New rankings of U.S. Youth and Junior Volleyball Teams released
As the 2011 FIVB Youth and Junior World Championship Continental qualifiers rounded off, the Federation International de Volleyball (FIVB) announced the revised world rankings for both gender volleyball (youth and junior) teams.
The formal declaration of the new World Standings was made on Monday, May 9, 2011. The change in ranking has proven to be a big boom for the U.S. Women’s Team, which moved seven positions up. The U.S. women’s side has climbed up the second slot in ranking,
while the men are still stuck to the 9th slot on the world chart.
The standings are collected by combining both junior and youth teams in each participating country. Moreover, performance of teams in their respective Continental and World Championship competitions also helped them to improve their position on the World
Ranking Chart. The U.S. Women earned gold-ware at the NORCECA Women’s Junior and Girls’ Youth Continental Championships and also settled for silver-medal victory at the Youth Olympic Games in the previous season. That is what greatly helped them to cover many
flights up. Now they have got hold of the second position, while the top slot is firmly held by powerhouse Brazil.
The Senior Manager of High Performance Indoor National Programs of USA Volleyball (USAV), Collin Powers shared his thoughts.
He stated, “As with every measure of team achievement the FIVB Youth and Junior World rankings reflect an opportunity for improving competitive success among our High Performance pipeline programs. All coaches know that a player and a team’s expectation
to win can be an important factor when key matches get close; and at the international level, most matches are close. All teams at that level bring great skills to the court.”
He further disclosed his future plans for the Youth and Junior Teams. Powers clearly stated that he wants his teams to be on the medal list of World Championships. The current increase of ranking points has greatly boosted the moral of players and it will
surely push them to make more progress in the upcoming competitions at national and international level.
The Director of USA Volleyball High Performance and Events, Tom Pingel expressed delight about the increase in rankings of the U.S. Teams. He said it would greatly help the teams in the coming World Championships.
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