Maes Named Head Coach for USAV National Development U19 Team

BOULDER – Coming off of a pair of years off of the circuit due to COVID, Colorado volleyball associate head coach Lee Maes has been selected as the head coach for the 2021 USAV National Team Development Program Under 19 Team in Anaheim, Calif. July 18-23.
 
"It's an honor and privilege to work with some of the best coaches and athletes our country produces," said Maes. "To develop young talent and assist them in their pursuit of Olympic and international aspirations is a humbling and cherished opportunity."
 
The NTDP replaces the USA Volleyball High Performance program. Since the 1990s, USAV High Performance has identified, evaluated, trained and developed young athletes to build a sustainable pipeline of future Olympians and Paralympians. The NTDP will increase the opportunities for athletes to be seen and evaluated and to develop within the USAV National Team system.
 
"Opportunity, development and competition are three fundamental pursuits of all high-level competitive athletes. The USA National Team Development Program provides elite players those pursuits in a unique environment that's filled with exposure to world-class coaching and training the best with the best. Learning and growth are at the core of a USA volleyball experience. Our nation's best have chosen to pursue this experience that immerses them in the USA-way, a comprehensive setting that will feed their passion for high-level volleyball and their aspirations for progress within the USA pipeline. This is a big step on their path to the podium."
 
Maes will be assisted by Travers Green of Mississippi State and Nicole Fawcett of Ohio State.
 
Competition has been cancelled this season after the High Performance Championships were going to be held in Phoenix. The 23-athlete roster for the training series includes six incoming collegiate freshmen and 17 rising high school seniors.
 
Prior to COVID, Maes had coached for over 20 years in the USAV High Performance programs in which the NTDP was formed from. 
 
"Throughout the years, the chance to coach with our USA national team and high performance programs has provided me insight and immersion to elite training methods," said Maes. "That experience and environment offers me an opportunity to continue my own development; plus, I get to surround myself with coaches and athletes who share the same passion I have for learning and competing."
 
Maes is no stranger to the USAV programs, having coached the USA Girls' Junior National A2 Team to a gold medal at the 2007 European Global Challenge and 2006 High Performance Championships. In 2004-05, Maes served as an assistant coach for the Women's National Team that earned gold at the 2004 U.S. Open Championships and continued in that capacity coaching in the prestigious 2005 Montreux Volleymasters. He helped lead the Youth National team to a gold medal at the 1998 NORCECA Championships and continued coaching the squad at the 1999 World Championships in Madeira Island, Portugal.