he U.S. Women’s Volleyball team made history at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, taking home the elusive gold medal for the first time. With a final swing, Jordan Larson ended an intense match against Brazil, one of their biggest international rivals. Stevens graduate Jeff Liu ’08, who served as the Performance Analyst for the national team, reflected on his volleyball background and buildup to the Olympics in an interview with The Stute.
Liu was introduced to volleyball in high school and quickly fell in love with the sport, but it was not until college that he assumed a role in coaching. At Stevens, Liu served as a captain and assistant coach for the Stevens Men’s Volleyball team. Also, he worked with the Men’s Volleyball head coach Patrick Dorywalski and upperclassman Jonathan Fajardo to transform the volleyball club into a competitive collegiate team. In addition, he coached girls’ volleyball at Livingston High School during his fall semesters. “The experience working on all the logistics of setting up the club team (joining a conference, recruiting athletes, scheduling with other teams, dealing with referees and insurance) definitely translated well into a coaching role for the future,” Liu said in an email to The Stute.
Photo courtesy of Jeff Liu.
After his time at Stevens, Liu worked as a technical coordinator for the Women’s, Men’s, and Beach Volleyball teams at the University of Southern California. Between 2015 to 2017, he assisted the Trojans in securing multiple NCAA titles for both indoor and beach.
Liu’s involvement with the national U.S. volleyball team began with the support of fellow Stevens teammate Joe Trinsey ‘08, who also served as the technical coordinator for Women’s Volleyball at the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics. When Liu switched from working in corporate healthcare to coaching volleyball, Trinsey encouraged him to visit California to volunteer with the national team. In 2017, this volunteering commitment became a full-time job, and Liu joined the coaching staff as a performance analyst.
Coaching the national team differs slightly from coaching NCAA volleyball. In addition to running performance analyses to target areas of improvement, his responsibilities with the national team also include running drills and providing feedback from a statistical standpoint. In this sense, Liu not only trained the athletes to recognize weak points in their game strategies, but he also taught them how to improve upon their skills.
Liu with team member Jordan Larson. Photo
courtesy of Jeff Liu.
Beyond preparing for such a demanding sport, the women’s team faced new physical and mental challenges posed by the delay of the Olympic Games. In a sport where morale plays a significant role in a team’s success, being separated from fellow athletes made it difficult to connect. The pandemic barred their access to equipment not only for practicing but also for working out. Considering that the summer Olympics is a quadrennial event, the yearlong delay made receiving a spot on the team tricker for some of the older athletes.
The final game was daunting, especially given the team’s history of silver medals behind Brazil’s gold. Since Olympic volleyball made its debut in 1964, the women’s team has won five medals: three silver and two bronze. Two of the three silvers were lost to Brazil, and stakes were high during this final match. However, Liu remained level-headed and focused. “While we are in competition mode, there is always the next task that needs to be done in preparation for our next match, so I rarely have the time to sit and reflect on where we are and what we are accomplishing,” he explained.
However, immediately following Larson’s last kill, the team—players and coaches alike—was overcome with emotion. Liu described mixed feelings when he stated, “Excitement for what we were able to accomplish—the first ever Olympic gold medal in women’s volleyball. Relief in the completion of the journey—it was a long [five]-year grind […] And sadness for the end of an era.” The team, now decorated with gold medals around their necks, celebrated this victory with both tears and smiles.
Liu emphasized that his aspirations do not stop with the 2020 Gold. He is currently an assistant coach for the women’s volleyball team at Grand Canyon University, and he hopes to stay connected with the national team in their journey to the 2024 Paris Olympics. Spectators around the country are ready to cheer for them on their next journey to pursue a consecutive gold medal.
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