First-year Georgia volleyball coach Lizzy Stemke comes from an ultra-competitive family with ties to several SEC opponents.
My older brother, Edmond, played basketball at Mississippi. My older sister, Meg, played volleyball at Florida. My younger brother, Robert, played baseball at Tennessee.
They teased me when I played at Wisconsin, then coached at Nebraska, because I was the only one not in the SEC. When I came to UGA, they joked that I was finally back in the family.
We grew up in New Orleans, two blocks from Isadore Newman School, where my dad, Billy Fitzgerald, coached different sports and after 30 years still is athletic director. The school was pre-K to 12th grade, and our mom, Peggy, worked in the front office there.
We grew up going to the gym or the fields there. We always had something in our hands — basketball, baseball, volleyball, football or Frisbee, even dodgeball. As the next to youngest, I was born running to catch up.
We are all tall, too. Dad is 6-foot-4, Mom is 5-8, my sister and I are 6 feet and both brothers are 6-3. Dad played baseball and basketball at Tulane and is in the Hall of Fame there.
As competitive as we were in our own sports, we never felt we were competing against each other. We were far enough apart in age — 2 to 6 years — that we never played on the same teams. We had very strong camaraderie in support of one another.
Dad’s passion was studying, learning and growing, and it trickled all the way down. I was taught to compete to the best of my ability every time and to do it the right way. That passion for competition and integrity is the foundation of my coaching style. I coach the way I was raised.
Today, my brothers are both doctors. My sister coached until she had triplets. We try to have a reunion each year. Even in a game of Monopoly or chess, there’s a lot of screaming and hollering going on when we get together. Calling us competitive is an understatement.
Our strength today is continued support as our own families grow. We still lean on each other even though we live far apart. Whenever one of us makes a transition, the rest of us go help out.
Despite ties to their SEC schools, when my siblings come to visit me, they wear Georgia volleyball gear. It’s absolutely a testament that blood is thicker than water.
Reported by Michelle Hiskey
