California State University Northridge Athletics
Theo Edwards Returns to USA Volleyball U19 Coaching Staff
7/18/2023 1:38:00 PM | Men's Volleyball
Edwards will join head coach Charlie Sullivan and a squad of 22 players who will begin training July 22-30 at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. The final team of 12 players will then depart for San Juan, Argentina to compete in the 2023 FIVB Men's U19 World Championship which will be held Aug. 2-11. The U.S. will share its opening pool at the World Championship with Argentina, Costa Rica, Egypt, and Serbia.
The coaching staff includes Sullivan (head coach at Springfield College), Edwards and Lindsay Brown (assistant coach at Loyola-Chicago). CSUN Assistant Athletic Trainer Rachel Menze will serve as the team trainer.
"This will be my second time at the world championships where you get the unique experience of seeing the best players in the world at this age," said Edwards. "In addition to coaching the players, the thing that excites me the most is working with this coaching staff. Charlie and I have had a lot of success working together. As a staff, we really work on building team culture at this level and those are things that I can bring back to my team at CSUN."
Edwards most recently helped the U.S. Boys U-19 team to its first-ever gold medal at the Pan American Cup in Guatemala in May, 2022. An assistant under Sullivan, the team finished 5-0 and did not lose a set in the tournament while qualifying for the 2023 FIVB World Championship along the way. The tournament culminated with the U.S. sweeping Mexico in the final, 3-0 (25-22, 25-18, 25-18).
Nine players return from the 2022 Boys U19 Team that won the Pan Am Cup for the first time and qualified for the 2023 World Championship: middle blocker Kaumana Carreira and setter Tread Rosenthal along with Sterling Foley, Finn Kearney, Sean Kelly, Kellen Larson, Victor Loiola, Tread Rosenthal and Tristan Whitfield.
The 2023 U19 team will add another chapter to Edwards' international coaching experience which also includes coaching stints with USA Volleyball at the 2017 FIVB Boys' U19 World Championship in Bahrain, the 2016 NORCECA Championships in Cuba and the 2014 Men's Pan Am Cup in Tijuana, Mexico.
Edwards will open his second season as head coach of the CSUN men's volleyball season in 2024, his 14th season overall coaching Matador men's volleyball.
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