July 14, 2005
FAIRFAX, Va. - George Mason University men's volleyball head coach Fred Chao will have a busy summer this season, after being named an assistant coach on the 2005 Men's Junior National Team and selected to coach one of three USA Development Camps.
"I am honored and excited to be part of the USA Volleyball Programs," expressed Chao. "I am looking forward to working with some of the best young volleyball players in the country at the Development Camp. Working with the Junior National Team is a fantastic opportunity for me to learn from great coaches and to contribute to the success of USA Volleyball in the international arena."
Chao joins Shane Davis of Loyola University - Chicago as assistants under head coach John Speraw of UC Irvine. The trio will direct the Men's Junior National Team that will participate in World Championships in India, Aug. 6-14. Gary Moore (1999-2000), an alum of Mason volleyball, will be an apprentice coach for the Junior National Team, and assist on Chao's Development Camp staff.
Speraw, who selected 18 athletes from seven tryouts across the country, will bring that training team together on July 20 at the Lake Placid, N.Y., Olympic Training Center. After more tryouts, the squad will be trimmed down to a final travel unit of 12 athletes who will attend World Championships.
But, before Chao heads to N.Y., he will coach one of three USA Development Camps at George Mason's John Linn Gymnasium in the Physical Education Building from July 16-20. The other Development Camp sites are Long Beach State and Quincy University.
This will be Chao's first stint as a full-time assistant with the Junior National Team. He served on the team as an apprentice coach in 2004. He last coached the USA Volleyball Development Camp back in 2002 and was one of the coaches at the USA High Performance Camp last summer in Colorado Springs.
Chao completed his seventh season as head coach of the George Mason University men's volleyball team. The 2001 Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA) Coach of the Year, Chao directed the 2005 Patriots to a 19-10 overall record, a school-record 10 match win streak to start the season, runner-up EIVA regular season and tournament positions and a final national ranking of No. 14 in the country.
