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Lang Ping pleased with USA Women's National Team Tryout

Colorado, USA, March 1, 2005 - After two days of dressing up and attending countless meetings, new USA women's national volleyball team head coach "Jenny" Lang Ping felt right at home in the gymnasium over the past weekend.

Dressed in a blue warm-up suit and Volleyball shoes, Lang Ping quietly patrolled three courts as she observed an open tryout for the 2005 USA Women's National Team and associated training programs at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.

Players from all over the United States, 105 to be exact, invaded Sports Center II to put their talents on display for Lang Ping and the rest of the USA Volleyball High Performance evaluators.

"This is the main reason I am here this week," said Lang Ping, the former star player and coach for the Chinese women's national team. "I have had the chance to see a lot of different players. I am very happy because they are so focused. They give all of their effort and they are taking this tryout very seriously. I have seen a lot of passion here today.

"I have seen a few kids who are pretty talented, but most of the time I have been focusing on the setters and liberos," she added after Saturday's first session. "There are a few great kids who we will probably see in the future, but I don't think I have seen enough just yet. I still have to get to know their personality in a game situation, which we will continue to do for the rest of today and tomorrow."

While the athletes were the obvious center of attention for the duration of the tryout, many of the player evaluators were also impressed with Team USA's new coach.

"Jenny is my best friend, but besides that she is one of the best coaches I have ever seen anywhere," said two-time Olympian Laurel Brassey Iversen (1980 and 1988). "She will be awesome for our team. She worked with me [at the University of New Mexico] long ago when she first started coaching. I think she learned a lot about American girls and our style of play and culture. She is the best thing to happen to USA Volleyball in a long time."

Lang Ping returned to Italy, where she is the head coach of Pieralisi Volley of the Italian League's Serie A1, following the tryout. She will assume her new full-time duties with Team USA in early May.