Kirk A Ventiquattro
Position: Righty attack/I mean all righty attack
Nickname: Coach “V”/Coach 24
Birth date: 1/25/59
Hometown: Deferiet, N.Y.
Height: 5’8”
Weight: 185
Shoots: Into the crowd usually!
Awards & Honors:
•9 time Frontier League coach of the year
•Section 3 Coach of the Year 1997
•Syracuse Post Standard Coach of the Year 2000
•Coached 12 High School All-Americans, 30+ Division 1 players, 100+ college level players
•13 League championships
•5 section 3 championships
•Two upstate championships
•Two state title appearances (2000 & 2002)
High School- Carthage High School
College- Cortland State
Pro- Life
Q & A:
1) What is your favorite lacrosse moment? When the hair on the back of my neck stands up when a team I am coaching nears perfection on the field during a big game.
2) Who is your biggest lacrosse mentor? My dad, Tom Ventiquattro, not that he knew lacrosse, but he taught me how to work hard and never settle for second best. Also, every coach who has ever taken the time to show me something that has worked for them. Guys like Mike Messere at West Geny, Doc Doherty from Adelphia, Jimmy Burk man at Salisbury, and John Distler from my Cortland days.
3) What comes to mind when you think Ryan Powell and Rhino Lacrosse? Things to include; innovations on and off the field, skills, equipment innovations, and giving back to the game.
4) Can you tell us what you currently do with yourself? What do you spend your time doing? I currently coach at Carthage High School as a varsity lacrosse head coach, varsity football assistant and girls’ 7th grade volleyball. I love to hunt and fish and anything else where you can have a winner and a loser. I love to compete!
5) If you had to come up with a goal for you and your lacrosse career, what would it be? To win the elusive New York State Lacrosse Championship!
6) What is the best goal that you have ever scored or ever seen? Josh Coffman as a sophomore versus Corning East in a State Tournament game in 1997, he came lefty, laid out and flipped it behind his back for a goal! It was “sick’ and when you think of all the goals I have seen from so many great players you can only imagine how incredible the shot must have been!
Favorite:
Food: Lobster
Drink: Ice cold skim milk
Music: Classic Rock
Athlete: Roger Stauback growing up/Tony Romo now
State: Texas
Magazine: Lacrosse Magazine
Sport: Lacrosse/Football/Volleyball/Hunting
Time of Day: 3pm (practice starts!)
Restaurant: Arts Jug (Watertown, N.Y.)
Stick: Killer 7 (I loved that guy!)
The best part of Rhino Camp is getting to be part of the Powell family again. I was fortunate enough to have coached all three boys and was foolish enough not to have enjoyed them enough when I did! For a long time my family and theirs were like family. It is so good to be part of that again. That is to say they get to experience the Powell family as just that, a family, not just the lacrosse portion all lacrosse lovers know, but now they get to be up close and personal with the number 1 family in lacrosse. As great as are their lacrosse abilities are, their skills don’t even come close to being as great as they are as people!
