USA Youth Team Journal
Coach’s Comment
By: Shelton Collier

This is my first trip with the BIP guys, and my first reaction, is that everything on a scale of 1-10 is pretty much a 10. They have really gone out of their way to make it an awesome experience, on and off the court for our Youth Team, and everyone else involved in the tour. The matches, the travel and the accommodations have all been great. I have taken quite a few USA teams to international events, and I am amazed at how well organized this trip has been for us, and how accommodating Cory and Tim have been with us every step of the way.

When I was working with USA Volleyball to select the roster for this trip, I felt is was important to get the nucleus of the group that won the gold medal at the NORCECA Tournament this past summer, which we were able to do. We invited our 7 starters, and 6 chose to play, which is great. Then, we felt it was essential to reward several players who excelled in the A2 program, and move them up so to speak, to be a part of this group.  I know one of the things USA Volleyball is committed to doing is moving players up through the pipeline, so that players who do well in tryouts, camps, and other programs have a realistic opportunity for upward movement in the program based on their performance. I think it is great that we invited 3 players who really did well in the A2 program to join this group.

Certainly some of these players will be key members of the USA Youth National Team that will compete in the World Championships this summer, so this is very valuable experience for them, and it will certainly improve the USA’s chances of doing well in this important event. With only a week and a half or two to get players ready for a world championship after JO’s, every bit of international experience that our top players can get is extremely valuable. This is proving to be an awesome experience for each of the USA players on this particular trip.

I do know that USA Volleyball is looking forward to evaluating lots of players at tryouts this spring, and will be looking at players who have previously competed for USA Volleyball, as well as some players who have not yet been part of the program.

With regards to our play here so far - it has been a challenge for us to get continuity and make quick progress, while at the same time creating opportunities for all 10 of our players.

We opened with a loss to Slovenia on day one, which was disappointing. Maybe a little jet lag, and maybe just not playing as well as we were capable of, resulted in a loss.
This put us in a tough spot right away with regards to gaining a position in the championship match, which was our original goal.

On day 2, we had two matches, one against Hungary, and one against a tough Czech Republic team. We were pretty sure we had to beat both of them 3-0 to move on to the finals. We were able to handle Hungary 3-0, with a solid effort. In the second match against the Czechs, we won the first two, but got down in the third. With us needing to win 3-0, or not have a shot to make the finals, we had some players really step up and elevate their play. We fought off 3 match points, and won a hard fought 3-0 decision.

As a result, we reached our goal of being able to play in the final against Croatia. I have been working to educate our players as much as possible about international volleyball, and emphasized to them that Croatia is consistently one of the very top teams in the world at the Youth, Junior, and Senior national team level..

We played an incredible match in the final. All 10 players played significant roles, and we really played at a high level for three games. It was one of the best all round performances I have seen with a young Youth team. We won 3-0, with everyone playing extremely well. My assistant coach Erikka Gulbranson, and I really gave them a lot of tactical information and adjustments for the finals, and they really did an awesome job of playing well, and making the adjustments, which was great to see.

As far as personnel; Murrey and Herring are our key players as primary passers and our kill leaders on the outside, very similar to NORCECAS.  We have been using all 3 middles, Santos, Brandl, and Fihlo, fairly equally. Santos, up to this point, has been our leading attacker at the middle position. Bateman has been setting, and doing a solid job, much as she did at NORCECAS. We are using Bartsch as an opposite, and she has been performing well. She started in the middle last summer for us, but has excelled as an opposite for this team. Yogi has been our libero every game. She was named top libero at the NORCECAS, and she provides a lot of confidence and leadership in that position. Todorovic is our classic “jack of all trades” player. She has been playing opposite, going in as a defensive player, and had set for us for entire games as well. She has been a great addition. It has been fascinating having Todorovic on this trip, because she was born in Belgrade, Serbia, where we will be playing in a couple days. Hutchinson, one of the players who did well in the A2 last summer, has been solid as our third leftside hitter.

It was great for us to win the championship in our very first event here. We also beat Slovenia 3-2 in a formal match in their home gym following the tournament, a very tough hard fought win for our players, who were obviously tired, but pushed through to get a win.

Next up (January 2) is a re-match with Croatia, in their home gym in Zagreb, which will be both fun and challenging. We are planning on playing all 10 players pretty much with even court time in this match, so it will be an interesting challenge.

Next, (January 3-5) is the VolleyStar event in Belgrade (the city where Todorovis was born) Very few teams from the USA in any sport have competed in Belgrade in recent years, so for many reasons this will be a very interesting tournament for our team and for our players.

On a side note, I must say that this group of young USA players are really a pleasure to coach. They are responsible, fun to be around, and really have a great perspective. It certainly makes a trip like this fun when the players have such positive attitudes, plus, are so motivated and competitive.

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