If you think juggling work and getting your grass cut in the same week is tough, try walking a few miles in the shoes of Carrie and Brett Palmi for a few weeks. Chances are you will never complain about time management again.
Carrie, who is starting her 17th season as the varsity volleyball coach at Osceola High School, and her husband Brett, who teaches history at Orlando Virtual School while also working for Southwest Airlines, are concluding what may just be the most hectic summer of any couple in Central Florida.
That crazy schedule centers on the lives of six extremely active and athletic children.
Their two oldest sons, Chris and Nick, are currently playing travel league baseball — Nick for Power Baseball based in Orlando and Chris for Hardball Baseball in Gainesville. Chris is a rising senior and plays for St. Cloud High School where he is a pitcher, catcher and utility infielder, while Nick, a rising sophomore will likely be the starting shortstop and a pitcher for the Bulldogs.
This summer has been a whirlwind of travel for those two, as they have participated in four and five-day tournaments throughout Florida since school let out. In addition, the have played in several out-of-state tournaments in Alabama and Georgia.
As if this wasn’t enough to keep the Palmi’s busy, their 13-year-old daughter, Cate, plays club volleyball for nationally prominent Gamepoint, where she has participated in tournaments at the AAU and USA Volleyball levels in Dallas, Atlanta, Omaha and several Florida cities this summer. For good measure, Gamepoint was one of three Florida teams that qualified for the National Junior Olympics Tournament, which meant a week’s stay in Las Vegas.
A fifth child, 10-year-old Josh, is also on a baseball travel ball roster for Team Florida and plays on the St. Cloud Little League All-Star team, which finished third in the state this year and had to travel to district and regional tournaments. An older daughter Allison is finishing up her freshman year at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas where she was on the volleyball team whose schedule was pushed to the spring because of COVID-19. That led to the family traveling to the school’s conference tournament in San Antonio this spring.
If that was not enough to handle, a sixth child – six-year old Maddy – participates in summer volleyball camps.
Through it all, Carrie and Brett have made it a point that at least one of them and for the most part both of them would attend every tournament.
“It’s been crazy, insane, difficult and exhausting but we manage to get it done,” Carrie said. “We have a great support system around us with friends and relatives that make it possible. It has taken a lot of planning and organization, but our family’s lives revolve around sports and frankly we love it.”
Still attending the games and tournaments can be challenging. Brett posted on his Facebook page a few weeks ago that he attended three different baseball games, involving three different sons, in three different Florida cities — all in the same day.
That family and relative cooperation is important when two or three events are going on in the same week. When Carrie and Brett were in Las Vegas watching Cate’s Junior Olympic Volleyball Tournament, Carrie has to rely on her father Chris Arago to drive Nick and Chris to a baseball tournament in Hoover, Alabama. The Palmi’s then flew directly to Alabama from Las Vegas to attend that tournament.
“Surprisingly both Brett and I have been able to get to almost all the events together as a family,” Carrie said. “Brett’s job with Southwest has made somewhat easier, but it still takes a lot of time, effort and expense to make it work out. But honestly that is not a complaint, we feel extremely blessed to be able to do what we do and to be able almost always do it as a family.”
Carrie’s hectic schedule has been made somewhat easier by the fact that oldest daughter Allison has been home for the summer.
“Having her home has been a blessing as it gave us an extra driver to get everyone to practices and games,” Carrie said. “Chris is also old enough to drive, which also helps. Again the family and friends thing has really helped make that possible, we have had so many relatives help us with the organizational part of these events that parents are supposed to help with.”
As July winds down, Carrie says she is happy that her “normal” school schedule is about to begin.
“We start tryouts for high school on Aug. 1 and then practices start shortly after. For most high school coaches, our season is our busiest time of the year. I’m one of the few who can say it’s almost the most relaxing time of the year for me,” she says with a laugh.
The athletic prowess of the Palmi children comes by naturally. Celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary this week, Carrie and Brett met at Jacksonville University where she was a star volleyball player and he was an all-conference football player.
“Sports have always been a big part of our lives and it has become a huge part of our children’s lives. We have been so blessed.”
