Confirming Jr Girls Teams

The 2012 HP Program start is just around the corner. The 2012 HP Championships will be held in Des Moines, IA in July. The Arizona Region plans to field 5 teams again this season - 3 Girls teams - Youth, Select and Future Select - and 2 Boys Teams - International and National.

All coaches interested in helping with tryouts or practices are encouraged to apply. Please print off the HP Coach Application, fill out and submit to the AZ Region with a your coaching resume`. The deadline for the applications is Jan 13th. The application and resume may be sent to the Arizona Region office 9100 S. McKemy Street, Tempe, AZ 85284, faxed to 480-626-6743 (please follow up with a phone call to guarantee receipt of the fax) or scanned and sent to office@azregionvolleyball.org or directly to AJ Malis (HP Director) at zonavolleyball@me.com

Boys HP Tryouts will be held Jan 21st at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix. The tryouts will take place in the Student Rec Center from 2 - 5 pm. Please arrive early for check in. Players may register online here

Girls HP Tryouts will be held March 23rd at Court One Athletics in Tempe. The tryouts will take place from 6 - 9 pm with check in beginning at 5 pm. Please arrive early for check in. Players may register online here.

The USAV teams have been selected. The AZ Region can now confirm who has committed to the AZ Region High Performance teams for 2011. There are still a few Girls Youth team members that have not committed so the team is not posted yet. Once the team is complete we will post that here as well.

USA Volleyball is the National Governing Body for the sport of volleyball in the United States. The national organization runs and manages the USA National Men's and Women's Volleyball Teams, the USA Olympic Teams, and also USA Youth and Junior National Teams for each gender. The Youth and Junior National Teams, along with a number of tiered training programs, fall under the High Performance (HP) Department.The national HP Department works to advance volleyball talent and build a broader and stronger pipeline of athletes and coaches for our USA Olympic Teams. The HP Program at USA Volleyball is the "pipeline" for young volleyball athletes who aspire to reach the elite level of their sport and who dream to one day represent the USA on the National Men's or Women's Volleyball Team.HP provides many team and camp opportunities for young volleyball athletes in three designated age groups for each gender. These age groups are determined by an athlete's year of birth (using international criteria) and begin approximately when they are 13 or 14 years old, continuing for six seasons, often into their collegiate years.

The mission of the USAV High Performance Program is to build a national pipeline of junior volleyball athletes and coaches, creating broad opportunities for advancing the level of play, competition and skill development throughout the sport.

To bring young volleyball athletes together in challenging and rewarding training environments To provide them the opportunity to learn and develop with the best coaches in the USA Coaches' Pipeline and to compete at the elite and international levelsTo grow the number of opportunities available to volleyball athletes, the number of high-level matches that they are able play and the amount of time they are able to trainTo participate High Performance teams in all FIVB or related international events possible
To consistently prepare a broad pool of qualified and experienced athletes available to compete for spots on the USA Men’s and Women’s National Teams

What is happening in the Arizona Region with HIGH PERFORMANCE?The Arizona Region is working with directly with USA Volleyball to provide the best possible opportunities for all members in our region. We are doing this in the following ways.

The Region hosted national USA Volleyball HIGH PERFORMANCE tryouts. There were separate tryouts for the girls and boys.

The Region is forming HP teams to compete in the High Performance Championships in Tucson July 26-30. These teams will be announced in May after USAV has announced their roster selections. The Arizona Region will sponsor potentially three girls’ teams (Youth and Select and Future Select) and two boys’ team. Coaches for the AZHP teams are as follows:Amanda Burbridge will head coach and Megan Taylor will assist the Girl’s Youth teamPat Mooney will head coach and Charlea Hillman will assist the Girl’s Select teamRyan Woodworth will head coach and Troy Dueling will assist the Boy’s team
Other Coaches will be named shortly.

What is the advantage of attending the Arizona Region Tryout? The Arizona Region tryout is exactly the same at the other tryouts held at national qualifiers all around the country. Attending the Region hosted tryout eliminates the need to go early or stay late at a particular qualifier. It also means that athletes can play HIGH PERFORMANCE even though they may not participate in national qualifiers with their club team. Athletes participating in the Arizona tryout will also be eligible to participate on an Arizona Region HP (AZHP) team that will compete at the HP Championships in Tucson. If an athlete does not tryout in Arizona, they will not be eligible for the AZHP teams formed with athletes that do not make USA rosters.

For the second year in a row, USA Volleyball’s Beach department held tryouts for their High Performance Beach programs in the Phoenix area. Tryouts were at Victory Lanes Sports Park in Glendale.

AZHP08 Stuns Championships, USA!

Arizona High Performance shocked and awed the High Performance Championships held July 22-27 in Tucson.The Girl's Youth squad coached by Molly Stark and Patrick Mooney, competing in the International Girls' Division posted a 7-1 tournament record en route the the Region's first HP Gold Medal with a win over USA Select White in straight sets.

In addition, Arizona outside hitter Betsi Metter, from Phoenix, was named the tournament MVP. Also honored was Tucson's Michaela Christiansen as the tournament's best passer and Phoenix's Haley Lowrance as the tournament's best setter.

In the boy's International Youth division, the Arizona Boy's, coached by Tony Oldani and Kurstan Olaso, went into the tournament seeded 13th out of 14 teams but stunned the field by taking the Silver division Championship with a win over USA Youth White in 4 sets.

In the Girl's National Select category, the Arizona team, coached by A.J. Malis and Amanda Burbridge, was dealt a tough first day draw, but staged a gallant comeback the rest of the tournament winning the Bronze division championship over Southern California's White squad, despite losing the first two sets. After losing their first two matches, the Arizona squad won out the rest of the way.

Arizona teams posted a perfect 12-0 record the final three days of the tournament.

Congratulations to these amazing coaches and atheltes on an impressive showing. For a link to the USA Volleyball tournament report, click here For a link to the HP Championships photography, click here

For a link to the AzStarNet feature on the Championships, click here

2008 Boys International Youth	2008 Girls International Youth
Brandon BarnaHaley Lowrence	S
Ryan Tyler CapkoRachel Orr	S
Kyle ChapmanMichaela Christiansen	L
Jeffrey DumbrellCayley McLean	L
Tyler HornacekMacey Gardner	OH
Samuel MagillBethany Jorgensen	OH
Jake WekellDavia Lee	OH
Austin Adams Jocelyn Leichner	OH
Garrett VogeBetsi Metter	OH
Brandon Love Molly McDonald	MB
Samantha Morse	MB
Tony Oldani - Head Coach		Taylor Stephens	MB
Kurstan Olaso - Asst Coach
Molly Stark - Head Coach
2008 Girls National Select Pat Mooney - Asst Coach
Tatum LostumoS
Anna PanagiotakopoulosS
Rebecca SchiraS
Rheanna SorensonS
Lauren BetlachOH
Allison BradyOH
Abby HornacekOH
Logan RaeOH
Penina SnukaOH
Andrea LowranceMB
Isabel MillerMB
Brittany ThomasMB

AJ Malis - Head Coach
Amanda Burbridge - Asst Coach