Group photo from our recent 2017 Awards Night showing ALL the Palm Beach Juniors players & coaches (13 Elite, 15 Elite, 16 Elite, 17 Elite and 18 Elite teams) that won bids to attend this season's 2017 Girls Junior National Championships
(click image for full size photos)

2015

to Keelin Severtson.
Keelin, a Palm Beach Juniors Club alumni player, graduated High School in 2013 and is now playing D1 volleyball as a Junior at the University of New Hampshire (UNH). Keelin was named American East Conference setter of the year; leading her conference with service aces and is also 5th in the nation overall. Her team won their 3rd conference title and will play in the NCAA tournament.

Palm Beach Post Article - dated September 30, 2015
click on link to see full article including photos

Volleyball: Lake Worth Christian’s Terri Kaiser reaches coaching milestone
By Jodie Wagner

Click for full size photo - photo taken by Alice Bertelson

Lake Worth Christian girls volleyball coach Terri Kaiser won her 600th career match Tuesday night, leading the fourth-ranked Defenders to a 25-9, 25-11, 25-13 victory against rival Trinity Christian.

Kaiser has been coaching at Lake Worth Christian for 27 seasons. The Defenders are 16-3, and recently won the Palm Beach Classic Gold Division championship.

Tuesday’s match was part of a ‘Volley for the Coach’ fundraiser. Kaiser was diagnosed with cancer in July and currently is undergoing treatment. She has continued to coach the team.

“It was a very special night,” Lake Worth Christian Superintendent Jim Harwood said. “Many of Terri’s former players came back to be part of it.”

SunSentinel Article - dated September 28, 2015
click on link to see full article including photos

Lake Worth Christian coach Terri Kaiser notching big wins even as she battles breast cancer

Just hours before guiding her Lake Worth Christian volleyball team to the first of four victories to win last weekend's Palm Beach Classic, coach Terri Kaiser was sitting in a doctor's office, going through her latest round of chemotherapy.

In June, Kaiser learned she has breast cancer — the fourth woman in her immediate family to be diagnosed with the disease.

Lake Worth Christian coach Terri Kaiser is in her usual spot on the sidelines this season, even as she battles breast cancer -- a disease that killed one of her sisters in 2010 and also currently affects her mother and another sister.
"It's something that takes out your energy," Kaiser says of her cancer treatment. "(But) I have an amazing group of players. When I walk into that gym, their energy gives me the energy I need."

Kaiser opted to continue coaching this season after her initial diagnosis. Doctors believed she had early-stage cancer and treatment simply meant surgery to remove a tumor. But surgery revealed a cancer more aggressive than expected.

"I planned everything around volleyball when they first said it was going to be simple," Kaiser said. "When I got the news it was a little bigger than they thought, it was tough."

So this season, her 29th as a volleyball coach, nothing's simple. But the bad news has been challenged by the good.

Saturday's tournament finals victory, hosted by Lake Worth Christian (14-3, 2-0), raised Kaiser's career-win total to 598 matches.

And with a victory against Wellington on Monday, Kaiser could earn her 600th career win Tuesday, when the Defenders take on Trinity Christian.

Tuesday also will mark another team achievement: the seventh-anniversary kickoff for Lake Worth Christian's annual Volley For A Cause.

The tournament was first held in 2008, when Kaiser's youngest sister, Connie VanderWey, learned she had breast cancer — the first in the family to receive the diagnosis.

Though in remission for a time, VanderWey's cancer later worsened and she died in 2010. In the interim, another of Kaiser's sisters, Jane Holloway, was diagnosed with breast cancer. The women's mother, Audrey VanderGriend, later began treatment as the third family member with the disease. Currently Holloway's and VanderGriend's cancer is in remission.

This year, Kaiser's volleyball team has raised more than $10,000. The players said the funds will be donated to help cover their coach's medical bills.

"She doesn't like being in the spotlight," Emily Lampman said of her coach. "We told her, 'It's our turn to do something for you.'"

The Lake Worth Christian senior earned All-County first-team honors last season. A fifth-year starter, Lampman has played on two of Kaiser's state championship teams, in 2011 and 2012.

Kaiser's daughter, Joy VanDyke, an assistant coach under Kaiser for the past decade, said hosting Volley for a Cause has meant a lot to her from the beginning "because it was for my aunt." VanDyke played college ball at Palm Beach Atlantic in the early 2000's, during his mother's nine-year tenure there as coach.

"I went through the process with both of my aunts," VanDyke said. "But you just never know what it fully feels like until it's your mom."

Kaiser, who faces months of further treatment before her next medical evaluation, doesn't want her cancer to be what's motivating her team. A two-year state title drought, she says, should be all the inspiration her Defenders need to get to this season's final match at the University of Central Florida.

"I don't want them to play for me," Kaiser said. "But I did tell them 'If I'm pushing to be here at every practice with as much energy as I can muster, you need to mirror it."

Palm Beach Juniors held a Referee Clinic & Team Scrimmage Event on Dec 13, 2014 as a Benefit for Capri Grotowski.

Capri played and coached for Palm Beach Juniors. Currently, she along with her husband Steve coach at FAU ... the beach program & at Boomers VBC. They have 2 children, Cayd (4 yrs) & Kyah (6 mths)

Capri is battling breast cancer - Palm Beach Juniors families brought in gift cards and monies to shower their family with our love, encouragement, and support!

Lake Worth Christian
wins state volleyball championship

Wednesday, November 16, 2011
by Joe Williams

Lake Worth Christian players celebrate after clinching the state championship with a five-set win Wednesday night. (Joshua C. Cruey, Orlando Sentinel)

Click here to see more photos from the championship match.

KISSIMMEE -- It has been a long time coming - and it took a bit longer Wednesday night than Lake Worth Christian's volleyball team would have liked - but the Defenders can finally lay claim to the title: state champion.

Lake Worth Christian (22-10) ended a drought that included 16 trips to the state tournament, including 11 under coach Terri Kaiser, without a state title by defeating Orlando Pine Castle Christian 25-23, 25-14, 23-25, 23-25, 15-7 Wednesday night to take the Class 2A championship at Silver Spurs Arena.

"It's like you come here every year and you begin to wonder, 'When are we going to win?' " senior libero Kristin Kintz said.

The Defenders don't have to wonder any longer.

"It's a once-in-a-lifetime feeling for us and for our coach," junior outside hitter Kristen Reid said.

After winning the first two sets, Lake Worth Christian's celebration was put on hold as Pine Castle (24-3) took the next two to force a fifth game.

In that set, it was the Defenders' big three who took over the match. Reid, Amanda King and Elizabeth Owens all played big roles.

Reid, who had a match-best 29 kills, had a crucial kill and then served for six consecutive points.

Owens, who had 10 kills, had a block and a kill and King, who had 13 kills and 35 assists, also had a kill while the Defenders opened a 13-4 lead.

"We kind of got off our game plan a little bit," Kaiser said about losing the third and fourth games. "Our feet got a little slow and we weren't attacking any longer."

The Defenders opened the match with a 5-0 run that started with an ace by Missy Reid on the first serve of the match.

But Pine Castle quickly got back in the match, scoring four of the next five points with Becca Carr's kill getting the Eagles to 6-4.

Although Lake Worth Christian went on for the victory with a kill from Owens, a 6-foot freshman middle blocker, it was anything but a perfect performance.

The Defenders had to overcome six service errors.

"I always wondered whether this was ever going to happen," Kaiser said.

"But, I know it has to be the right team at the right time. This year we really attacked the areas we thought we needed to improve on. The two things we worked on was our defense and playing with our hearts."

Below is the article from the previous year - in the Palm Beach Post Newspaper on Saturday November 13, 2010.

Palm Beach Juniors Volleyball Director Terri Kaiser & Head Volleyball Coach at Lake Worth Christian celebrates another victory with her volleyball team.

Saturday, November 13, 2010
by Matt Porter

Photo by Allen Eyestone / The Palm Beach Post

BOYNTON BEACH -- Lake Worth Christian coach Terri Kaiser is hugged by Kristy Golden (left) and Brytney Annis (right) after Lake Worth Christian rolls past Miami Christian in three games to reach the Class 1A state tournament.

Click here to see more photos from the match.

Before the opening serve of Saturday's Class 1A regional final, Lake Worth Christian made the gym floor look like a dance party, with players giving each other elaborate handshakes and slick moves as they prepared to play.

They had even more reason to dance afterward.

The Defenders (27-3) took advantage of nearly every Miami Christian mistake, sweeping to a 25-19, 26-24, 25-19 victory and earning a trip to the state tournament.

Lake Worth Christian will play Gainesville-Oak Hall in a Class 1A state semifinal Wednesday in Lakeland.

All cause for celebration for a team that has faced plenty of adversity this year with the loss of coach Terri Kaiser's sister, Connie Vanderwey, to breast cancer and beloved booster Robert "Pops" Stokley, who died following a long illness.

Lake Worth Christian also had to overcome the loss of its homecourt, as remodeling of the school's gym resulted in the Defenders practicing outside often this season.

"We've had hurdles," senior outside hitter Kristy Golden said. "But we keep it steady, we keep it consistent. ... (We're) playing for our family and friends, and for our grandfather (Stokley). We keep playing for everyone else, not ourselves."

Lake Worth Christian used a balanced effort to beat the Victors, who they also beat in last year's regional final. Junior libero Kristin Kintz (13 service points, three aces, 21 digs and three blocks) and sophomore setter Amanda King (30 assists) led the way. The Defenders' dominant middle duo of senior Brytney Annis and sophomore Meagan Milligan, combined for eight of the team's 15 blocks.

Milligan played with a single day of practice, having been out since Nov. 3 with a sprained ankle.

Miami Christian (19-7) got 16 kills from senior middle hitter Andrea Garcia and 26 assists from senior setter Alexandra Marchese. Miami Christian tied it at 24 in the second game, but could not pull ahead.

"You can't ask for more," Miami Christian coach Mary Odio said. "It was the defensive game that hurt us today."

Lake Worth Christian has played in 15 state tournaments, and there are nine runners-up banners on the gymnasium wall. Still looking for that elusive first state championship, the Defenders say they're not feeling the pressure this time around.

"It's the same net, same court, same volleyball," said Annis, who had 17 kills. "I'm so excited to get back up to Lakeland and do it."

Lake Worth Christianwins state volleyball championship

Lake Worth Christian
wins state volleyball championship