Brief Overview and Introduction to USAV High Performance Programs

1. General Information on Junior and Youth National Teams
• USAV High Performance Program operates two National Teams per gender - Youth National Team (YNT - younger) and Junior National Team (JNT - older).
• YNT and JNT age classifications run in two-year cycles and are established by international governing body for volleyball, the FIVB.
• Age classifications advance by two years, every two years.
• Age classifications are staggered by one year for boys and girls.
• In 2005, age classifications are:
  - Womens JNT: women born in 1986 or 1987 (or later)
  - Mens JNT: men born in 1985 or 1986 (or later)
  - Girls YNT: girls born in 1988 or 1989 (or later)
  - Boys YNT: boys born in 1987 or 1988 (or later)
• In first year (even year) of every cycle, all four HP Natl. teams strive to qualify for World Championships by winning NORCECA Zonal tournament.
• Qualified teams play in Worlds in odd years (e.g. USA Girls Youth competed in Worlds in Poland in August, taking fourth place).
2. Definition of A2 Programs
• A2 Programs are camps where top 18-36 players, who did not make the National program in a given age group, are brought together to train.
• Their purpose is to expand top-level training to more athletes and to track players who have future potential to make it to the National level.
• First A2 Programs were Girls HPC, Youth and Junior A2 Camps held in 2002.
• In only their second year, the USA High Performance A2 Programs have already proved to be extremely important. Three of the seven starters on the 2003 Girls Youth National Team that took fourth place at World Championships in Poland had not made 2002 Girls YNT; but they had attended the 2002 A2 Program and excelled.
• In 2003, HP ran first Boys A2 Program - High Performance A2 Camp, held at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.
3. Definition of A3 Programs
• The A-3 program was added in 2003 to the pre-existing summer High Performance programming due to a large influx of talented athletes attending the open try-outs during the qualifier season.
• Up to 30 Youth age athletes (born in 1989-1988) and 30 High Performance age athletes (born in 1990 and later) will be invited to attend the training camp scheduled in Colorado Springs, CO. from July 14-18. The participants will be housed on the campus of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and train at the Colorado Springs Christian School.
4. Definition of High Performance Camps and qualification process
• High Performance Camps refer to the camps that are run for our youngest age group (High Performance Camp age group) in each gender.
• They include our top athletes for that age group.
• They are not "National Teams" per se, because they don't compete internationally.
• Qualification occurs through same national tryout process held each year in the winter (boys) and spring (girls) as other age groups.
• These Camps are usually held at the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.
5. Definition of Development Camps
• HP offers seven development camps (five girls camps and two boys camps) across the country in July.
• These camps represent approximately the top 35% of athletes from tryouts who do not make National or A2 programs.
• The purpose of these camps is dual: to provide athletes with the best training that we can offer in a camp setting; and to evaluate which athletes have the potential to advance to the National or A2 level in the future.
• For girls, a main goal of these camps is to expose athletes to the National Team training system of US National Team Head Coach Yoshida.
6. Discussion of tryouts, athlete selections and notification.
• Tryouts run for three hours and are designed to measure athleticism, overall volleyball skill and positional skill.
• Five boys tryouts are held in January and February of each year (Southern California, Pennsylvania, Chicago and Hawai'i).
• Approximately twenty to twenty-5 girls tryouts are held in March and April of each year. These are mostly held in conjunction with Qualifier Tournaments for Junior National Championships; however, a few "stand-alone" tryouts are also held in selected cities.
• Cross comparisons are made after all tryouts are finished - we strive to have many of our top coaches at many tryouts.
• Selection based on skill, athleticism (including quantitative athletic testing) and potential.
• Notifications accomplished through email. Families without emails get phone calls.
• Alternates selected for remaining spots in each program.
• Program eligibility based on age classification; US citizenship required.
7. Regional High Performance Programs
• There are 39 geographic regions that operate within USA Volleyball.
• Each of these regions has the option of operating a "Regional High Performance Program" for girls and/or boys within any or all age classifications.
• These Regional HP Programs are operated very similarly to the National HP Programs, including tryouts and training camps.
• Regional Programs also have the benefit of being able to compete in the Regional VolleyClassic tournament held in late July of each year.
• These Programs offer excellent avenues for bringing together the top athletes within a Region and training them together at a high level.