Canfield upholds sisters' tradition of excellence at Mosley

LYNN HAVEN — Faster than he’d prefer, Steve Canfield is running out of daughters to coach.

Deanna Canfield, now an 18-year-old senior who has starred on Mosley’s volleyball and basketball teams since her freshman year, is the third of Canfield’s four daughters that he’s coached at the school. The youngest, 12-year-old Melanie, will be walking the hallways at Mosley and competing in Dolphin athletics in two years.

Deanna has verbally committed to play collegiate volleyball at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, the second player from Mosley to play NCAA Division I volleyball. Naturally, it was one of Deanna’s older sisters, Stephanie, who was the first. Stephanie earned a bachelor’s degree in business management from Stetson University and now lives in Panama City Beach.

Another sister, Cristina, graduated from the Florida Institute of Technology with a degree in mechanical engineering and lives in Ocala designing fire trucks for a living.

“Deanna always looked up to her sisters,” Steve said. “They were positive role models. When they were in high school, Deanna was at the end of the bench getting water for the girls. If she was not at school and at our practice, she’d sit against the wall doing her thing. I think she wanted to emulate her sisters, like every kid would.”

A three-time all-county selection in volleyball and basketball, Deanna has been named the county’s most valuable player three times in volleyball. A fourth county MVP award in the sport is all but assured after setting a school record with 308 kills this season, breaking the previous record held by sister Stephanie at 290. Deanna owns the Dolphins’ single-season records in service points (282) and aces (118), as well as the school’s career marks in kills (1,031), assists (986), aces (388), service points (915) and digs (825).

On the basketball court, Deanna has scored 1,133 points through three years and is 447 points shy of Octavia Langston’s career team record of 1,580 points. Deanna scored 410 points during her junior campaign, so that record is within reach. So, too, is older sister Cristina’s rebounding record of 1,060. Deanna has hauled down 890 career rebounds, and she’ll need 171 to surpass her sister’s mark.

There is little doubt that Deanna’s natural athletic ability — her mother, Marta, was a member of the Costa Rica national volleyball team, Steve said — has contributed to her success. Deanna, though, is the first to recognize the value of watching her sisters compete and her dad coach.

“When I was little, obviously I had to be at the gym,” she said. “My sisters had to be there, also, and I’d just play with a ball on the side. I was kind of a gym rat, I guess. I was always here. … I’d watch my sisters playing, and it made me want to be on that level, to be as good as they are.”

Steve acknowledged he’s been strict with his daughters as a coach and freely admitted he has burdened them with expectations that he wouldn’t place on the other girls he coaches. Simply, he doesn’t want to give anyone a reason to believe his daughters have been privileged in any way — a common reaction among many coaches in charge of instructing a son or daughter.

Steve thanked former Mosley principal and current Bay District Schools superintendent Bill Husfelt and the school’s athletic director, Tim Jennings, for hiring him to coach at the school despite the fact he wasn’t a teacher there. He said the extra time he’s been afforded with his children because of his position as coach has been invaluable.

“I’m blessed, absolutely blessed to coach all my daughters,” he said. “(Husfelt and Jennings) are great people and role models, and they’re people I look up to. To allow me to coach, this is my ninth year in basketball, and give me a chance to coach my own kids — a lot of dads don’t get to do that.”