The indoor women are in great position going into the 2012 season. Unlike the men's team, the women have already qualified for the 2012 Olympics. By placing second in the Women’s World Cup last November, the women’s team has the luxury of entering the upcoming competitions without the pressure of needing to qualify for London. They’re in.
The women are currently ranked No. 1 in the world and have a great chance of winning the first gold medal ever for USA women’s volleyball in 2012. However, there is no time to rest on their laurels. The competition will only get tougher and if they want to win the gold, they need to do everything they can to improve even more and become as cohesive a team as possible in the remaining months.
There is still a lot of playing to be done between now and the Opening Ceremony on July 27th and all of the teams will be nearing the peak of their potential when competition comes around. So expect some great matches and some sneak peaks at what we’ll see at the Olympics this summer.
The women are spread out all over the globe at the moment playing with their respective professional teams overseas. After the players finish up with their pro teams, they should have a bit of time off before they assemble for the first training block sometime in the beginning of May. Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon will then go about the business of preparing the team for the upcoming competition as well as the Olympic Games.
World Grand Prix – June 8th – July 1st
Since the women have already qualified, they will not need to compete in the NORCECA Continental Championship at the end of April. Instead their first major tournament will be the World Grand Prix.
As two-time Grand Prix champs, the women would like a good performance here. Not only could they become just the second country to win three in a row (Brazil is the other) but they could solidify their No. 1 ranking as they will have to take on No. 2 Brazil and No. 4 Italy over the course of the competition. With the tournament ending less than a month before the start of Olympic competition, winning it would be a great confidence boost as well and allow the USA to enter London with momentum. The Grand Prix is not an Olympic qualifier, but its large prize purse is incentive enough to win it.
Pan American Cup – June 21st – July 1st
The USA women are required to send a team to the Pan American Cup as well, but since the dates overlap with Grand Prix, the team will most likely be made up of developing players. McCutcheon will have to make a decision regarding which players to send to the Pan Am Cup based on the fact that this tournament determines which teams qualify for next year’s World Grand Prix. McCutcheon could decide to send a B team or a mix of A and B team players in an attempt to log more playing time for the players he expects to come off of the bench in London. The Pan American Cup will take place at the end of June.
After July 1st, the women will return to the team’s Anaheim training center for it’s final training before heading to London. In the run up to Beijing in 2008, the women’s team played a series of friendly matches with Brazil to keep their game skills sharp. There is no word yet on if they will attempt to schedule similar matches this summer.
Women’s National Teams Qualified As of January 2012:
- Great Britain (Host Country)
- Italy (1st at World Cup)
- USA (2nd at World Cup)
- China (3rd at World Cup)
