Colorado Springs, Colo.----Wingate volleyball coach Shelton Collier has been selected as the head coach of the USA Youth National A2 team that will train July 21-30 in Sevierville, Tenn. After the training camp, the team will compete in the International High Performance Championships to be held in the same location.

“This will be a very unique and special experience,” Collier says. “We will have the top 40 15-year-old players in the country. They will all be competing for spots on the 2011 Youth World Championship team. It will be a very talented and highly motivated group of young players.”

Last summer, Collier led the USA Youth Red team to a gold medal in the Junior International Division of the High Performance Championships in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. From 2003 through 2007, Collier was the head coach of the USA Youth National team and the USA Junior National team. He directed these teams to two NORECA gold medals and three appearances in the World Championship tournaments.

Collier has a long history of involvement with the USA Women’s National team program, dating back to 1988, when he assisted the USA Women’s team at the Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea. This January, Collier attended the National High Performance clinics and meetings at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, where coaching assignments to various programs were finalized.



“Every time I have an opportunity to coach these Elite USA teams, I know I become a better coach,” Collier acknowledges. “I really enjoy continuing to develop as a coach so I can do a better job with my players here at Wingate.”

Collier was named the South Atlantic Conference Coach of the Year for the third consecutive season in 2009. In this time span, Wingate is 100-6 overall. The Southeast Region COTY winner for the second straight year, Collier guided the 2009 Bulldogs to their fourth consecutive SAC regular season title and third straight season of 30-plus wins. In 2009, Wingate became the first team in the history of the SAC to earn a spot in the AVCA Top 25. The Bulldogs advanced to the NCAA Division II Sweet 16.

WINGATE UNIVERSITY

Founded in 1896, Wingate University is a private four-year co-educational institution of 2,159 students offering active learning opportunities through personalized instruction, world travel, career discovery and community service.

Wingate offers more than 40 undergraduate majors in arts and sciences, business, communication, education, fine arts, music and sport sciences. It also offers graduate degrees in business, education, physician assistant studies and sport administration. In addition, the school awards the doctor of pharmacy and the doctor of education degrees.

Bulldog student-athletes compete in 19 NCAA Division II sports. Wingate University has won the South Atlantic Conference Echols Athletic Excellence Award for the past three years.

Wingate University is ranked number three among NCAA Division II Academic All-America® producing schools in the 2000’s with 34 honorees during this millennium. Only Pittsburg State (Kan.) University and Truman State (Mo.) University have produced more Academic All-America® honorees during this time period. Wingate’s 43 Academic All-America® honorees (lifetime) is tops among all SAC schools.