Courtesy of Paul Gornowski, Holy Family SID

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- While most college players and coaches use the summer to relax, Holy Family University's women's volleyball assistant coach, Tim Kilian, kept right on coaching.

This summer, Kilian was involved with the USA Volleyball's High Performance program. As a pipeline to the USA National teams, the HP program provides training for some of the top youth volleyball players in the country.

"It was an honor to be part of USA Volleyball's coaching program, and given the opportunity to work with some national team level coaches."

The invitees to the USAV HP program camps are chosen from the thousands of girls who play junior volleyball and choose to try out for the programs. There are three age groups, from select (youngest), youth, and Junior (oldest).

There are also various levels within each age group. At the top are the national teams for the Junior and Youth age groups. Below that are the A2, A3, and development camps.

This summer, Kilian worked 3 camps, all with the developmental level athletes. He served different roles in each; a court coach, and assistant coach, and the head coach.

His travels took him to Kentucky, North Carolina, and Tennessee.

"It was great to work with different head coaches for two camps, and work with different ages of athletes. And then in my third camp, I was given the opportunity to run the camp with a staff of very qualified coaches."

"As a coach, you always want to learn and get better. The USAV program is a great opportunity to work with Olympic Medal winning coaches and other coaches with a wealth of experience, all while learning new techniques, philosophies, and ways to teach skills."

"At all the camps, the level of talent was fantastic. These were kids who are skilled and motivated, and really wanted to learn. "

"The most challenging part is learning and teaching the styles and techniques of Hugh McCutcheon, the head coach of the USA Women's National team. Since the HP program flows into the national team, all athletes in the program are taught the same skills.