| ANAHEIM, CA - (March 10, 2009) - The Anaheim City Council tonight took one step closer to bringing the USA Volleyball (USAV) Women's National Team from Colorado Springs to Anaheim. The City Council authorized City staff to negotiate an agreement with USAV that would relocate the U.S. Women's National Team (Women's Team) to train in Anaheim as early as this spring. Once finalized, Anaheim would be designated as the Official Host City for the U.S. Men's and Women's National Volleyball Teams, potentially through 2016, and further promote Anaheim throughout the volleyball and Olympic sport communities.
During his 2009 State of the City address, Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle proposed that the Women's Team should join the U.S. Men's National Team (Men's Team) in Anaheim as Southern California's climate and Anaheim's strong community support has proven successful for the Men's Team. "It would be a great move to have the U.S. Women's National Volleyball Team relocate their training headquarters to Anaheim, and join their male counterparts," said Mayor Pringle. "Anaheim's location, climate and facilities would help the women in their quest for a gold medal in 2012 and beyond." The Women's Team claimed the silver medal at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, and is currently ranked second in the world. The Team finished 2008 with a record of 22-11. The popularity of women's volleyball is seen throughout the high school, collegiate and club levels. More than 320 Division I universities throughout the country have women's volleyball teams as part of their athletic programs. In addition, nearly 406,000 participants from approximately 15,000 high schools around the country played girls' high school volleyball in 2007. Volleyball is the fourth largest girls' high school sport after basketball, track & field and softball. The Men's Team relocated from Colorado Springs to Anaheim in 2006 and has been highly successful as evidenced by the Team's recent gold medal victories at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and the 2008 World League tournament. Currently, the Men's Team is ranked second internationally. Hugh McCutcheon, head coach who led the Men's Team to both the Olympic and World League gold medals, was recently named head coach for the Women's Team. City officials indicated that contract negotiations will still need to be finalized, but the specifics of the agreement have been defined. For more information click here to visit the Volleyball webpage Media Contact: Ruth Ruiz 714.765.5060 more city news
### ABOUT ANAHEIM - The City of Anaheim, founded in 1857, is one of the nation's premier municipalities and is California's 10th most populous city. Anaheim covers 50 square miles with more than 345,500 residents and more than 3,200 City employees. The municipal corporation's annual budget is $1.4 billion. Anaheim supports a thriving business community with companies such as Carl Karcher Enterprises, Inc., L-3 Communications, Pacific Sunwear, and Disneyland Resort. Successful sports franchises call Anaheim home, including Angels Baseball, Anaheim Ducks, the 2008 Olympic Gold Medal winning U.S. Men's National Volleyball Team, and the 2008 Olympic Silver Medal winning U.S. Women's National Volleyball Team. Anaheim also boasts world-class meeting and entertainment venues with the Anaheim Convention Center, the largest on the west coast, Honda Center, The Grove of Anaheim, The Shops at Anaheim GardenWalk, and Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Annually, Anaheim welcomes millions of visitors to the city, truly making it where the world comes to live, work and play. For more information, please visit www.anaheim.net. |
