2010 Head Coaching Assignments: Select Division

NVVA’s commitment to Select Team players includes providing outstanding, experienced head coaches, talented assistants, and regularly-scheduled practice times and locations — including an additional voluntary ‘third’ practice a week for players to enhance specific skills.

Parent Representative: Bruce Stewart is in his 20th year of playing and coaching Volleyball and Soccer. Bruce coached House and Travel soccer for 8 years at The Springfield Youth Club. Bruce also coached House volleyball at SYC for 4 years coaching the elementary thru high school aged girls. Bruce moved to coaching at the club level with Franconia Volleyball Club as head coach of the U-14 Stingers for 2 years. Bruce has been the parent rep for both teams his daughters have played on and has enjoyed assisting the NVVA coaches in any way that I could help. Including mentoring new parents to the world of Club Volleyball by Informing parents of schedules and changes, as well as helping them through their first year. Cell Phone: 202-439-5113

• Please check coaches corner or HERE for tournament request updates. Direct any questions regarding single day tournaments to Jeremy Peizer (jrpeizer@gmail.com) or Mark Vandegrift (markv@go-fsi.com)

• Questions regarding multi day, overnights, and travel arrangements, contact Fred Mehl (fred.mehl@verizon.net).

John Teifer (Select 18’s Head Coach)

John comes to us having 15 yrs of playing and over 30 yrs of coaching experience at almost every level imaginable. As a player, John obtained an “AA” beach rating in 1979 and maintained an “A” in Southern CA until 1999. Indoors John was a USVBA (now USAV) All-Rookie team in 1981 and an “AA” All-American in 1981 and 1982. John last played in Nationals in 1985. As a coach, John has coaches at the collegiate level in the mid-80’s leading LIUs John -Southampton to a 134-44 record during his five years at the helm; John coached professionally in France for two seasons with the Lille Women’s club winning a Second Division National Championship in 1990.

As a leader in junior level John has been involved since 1982 coaching the first junior team in Virginia Beach. In 1984 John helped start Long Island/Big Apple Volleyball Club (LIBA). From 1984 to 1989 (Johns time with the club) LIBA won every age group regional championship within the Garden-Empire region of USVBA and four East Coast Championships (then a National Qualifying Tournament). John himself coached his teams to three regional and one East Coast Championship.

In 1992 John returned from France and moved to San Diego where after coaching two years with San Diego Volleyball Club he founded Sunwest Volleyball Club (Now EPIC). In six years as the Technical and Recruiting Director, Sunwest grew from a five team middle of the road club to the top club in the San Diego Area. In 1997 Johns 18’s team qualified for Nationals with a third place finish at the Tampa Bay Qualifier and in 1998 Sunwest s 18’s team finished first at the Volleyball Festival and took home part of a National Championship. That same year Sunwest 16 Gold finished 6th solidifying Sunwest as a fixture in the top division at the festival for years to come. Additionally as a high school coach John led his teams to three San Diego section CIF Championship finals and one championship in 1994.

In 2002 John moved his family to Northern VA and after three years with NVVA, two as the Director of Coaching, John helped start Virginia Elite. As Technical and Recruiting Director at VA Elite John was instrumental in the technical development of players, coaches, and teams that won 10 regional championships and sent 12 teams to nationals including the Chesapeake Regions first ever Open bid. John also played the primary role in placing 43 players into college volleyball programs securing volleyball scholarships for 35 of them. Of that group of athletes 27are or will be playing at NCAA Division I programs.

In all John has had the opportunity to assist in the recruitment of over 300 High School and College volleyball players, over two hundred who received NCAA Division I scholarships. He has also coached five High School All-Americans, four Volleyball Magazine “Fab 50” players and two former National Team Players.

Jill Pearson (Select 17’s Head Coach)

Jill Pearson was a three-sport athlete (basketball, volleyball and softball) while attending Loudoun County High School in Leesburg, Virginia. She began her volleyball career in 1994, which led her to earn a full scholarship at George Mason University. As a George Mason Patriot, she played middle under Coach Pat Kendrick for four years, while earning her degree in Health and Physical Education. During her senior year with the Patriots she assisted now head coach at Towson, Paul Koncir, with NOVA's 18-and-Under girls’ volleyball team. Jill ended up taking over the 18-and-Under team, where she was head coach for three years. After graduating in 2002, Jill began her teaching career with Fairfax County Public Schools at Poe Middle School, while assisting at Chantilly High School. In the fall of 2003, she took over the program at Robinson, where she is now the head volleyball coach as well as an eighth-grade health and physical education teacher. She was also the head coach of the NVVA Select 16’s and NVVA Select 17’s teams the past two seasons.

Pat Smith (Select 16’s Head Coach)

Pat Smith grew up overseas spending her high school years in the Philippines where she played four years of varsity volleyball. At Virginia Tech, she played with the Men's Volleyball Club (this was in the days before Title 9) and continued to play in recreational leagues and on USA teams after getting married and raising 3 children. Pat has coached five previous NVVA teams (14’s, 15’s, 16’s, and 18’s) and has served as the Junior Director for NVVA. She is coaching the Varsity at Herndon High School for the 10th year at Herndon and made it to the final four in the Region last year. Pat is IMPACT certified and has attended coaching clinics at George Mason, Marymount, and Gold Medal Squared. She is a retired kindergarten teacher and has 20 years of teaching experience.

Len Palashchak (Select 15’s Head Coach)

Len Palaschak is the Head Coach at W.T. Woodson High School. He has been awarded both the Liberty District and Northern Virginia Region Coach of the Year. Len is IMPACT-certified and has over 20 years of combined coaching and playing experience. His coaching experience includes military post teams — men's and women's program (Heidelberg, Neu Ulm and Augsburg, Germany), River Ridge High School (Lacey, WA), Evergreen Volleyball Club (Olympia, WA), and recreation leagues (school, college, community/children at risk). His playing experience includes U.S. Military Post and German Club, where he was a setter and a defensive specialist. Len is married, with four children, and resides in Annandale.

Seng Chiu (Select 14’s Head Coach)

Seng has coached girls’ volleyball since 1992 during his sophomore year at the College of William & Mary. For more than fifteen years, he has coached at the collegiate, club, and high school levels. This will be his fourth year coaching with NVVA and third year as Select Director. He is currently the volunteer assistant coach at George Mason University. His collegiate coaching experience also includes being an assistant coach with Hampton University (2005), William & Mary, (1994, 1995, 2000, 2007) and the University of Nevada-Reno (1999). Besides coaching at three Division I universities, he also coached at two Division III universities: Christopher Newport University (1997) and Marymount University (2002 & 2003). His club coaching experience started with volunteering as an assistant coach for the Williamsburg Volleyball Club in 1992. He later became the 18’s head coach from 1994-1998. Other club teams that Seng has coached include Sierra Nevada-14-1 (1999), Sierra Nevada-16-1 (2000), DIVA-18’s (2002), NVVA-15 Select (2005), NVVA Fairfax 14 (2007) and NVVA Select 14’s (2009). He was also the head varsity coach at four Virginia high schools: Paul VI (2006), Wakefield (2004), Washington-Lee (2001), and Lafayette (1998). He was named district coach of the year in 2001 and 1998. Lafayette won its first girls volleyball Regional title in 1998. His coaching philosophy is to teach his players all aspects of the game and make them the best volleyball player they can be. Seng is a certified IMPACT instructor and is working on completing his CAP III certification. He resides in Annandale and is a real estate agent with RE/MAX Allegiance.

Dean Shumway (Select 13-Head Coach)

Coach Dean has coached volleyball for 42 years. He started playing serious volleyball in Oregon more than 45 years ago and worked his way into coaching through the men’s team at Oregon State University where he coached for six years. Soon after moving to Virginia in 1973, he became the head coach of the women’s team at George Mason University, a position he held for six years. He coached USAV men’s and women’s team nearly every year since 1974, from B to AA levels. He has also coached both men’s and women’s USAV Masters teams for over 45 years.

Coach Dean led his MAC’s USAV Masters team, formed in the 1980’s, to twelve national titles as a player and/or coach while garnering fourteen All-American or All-Tournament awards and four MVP/Player of the Year awards. Coach Dean has completed numerous coaching courses over the years and has officiated college, high school and USAV volleyball matches for over 40 years. During the 2008 high school season, Coach Dean was honored by being selected to referee the Virginia AAA Championship match in Richmond.

Coach Dean’s is coaching his tenth NVVA team this season. His previous teams have won four Regional Championships and one Northeast Qualifier. Having coached at all age levels, Coach Dean has found the younger ages much more challenging than the older ages, but at the same time more rewarding. He firmly believes that future success of players depends heavily on a solid foundation developed in the early years of training. For this reason, he has chosen to coach the Select 13’s team this season.

Mr. Shumway is the founder of NVVA and has served as the president since its beginning in 1997. Dean was also instrumental in organizing and developing LYV NYL middle school leagues in Northern Virginia. He was the president of the Fairfax Volleyball Club, the founder and president of the Reston Volleyball Club and has served on the Chesapeake Regional board.

Elisabeth ‘Moore’ Longworth (Select 14’s Assistant Coach)

Elisabeth has been playing volleyball in Northern Virginia for more than fifteen years. She attended Paul VI High School in Fairfax, setting for four years on their varsity team, including two undefeated seasons in 1999 and 2000. During this time, Elisabeth led the Panthers to two WCAC and VISVA championships and was twice named the team’s MVP, among other conference and state accolades. Elisabeth also played six years for NVVA during junior and senior high school, including the first year of the club’s existence. After graduating from Paul VI in 2001, Elisabeth attended James Madison University, majoring in Social Work and spending three years playing with the JMU Women’s Club Volleyball team, where she helped lead the Dukes to a 2004 NIRSA Women’s DI National Championship. Since graduating from JMU in 2005, Elisabeth went on to receive a Master of Social Work degree from George Mason University, and has continued to play with her college teammates on a local, women’s USAV team, as well as on other coed and county teams. This is her second year coaching NVVA’s 14’s Select team, and Elisabeth is very excited to continue sharing her excitement and enthusiasm for the game with the players of NVVA. Elisabeth will also be taking on the role of Assistant Facility Manager for the club’s new volleyball facility, where she hopes to put her knowledge of nonprofit leadership and excitement for program and community development to work. Elisabeth was recently married in September 2009 and resides in Herndon with her husband Nick.