COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (May 9, 2005) C “Jenny” Lang Ping stepped onto the court for the first time as the head coach of the USA Women’s National Volleyball Team when she held her first practice at the United States Olympic Training Complex Monday afternoon.
The atmosphere in the gym was a little more quiet than it normally will be considering only eight players were in attendance on the first day: 2004 Olympic alternate Cynthia Barboza (Long Beach, Calif.); Shonda Cole (Kings Mountain, N.C.); Jane Collymore (Englewood, Colo.); Nicole Davis (Stockton, Calif.); Marcie Hampton (Gainesville, Fla.); Angie McGinnis (Fraser, Mich.); 2004 Olympian Nancy Metcalf (Hull, Iowa); and Sophia Milo (Portland, Ore.).
But as the days go on more and more players will slowly filter into camp. Olympians Robyn Ah Mow-Santos (Honolulu, Hawaii), Elisabeth Bachman (Lakeville, Minn.), Lindsey Berg (Honolulu, Hawaii) and Tayyiba Haneef (Laguna Hills, Calif.) are scheduled to begin training next week, followed by 2004 AVCA co-Player of the Year Ogonna Nnamani (Normal, Ill.) and three-time Olympian Danielle Scott (Baton Rouge, La.) in subsequent weeks.
“We won’t have all of the players together for a while,” admits Lang Ping (Beijing, China), who was named Team USA head coach on Feb. 7. “I have never seen most of them. I just have to tell myself to be patient and get to know all of our players.”
The United States, which will be competing at the World Grand Prix, the NORCECA World Championship Qualifier and the NORCECA Championships later this summer, opens the 2005 season against Brazil in Denver (June 2), Fort Collins, Colo. (June 4) and Colorado Springs (June 6) next month.
“It’s not really about results this year,” added Lang Ping, a member of China’s Olympic gold-medal winning team in 1984 and an inductee into the Volleyball Hall of Fame in 2002. “It’s a true learning experience. I have to figure out what kind of teamwork we will have for the future. I can’t decide anything right now until I learn the situation.”