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Travel Coaches
Our 2012 Season Travel Coaches...
18 Travel Head Coach - Silvia Johnson
Click HERE to e-mail Silvia
Silvia (Panak) Johnson is currently in her 6th year as the head coach of the Metro American VBC 18 Travel team. Silvia served as the assistant coach for American University along side head coach, Barry Goldberg. During her time with the Eagles, AU won 5 conference championships and qualified for the NCAA tournament 5 times.
Johnson played her junior and senior years for American University, winning the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Championship both years. She was named team MVP in 1999 and American University Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2000. A two-time All-CAA selection, Johnson was ranked among the NCAA leaders in aces in both of her seasons at American. Before transferring to American, Johnson played for Long Beach State and was a part of the undefeated 1998 NCAA Championship team. Johnson still holds the school record for most assists in a match at 75, which she accomplished twice in her career. She is the career leader at AU for assists per game and is eighth all-time in aces per game.
In her first year as head coach of the 18 Travel team (2007), her team racked up some amazing credentials: undefeated in the Region in all tournaments, Regional champions, 3rd Place at the Villanova Tournament, 2nd place at the Capitol Hill Classic, 5th Place at the Colorado Crossroads tournament, 11th place in the Open division in the Atlanta Big South tournament, 3rd place at the KIVA tournament, qualified for the Junior Olympics at the National level, and finished 54th in the nation out of thousands of teams in the 18U division. In 2008, her team once again went undefeated in the Region in all tournaments, Regional Champions, 2nd place at the Capital Hill Classic, 3rd place at the North East Qualifier, 9th place at Colorado Crossroads, and qualified for the Junior Olympics at the National level. Silvia followed up 2009 with another successful year. The 2010 season ended with a National Bid where along the way in the tournament, they defeated both the tournament’s eventual champion and runner-up to make a strong case for being considered among the nation’s best. The crowning success, however, came last year (2011) when Silvia took her team to Nationals as the first ever 18‘s Open Bid in the Chesapeake Region. As a testimony to Silvia's drive and knowledge as a head coach, all of her players have gone on to play volleyball in college.
Silvia currently resides in Frederick, Md. with her husband, Winfred and their two daughters, Tatiana and Natalia.
18 Travel Assistant Coach - Joe Jurczack
Metro American Volleyball Club is pleased to announce that Joseph Jurzcak will be assistant coaching this year with 18 Travel. Joseph comes with an array of coaching experiences. Last year Joseph was the head coach of our 15 Travel team and before that was an assistant coach to our highly successful 18 Travel team. Prior to moving here, he was also the Head JV and Assistant Varsity Girl’s Volleyball Coach at Mt. St. Mary’s Academy (NY) and Kenmore West HS (NY). Joseph has also coached travel club volleyball, as an 18’s regional and 15’s travel coach, for 8 of the last 10 years while in Western New York, starting with the Cheetah Volleyball Club which eventually merged and became the Niagara Frontier Volleyball Club. Some of his highlights from coaching include 2 JO Invitational’s and one JO Nationals.
Joseph started his volleyball career as a junior in high school at Kenmore West (NY). He then continued his career in college on the club team at the University of Buffalo, where his team finished in the top 8 of Club Nationals for two consecutive years. Joe is a big sports fan and enjoys playing several sports, enjoys the outdoors and enjoys watching the NHL. Joseph’s primary goal in coaching is to provide that little extra something for that athlete to be the best she can be. He then hopes she wants to give her experience back to other future athlete’s as a coach or mentor.
17 Travel Head Coach - Russ Friedland
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Russ is in his 4th year with Metro American Volleyball Club. In the past, Russ was the head coach of our 18 South team and for the past two years was the head coach of our successful 17 Travel team, which took Gold at the South Atlantic Championships both years and won the Open Bid to compete in Reno at Nationals (2010). Russ comes with a background full of coaching experience: Volunteer Assistant (2004) for the University of Connecticut, Head Coach for the men’s and women’s programs (2007-2008) at Daniel Webster College, Volunteer Assistant (2008) at American University and 2nd Assistant for George Washington University. Russ is currently the Assistant Coach at Howard University.
Russ began his volleyball career at EO Smith High School in Connecticut all-state selection in 2001 and club volleyball with Husky Volleyball. He then went on to play volleyball for Endicott College (2001-2005) in Beverly, Massachusetts where his team achieved their first national ranking and made back to back post-season appearances in the ECAC Championships.Russ currently ranks in the program's top-ten in seven categories including second in total blocks, third in assists and ninth in kills and digs. While at Endicott, Russ earned his BS in Sports Management and an M.B.A.
17 Travel Assistant Coach - Camilla Ihenetu
Metro American Volleyball Club is excited to announce Camilla Ihenetu as an assistant travel coach.
Camilla is a proud product of the Front Range Volleyball Club in Colorado and was a student-athlete at Kent Denver School in Englewood, Colorado. As a high school student-athlete, she was the team MVP and an All-State Selection. Her club teams finished 9th and 5th in the Junior Nationals Open Division in 2000 and 2001.
Camilla then went on to play for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she was a two-time ACC champion, had multiple NCAA tournament appearances, was an All-ACC selection, and an All-East Region Team selection. Camilla earned her Bachelor’s Degrees in International Studies/Political Economy and Political Science.
16 Travel Head Coach - Sam Danai
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Sam is in his 10th season as the 16 Travel coach for Metro American VBC. Throughout his career as a highly successful Metro coach, Sam has placed highly in all of his team’s regional championships, however, 2011 brought Sam a first place finish to go on to play in the National Championships. His teams have also won the PVA tournaments and South Atlantic tournaments.
Sam's volleyball career began at Taylor Allderdice High School where he earned all-city honors and led his team to their first City Championship in a decade.
Sam attended American University (1998-2002) and graduated from American University Law School in 2005. During his time at the University (1999-2006), Sam was an assistant coach to the American University Volleyball team. The AU team won the conference championship 6 of the years that Sam was coaching and also qualified for the NCAA tournament 5 times.
He is currently working as an Assistant State's Attorney in Prince George 's County Maryland.
16 Travel Assistant Coach - Kerry Porter
Metro American Volleyball Club is excited to announce Kerry Porter as our new 16 Travel Assistant Coach. This will be Kerry’s first year with our club, but certainly not her first year coaching. Kerry is a transplant to our area from Denver, Colorado where she coached a variety of volleyball camps at the University of Denver.
Kerry started her volleyball career at Lyons Township High School while also playing club volleyball for the Lions Jrs. Volleyball Club and 1st Alliance Volleyball Club. Her team qualified for Nationals her years on 17’s and 18’s.
She then went on to attend the University of Denver where she was a four year starting middle blocker, leading her team to their school’s best record in the program’s history her senior year. Her team also won the Sun Belt Conference West division, three out of the four years she was playing. Kerry still holds the program’s 3rd highest career attack percentage (.294) and is 7th in total career blocks. While at the University of Denver, she earned both her Bachelors and Masters degrees in Accounting.
Currently, Kerry is an auditor for the Government Accountability Office. In her free time she enjoys traveling, running, cooking and spending time outside.
15 Travel Head Coach - Peter Cruz
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We at Metro American Volleyball Club are excited to announce Peter Cruz as our new 15 Travel Head Coach. Peter is currently the volunteer assistant coach at American University and has an extensive coaching background: Assistant Coach at the University of West Alabama (2009-2011), Head Coach at Cape Fear Community College (2007-2009), Head Coach for the Marine Corps Men’s Volleyball Team (2008 - 2010), Club Director for Club Crimson in Alabama (2010-2011), Head Coach for Club Crimson (2009-2010), Head Coach for NC Boy’s High Performance Team (2009), Head Coach for the 18’s Cape Fear Volleyball Club (2007-2009), and Head Coach for the 15’s Capital City Volleyball Club in North Carolina (2006-2007). Twenty of the players that Peter has coached have gone on to play collegiate volleyball.
Peter attended the University of North Carolina where he played on their Men’s Club as a middle and right side hitter. His team made it to the President final two years during his career at UNC. Peter graduated with a BA in Management and Society.
Currently, Peter is a graduate student in the Sport Leadership Program at Northeastern University.
14 Travel Head Coach and 15 Travel Assistant Coach - Ahen Kim
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Ahen Kim is in his third year with MAVBC. Ahen returns in his second year as our 14 Travel Head Coach after finishing 3rd at Regionals, 9th at NEQ and 1st at the South Atlantic Championships last year.
Ahen was the assistant coach with Houston Baptist University (2011), the assistant coach with George Washington University (2010-2011) where he worked with setters and outside hitters, and an assistant coach at Catholic University in Washington(2009-2010) where he worked with setters and middle hitters.
A native of Philadelphia, Ahen attended Franklin and Marshall College (2007) where he was the captain of the men's volleyball club team, specializing as an outside hitter and defensive specialist. Ahen graduated with a bachelor's degree in sociology and American Government.
Ahen spent the summer of 2006 studying abroad in London at Westminster University and is fluent in Korean.
14 Travel Assistant Coach - Lauren Durbin
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Lauren Durbin is in her fifth year with Metro American VBC. The last four years Lauren was head coach for the 16 North team.
Lauren began her volleyball career at Grace Academy (1999-2002) where she was first team All-County and All-Area her junior and senior years. Her high school also finished 1st in conference, 3 out of her 4 years playing. She also played club volleyball for Washington County Juniors (2000-2003) where she competed in the Junior Olympics for her club’s 16’s travel team in Salt Lake City , Utah.
Lauren then went on to play for Shepherd University (2003-2007) as their middle hitter. She was 2nd team all-conference and captain her senior year. She earned her Bachelor’s in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance and a minor in Economics.
Lauren has been working as a Program Financial Analyst with SOS International for the last year in Reston, VA.
What camp at American University will YOU be attending this summer?
