COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – USA Volleyball announces the members of the 2017 Boys Youth National Training Team, which will prepare for the 2017 FIVB Boys U19 World Championship in Bahrain.
The Training Team will practice both at the High Performance Championships in Fort Lauderdale through next week and again at a camp in Lake Placid, Aug. 1-15.
At the end of camp, the final 12 players will be selected and depart for the Middle East and the Kingdom of Bahrain, a nation comprised of more than 30 islands in the Persian Gulf. The World Championship is Aug. 18-27.
The U.S. team earned a silver medal at the 2016 NORCECA Boys Youth Continental Championship in Cuba and finished seventh at the last U19 World Championship in 2015, equally the team’s best finish at Worlds.
“We are looking forward to expanding on the success we had in Cuba,” said Head Coach Sam Shweisky. “There is a core nucleus of guys who helped us qualify last year in NORCECA who we suspect will be in the running to be the core of guys we take to the World Championship.”
Shweisky returns as head coach from 2016. He also spent two summers serving as an assistant coach for the U.S. Men’s Junior National Team, which won silver at the 2015 Junior Pan-Am Championships. Shweisky is head coach of the men’s volleyball team at Princeton University.
“We are excited to see how their maturation physically, mentally, and emotionally over the past year will pay dividends as we embark on this exciting event,” he said. “We have some guys who have the physicality to play on the Senior National Team someday, so this is their first real step into top level world volleyball.”
The Pools
Pool A – Bahrain, USA, Puerto Rico, Egypt, Tunisia
Pool B – Poland, Brazil, Cuba, Japan, France
Pool C – Argentina, Russia, Chile, South Korea, Turkey
Pool D – Iran, Italy, Mexico, China, Czech Republic
“In an FIVB World Championships year, the Boys (and Girls) Youth National Team represent a player’s first opportunity, as they move up the National Team pipeline, to pit their skills against the very best players in the world in their age group and to set a new ceiling for what they can and should attain,” said Collin Powers, USAV Director of Indoor High Performance.
The Competition
The Americans’ competition often trains together between six and 12 months and in many cases the athletes have trained on development squads for pro league teams.
“This experience provides an unequaled experience for our HP coaches to observe and compete against these national-level youth teams,” Powers said. “Trying to build that same level of team – with typically two weeks of training and preparation is a huge challenge and forces creative coaching from our staff.”
At the 2015 U19 Worlds, Team USA went 4-0 in pool play, dropped matches to Russia and a tough five-setter to Brazil, before sweeping China 3-0 to finish seventh.
2015 U19 World Medalists
Gold … Poland
Silver … Argentina
Bronze … Iran
With the 2017 training squad, the U.S. returns the majority of the lineup that earned a silver medal in the 2016 NORCECA Boys Youth Continental Championship in Cuba, including outside hitters Brandon Browning and Joel Schneidmiller, middle blockers Kyler Presho and Samuel Lewis, setter Chris Hall (setter) and opposite Jaylen Jasper, the team’s leading scorer. All were starters in the 2016 championship match.
So what are the expectations for this group?
“We hope to make it out in the top two of our pool and get a good cross over match which we hope to win,” said Shweisky. “That is the outcome goal. The process goal is to work as hard as we can to be the best we can be and maximize our potential though every member of the team and staff contributing to their fullest capacity in every moment.”
2017 USAV Boys Youth National Training Team
# — Name (Ht., Position, Hometown, Club, Region)
1 – Jonny Bowles – 6-7, OP, Chandler, Ariz., Aspire Volleyball, Arizona
2 – Brandon Browning – 6-4, OH, Newport Beach, Calif., 949 Volleyball, Southern California
3 – Joel Schneidmiller – 6-6, OH, Saratoga, Calif., Bay to Bay, Northern California
4 – Chris Hall – 6-2, S, Sherman Oaks, Calif., Manhattan Beach Surf, Southern California
5 – Jaylen Jasper – 6-8, OP, Arnold, Md., Annapolis Volleyball, Chesapeake
6 – Chase Johnson – 6-6, S, Moyock, N.C., Coastal Virginia Volleyball, Old Dominion
7 – Dev Joslyn – 6-6, OH, Angola, N.Y., Eden Volleyball, Western Empire
8 – Joe Kelly – 6-3, S, El Segundo, Calif., Team Rockstar, Southern California
9 – Jacob Steele – 6-8, OH, Trabuco Canyon, Calif., Balboa Bay, Southern California
10 – Kevin Kobrine – 6-4, OP, Newport Coast, Calif., 949 Volleyball, Southern California
11 – Samuel Lewis – 6-10, MB, Long Beach, Calif., Team Rockstar, Southern California
12 – James Martin – 6-8, MB, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Ocean Bay Volleyball, Florida
13 – Daniel Matheney – 6-6, MB, Lawndale, Calif., Team Rockstar, Southern California
14 – Kyle Merchen – 6-4, S, Clovis, Calif., Mountain View Volleyball, Northern California
15 – Parker Mikesch – 5-11, L, Xenia, Ohio, Vanguard Volleyball, Ohio Valley
16 – Marc Moody – 6-7, MB, Orlando, Fla., Ocean Bay Volleyball, Florida
17 – Jerod Nelsen – 6-7, OH, Monte Sereno, Calif., Mountain View Volleyball, Northern California
18 – Thomas Nelson – 6-2, L, San Ramon, Calif., Pacific Rim Volleyball, Northern California
19 – Brett Wildman – 6-5, OH, Virginia Beach, Va., Coastal Virginia Volleyball, Old Dominion
20 – Kyler Presho – 6-8, OH, Rancho Mission Viejo, Calif., 949 Volleyball, Southern California
21 – Sam Burgi – 6-4, OH, Laguna Beach, Calif., 949 Volleyball, Southern California
22 – James Ryan Norris – 6-5, OP, Lancaster, Calif., Legacy, Southern California
23 – Canyon Tuman – 6-7, MB, Sewickley, Pa., Pittsburgh VC, Keystone
Head Coach: Sam Shweisky
Asst. Coach: Brad Keller
Asst. Coach: Theo Edwards
Team Manager: Joel Walton
Doctor: Priscilla Tu
Technical Coordinator: Galen Dodd