USA Volleyball Fires Up the Men's Junior National Team

It's hard to believe that summer's almost on us, but the evidence is everywhere-from the high schools and colleges enjoying their spring break to the overwhelming marketing for Easter and Mother's Day and, of course, the official selection of the 2009 U.S. Men's Junior National Team.

The Men's Junior National Team will be competing in the 2009 FIVB World Championship July 31-August 9 in Pune, India. While the official training schedule and other logistical plans haven't been announced yet (one can only assume that they're still working on hammering out the details) USA Volleyball has announced that the team will be coached by BYU Men's Volleyball Team coach Shawn Patchell, with Long Beach State Assistant Coach John Hawks coming in on the assist.

This isn't Patchell's first ride on the USA Volleyball merry-go-round. He was the one who coached the team to a bronze in El Salvador in 2008, coming in behind Cuba and Canada.

Here's the official line-up for this year's team (as found at http://www.usavolleyball.org/):

2009 USA Men's Junior National Training Team

Thomas Amberg (Middle Blocker/Opposite, El Cajon, Calif., UCLA, Southern California)Jim Baughman (MB, Valencia, Calif., Long Beach State, So Cal)Michael Bunting (Outside Hitter, Wyomissing, Pa., Loyola, Chicago, Keystone)Kyle Caldwell (Opp., Newport Beach, Calif., UCLA, So Cal)Tony Ciarelli (OH, Huntington Beach, Calif., USC, So Cal)Kasey Crider (Setter, Granite Bay, Calif., Pepperdine, Northern California)Austin D'Amore (MB, Lake Elsinore, Calif., UC Irvine, So Cal)Kyle Friend (OH Boca Raton, Fla., Long Beach State, Florida)Tyler Jaynes (MB, Granite Bay, Calif., Pepperdine, No Cal)Joseph Kauliakamoa (Setter, Las Vegas, Nev., BYU, No Cal)Rusty Lavaja (MB, St. Charles, Ill., BYU, Great Lakes)Brad Lawson (OH, Honolulu, Hawai’i, Stanford, Aloha)Steven Shandrick (MB, Lake Forest, Calif., USC, So Cal)Erik Shoji (Libero, Honolulu, Hawai’i, Stanford, Aloha)Mike Stefani (OH, Hamburg, N.Y., Orchard Park HS, Western Empire)Matthew Stork (Setter, Topanga, Calif., Cal State Northridge, So Cal)Joseph Sunder (Opp., Greensburg, Pa., Penn State, Keystone)Murphy Troy (OH, St. Louis, Mo., USC, Gateway)Nick Vogel (MB, El Cajon, Calif., UCLA, So Cal)

Alternates to 2009 USA MJNTT

Tri Bourne (OH, Honolulu, Hawai’i, USC, Aloha)Austin Ellis (MB, Corona del Mar, Calif., Stanford, So Cal)Jay Petty (Opp., Downers Grove, Ill., Lewis, Great Lakes)

Staff

Head Coach - Shawn Patchell, BYUAsst. Coach - John Hawks, Long Beach State

Come check out our huge collection of volleyball training gear for the 2009 season at http://www.volleyballproshop.com/.