8/2/2010 1:26:35 PM
Wisconsin Dells, Wis.----Wingate University head volleyball coach Shelton Collier led the USA Youth National A2 team to a bronze-medal finish at the National High Performance Championships held July 26-29. Collier’s young team played up an age group in the Junior International division of the tournament, placing third in the 18-team field.
“We had some of the most talented 15-year-old players in the country…and we were playing in the International Division against elite 17-year-old players,” Collier says. “A bronze medal was an impressive finish for our team. I always enjoy coaching these high-level teams in the USA Volleyball program; this year’s team was particularly fun and rewarding.”
Collier was selected as the head coach of the 32-player USA Youth A2 training camp which began July 19. The top 11 players were selected to Collier’s USA Youth Red team; the Red team then competed in the High Performance Championships. Last year at the same event, Collier was the head coach of the USA Youth National team that won the gold medal, again playing up an age-group level in the Junior International division.
Collier has an impressive history with USA Volleyball. In the summers of 2003-2007, Collier was the head coach for the USA Youth National teams and Junior National teams that won gold medals in the NORCECA Championships. The teams participated in the World Championships in their respective divisions.
In 1988, Collier assisted the USA Women’s team at the Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea. This past January, Collier attended the National High Performance clinics and meetings at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, where coaching assignments to various programs were finalized.
The Wingate University volleyball team will begin practice August 16, as the four-time defending South Atlantic Conference champions. The Bulldogs have won 100 of their last 106 matches. They have high hopes for their fifth consecutive title this fall.
WINGATE UNIVERSITY
Founded in 1896, Wingate University is a private four-year co-educational institution of 2,159 students offering active learning opportunities through personalized instruction, world travel, career discovery and community service.
Wingate offers 34 undergraduate majors in arts and sciences, business, communication, education, fine arts, music and sport sciences. It also offers graduate degrees in business, education, physician assistant studies and sport administration. In addition, the school awards the doctor of pharmacy and the doctor of education degrees.
Bulldog student-athletes compete in 19 NCAA Division II sports. Wingate University has won the South Atlantic Conference Echols Athletic Excellence Award for the past four years.
Wingate University is ranked number three among NCAA Division II Academic All-America® producing schools in the 2000’s with 36 honorees during this millennium. Only Pittsburg State (Kan.) University and Truman State (Mo.) University have produced more Academic All-America® honorees during this time period. Wingate’s 45 Academic All-America® honorees (lifetime) is tops among all SAC schools.