[ THE FINAL FOUR ]
Long Beach State setter Tyler Hildebrand is a strong candidate for the 2008 Olympic team.
Volleyball final 4 likely
to produce OlympiansThe Team USA coach saw many
prospects for the 2008 Games
Doug Beal was at the Stan Sheriff Center last week, looking at his prep-school students. That's how the head coach of the U.S. men's national volleyball team views the players competing at the NCAA Division I level.
He had a particularly good vantage point from his courtside seat Saturday, watching No. 1 Brigham Young outlast No. 2 Long Beach State in five. And until the middle of Game 5, when the teams traded sides at 8-6, Beal's side of the court had won every game.
Team USA is on break, having just completed a successful tour in Japan, where the U.S. went 3-1 against the host. Beal is also on break, but he couldn't pass up the chance to come to Hawaii and see prospective players compete for the national title.
The future of USAV is bright and Beal, in his second tour as head coach, is very pleased with what he saw.
"There's a bunch of kids here who could be USA players by the next Olympics," said Beal, looking ahead to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. "It's real important that I see as much college play as I can. It's where we pick up our national-team athletes.
"The college (game) is our foundation for the men's program in this country."
The final between BYU and Long Beach Stated pitted the two finest setters in Division I this year, according to Beal: Cougars junior Carlos Moreno and 49ers sophomore Tyler Hildebrand. Moreno is Brazilian and unlikely to change citizenship; Hildebrand, from Arizona, will eventually be on the roster.
Beal also is high on two other 49ers, David Lee and Scott Touzinsky, as well as BYU's Michael Burke. He is also interested in Hawaii's Delano Thomas, a hitter/middle who will train with the national team after school lets out, and Warrior setter Brian Beckwith, who again will be on the U.S. junior-national team.
"We're interested in Delano's athleticism and size," Beal said of the 6-foot-7 Thomas. "And we've seen Beckwith at the junior-national level. We like him a lot."
The national team has two former Warriors on the roster in opposite Clay Stanley and libero Vernon Podlewski. Stanley had the most points (kills, blocks and aces) in the four matches with Japan and Podlewski played briefly.
The final building of Team USA for this summer's Olympics in Athens begins today. There are 20-23 players at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., competing for 12 roster spots.
The decision will be finalized after camp concludes June 24. Beal has an idea of which players have already made the team, but other spots are open.
"We certainly believe in competition for spots," said Beal, who coached the U.S. to gold medals in 1984 and 1988. "Vernon is behind the other liberos, Erik Sullivan (UCLA) and Rich Lambourne (BYU), but he's been a wonderful addition in the gym, just a great attitude. It was nice to see him play well in Japan and we want to give him the opportunity to compete with us a little longer.
"And we would expect Clay to be on the team. He is a refreshing young man. But it is all about his health. At his best, he gives us more of what we need at that opposite spot."
Stanley split the webbing between his first and second fingers on his right (hitting) hand and has considerable scar tissue. He plays with his hand heavily taped, but it's been an injury slow to heal, particularly with the amount of blocking he does.
Should Stanley make the U.S. team, he would become part of the first father-son Olympic tandem in volleyball. Stanley's father, Jon, played on the U.S. teams at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics and the 1972 Munich Olympics. (Should Moreno make the Brazilian Olympic team, he and his father, Antonio, would also have the distinction. Antonio Moreno was on four Olympic teams for Brazil from 1968 to 1980).
The U.S. is ranked sixth internationally and has already qualified for the Athens Games. They will host the USA Global Challenge, featuring Russia, Argentina and probably Korea in Texas this summer, in conjunction with the Girls Junior Olympic Championships in Houston and the Boys Junior Olympic Championships in Austin.
"I'm feeling good about our team," Beal said. "But we will likely will be in a very tough pool with Brazil, Italy and Russia. Those could very well end up being the top three teams.
"The challenge will be to get out of our pool ... yes, without drowning. We're improving in a lot of areas and I was surprised in a way how well we did in Japan. We didn't have a full squad leading up to the tour and were waiting on a few players to join us after their (international pro) club seasons finished."
Beal, who was an All-American setter at Ohio State, has definite opinions on how the sport has been affected by the change to rally scoring.
"I don't think we play long enough," he said. "Internationally, we hardly ever play a match that goes two hours. I don't know what the answer is, but it's not the norm of sports nor the measure of which is the best team. The way we're playing, it would be like stopping a football game at halftime or baseball after five innings.
"I don't necessarily like all the international rules. I don't like how serving has such a big influence on the game. I don't believe that any one skill should have a big influence. The spectators respond to rallies."
Beal loves volleyball and enjoys how Hawaii fans love the sport. He considers it one of the pockets of the country where the sport is flourishing at the men's collegiate level.
"There are lots of little places such as Hawaii, UCLA, BYU and Penn State where it's very healthy," he said. "The NAIA level is booming, so is (NCAA) Division III and the club level. We are growing and I think when we spin off a separate Division III championship it will help.
"It is sort of the responsibility of USA Volleyball to keep pushing and pushing for the programs. There's a ton of terrific juniors coming up. More teams have more quality players. There's a ton of parity in the (college) leagues."
Beal's career with USA Volleyball has spanned four decades, from the time he was a player on the national team in the early 1970s, through two Olympics in the 1980s and, after a break, rejoining the team as head coach in 1997. He is committed to the program through this summer's Games in Greece.
"I love coaching and I love USA Volleyball," Beal said. "I want volleyball to grow in this country and have a more significant presence. That's why I'm still here."
