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GRASSROOTS


Volleyball legacy Olympians giving back to the pipeline as coaches of High Performance athletes


F


ive U.S. volleyball players with a combined six Olympic Games medals and 16 Olympic Games appearances coached USA Volleyball High Performance athletes this summer. Danielle Scott-Arruda, who was co-head coach for the USA


Women’s Junior A1 White at the USA Volleyball High Performance Championships (HPC), has appeared in more Olympics than any other U.S. volleyball player with fi ve selections (1996, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012) with silver medals in the last two Games. Three- time Olympians Stacy Sykora and Paula Weishoff were also part of the coaching staff at the HPC, while two-time Olympian Donald Suxho coached on the boys’ side for the HPC. Robyn Ah Mow- Santos, a three-time Olympian, was busy this summer serving as an assistant coach on the U.S. Women’s Junior National Team that won gold at the NORCECA Women’s U-20 Continental Championship. While she was not with the U.S. National Team program this


summer, Scott-Arruda has not given up on her dream of competing in a record sixth Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. During her HPC Open- ing Ceremony keynote address, she told the audience of 91 U.S. and international teams competing in the HPC to follow their dreams. “I haven’t retired,” said Scott-Arruda about her own dream of being in the 2016 Olympics at the age of 43. “However, this is an opportunity for me to get some coaching experience which I am interested in when my volleyball career is over. I am glad to be a part of the HP program.” Unlike Scott-Arruda, Sykora’s dreams of another Olympics were dashed in 2011 in a bus accident in Brazil that caused lasting vision problems - a major issue for the libero who was one of the best in the world at the time of the crash. The three-time Olympian and 2008 Olympic silver medalist has moved on to other things in life, and coaching and spreading her inspirational message has become a big part to fi ll that void.


“It is an absolute pleasure to be coaching,” said Sykora, who is in her second year coach- ing at HPC and this year is an assistant coach with USA Select A1 Stars. “Everyone talks to the kids like, ‘Oh my gosh, Stacy’s coaching you!’ But I want to be like ‘Oh my gosh, I get to coach the sport of volleyball!’ It is such a blessing that I get to come here. I cannot play anymore. I can no longer give as an athlete. But I can give as a coach now. I can give to the sport of volleyball. Everything that the sport of volleyball has given me, I can give back to it.”


GIVING BACK: Olympic veterans Robyn Ah Mow-Santos, Danielle Scott-Arruda (pictured above), Paula Weishoff (shown with Karch Kiraly) and Donald Suxho (right) were some of the Olympians helping de- velop younger players this summer in the USA Volleyball High Performance program. (Photos: FIVB, Peter Brouillet)


Along with coaching and being a paralegal in Nevada, Sykora has gone out to colleges and clubs providing inspirational speeches to young athletes on dreaming big and thinking past volleyball. “A big thing I am trying to promote is being an inspirational speaker - I tell my story,” Sykora said. “There are a lot of stories behind it. It is about the Olympics. It is about an accident. It is about coming from nothing and making yourself into something. I have a lot of aspects. Not just talking about volleyball, but also about volleyball and life together.” Suxho, originally from Albania, has two Olympics under his belt playing for the USA and coaching the next generation of volleyball stars who may follow his footsteps into the Olympics.


58 | VOLLEYBALLUSA • Digital Issue at usavolleyball.org/mag


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