci on the varsity team at MHS. Starting at AME as a second grader, McCarthy started playing volleyball when she was 12 years old.
For her, playing varsity will allow her to train with more skilled and experienced players.
Along with McCarthy and Talucci, former AME student Ava Baugh was named to the MHS varsity team.
In addition to MHS varsity players, former AME student Marley Culhane earned her spot on the BCS varsity volleyball team as a sophomore. Culhane left AME, following her siblings to BCS after finishing the third grade.
A few years later in 2017, Culhane started playing volleyball after watching her sisters, Mikaela Culhane and Kiera Johnston, play for BCS.
“After all, I wanted to be like them,” she said.
Even though her sisters are no longer playing the game, they motivated her to work hard to make the team. Dedicated to her goal, Culhane could be found in the gym every day, as well as available scheduled workouts.
“If there were no workouts, I would go to the gym by myself or with a friend,” Culhane said.
She also trained with former Dolphin and recent BCS graduate, Emma Laade. Selecting Laade to work with this summer, Culhane wisely used her talents and experience. Laade, BCS’s athlete of the year for 2022, committed to St. Leo University in Dade City, Florida after receiving four offers to play at both Division 1 and 2 schools and earning two NCAA scholarships for indoor and beach volleyball.
Culhane’s goals for this season are to always play her hardest and improve her vertical jump height.
As a varsity underclassman, she is excited for the season.
The MHS junior varsity volleyball team is complemented with AME alumnae Ava Harlan and Gabriella Gilbert.
Harlan started at AME in kindergarten, moving on to MHS before finding volleyball in April 2022 with Wave Volleyball Alliance. Volleyball clinics took Harlan full circle to Manatee High.
“So far, I have loved being a part of the MHS volleyball team. I have already made a ton of new friends and reconnected with my old AME ones! So happy I decided to go for it!” Harlan said.
The future of local high school volleyball is looking bright with the help of the former AME students and Dolphin pride.
