JUNE/ JULY 2012 4065 Sinton Road, Suite 200, Colorado Springs, CO 80907 Nutrition www.usavolleyball.org article 719.228.6800 Inside
[email protected] hp FIVB The Challenges and Opportunities of International Sports Collin Powers, Senior Manager – USA Volleyball National Indoor HP The year 2012 provides a clear example of how politics and scheduling of international sports can have profound effects on USA Volleyball National Team programs. On the plus side, USAV’s recent hosting of the NORCECA (North America, Central America, Caribbean) Men’s Continental Olym- pic Qualifier in Long Beach, CA, offered the U.S. Men’s National Volleyball Team a strong home-court advantage as it took the Gold Medal and earned a qualification berth to the London Olympics. We hope to repeat this gold medal success in late August when USAV will host the NORCECA Men’s Junior Continental Champi- onships (U21) at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, CO. On the other side of the coin, however, the scheduling of NORCECA Continental Championships for the U.S. Women’s Junior National Volleyball Team, the U.S. Girls’ Youth National Volleyball Team and the Boys’ Youth National Volleyball Team range from problematic to completely disruptive. In all three cases, it is possible that USA will be unable to send every top athlete in those age groups to the NORCECA tournaments due to conflicts with Junior National Championships, school or collegiate prepa- ration. And for all four of these USAV High Performance National Teams (Women’s and Men’s, Youth and Junior), the NORCECA Conti- nental Championships serve as qualification tournaments for the teams’ respective FIVB World Championships to be held in 2013! So how do these hurdles and disruptions play out for our U.S.