COVER
The People’s choice
sport of volleyball, he’s as close as there is to rock star status or LeBron James status or whatever benchmark you want to assign to the upper stratosphere of fan adulation. “It’s pretty incredible to see the enthusi-
B
asm of Matt Anderson fans,” says John Spe- raw, head coach of the U.S. Men’s National Team. “I haven’t seen anything like it in
40 | VOLLEYBALLUSA • Digital Issue at
usavolleyball.org/mag
elieve us when we tell you, Matt Anderson fever has gone global. In the
VIDEO: Click here for an in-depth interview with Matt Anderson.
Nobody draws a crowd like U.S. pin hitter Matt Anderson, and when you need a big kill in crunch time, he’s your guy by Don Patterson
volleyball. We’ve had to make sure it doesn’t get too over the top. He could absolutely sign autographs for three hours after a match if we let him.” U.S. assistant coach Matt Fuerbringer,
a past All-American at Stanford and beach pro, says that Anderson’s immense popular- ity is helpful to other players and coaches when it comes to maneuvering through bulky crowds.
“When you’re getting off the team bus,
the best thing you can do is walk right in front of Matt because everybody lets you walk right through and then Matt takes all the heat,” Fuerbringer says. How committed are fans to getting their
moment with Matt? Consider the story An- derson, a 27-year-old native of West Seneca, N.Y., tells of the young lady in Tokyo who found out what hotel fl oor the team was
PHOTO: LOYOLA CHICAGO
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