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AVCA Rewrites Another Record With 450 Teams Lauded for Academic Excellence
LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 20, 2010) - The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) announced today that 450 teams have earned the AVCA Team Academic Award for the 2009-2010 season. This number once again smashes the previous years' total of 409 and sets a new all-time high for this award.
The award, which was initiated in the 1992-93 academic year,
honors collegiate and high school volleyball teams that displayed
excellence in the classroom during the school year by maintaining
at least a 3.30 cumulative team grade-point average on a 4.0 scale
or a 4.10 cumulative team GPA on a 5.0 scale.
"There is no better way to gauge the success of a sport than to
track the accomplishments of the people who participate," said AVCA
Executive Director Kathy DeBoer. "Each of these 450 teams
represents 12-15 really smart kids. What a great day for the
sport of volleyball!"
The Team Academic Award has become one of the AVCA's fastest
growing awards programs, seeing an impressive surge in teams
honored over the past several years. The program has increased by
over 300% in the last 10 years and by 79% in the past three years
alone. Both NCAA Division I and NCAA Division II recorded their
highest-ever total numbers of recipients, with the former honoring
94 programs and the latter honoring 55 programs. The high school
division also set a new bar with its 179 honorees.
Prior to 2009-10, only nine teams had attained the pinnacle of
volleyball success in both earning the AVCA Team Academic Award and
winning their respective collegiate national championship in the
same academic year. This year, the AVCA is proud to recognize four
programs -- Concordia University-St. Paul (NCAA Division II),
Washington University in St. Louis (NCAA Division III), Clearwater
Christian College (NCCAA Division II) and Stanford University (NCAA
Division I-II men) - all of whom excelled both in the classroom and
on the court. Concordia-St. Paul and Washington-St. Louis had both
accomplished this feat once before, ironically both in the same
academic year (2007-08).
There were 119 first-time recipients of the AVCA Team Academic
Award in 2009-10. NCAA Division I and NCAA Division II each saw 15
new teams achieve the honor, while NCAA Division III welcomed 17
newcomers. Thirteen NAIA teams, two NCCAA teams and two
Two-Year Colleges garnered recognition for the first time, while 55
high school teams (51 girls' teams and four boys' teams) received
their first AVCA Team Academic nod.
Over 1,000 different schools have earned the award in the
program's 18-year history, and over 2,900 awards have been given
out in all. Only two institutions, both high schools, have earned
the distinction all 18 years: Jonesboro High School (Jonesboro,
Arkansas) and Ross S. Sterling High School (Baytown, Texas).
BREAKDOWN BY CLASSIFICATION
Division
Number of
recipients
Percent Breakdown*
NCAA Division I Women
94
34%
NCAA Division II Women
55
27%
NCAA Division III Women
75
21%
NAIA
Women
34
18.5%
Two-Year College
Women
8
5%
NCCAA
Women
2
13%
NCAA Collegiate Men
3
13.6%
High School (Girls and
Boys)
179
15.2%
High School Girls
164
High School Boys
15
* Percentage is based on the total number of head coach
members in each respective category.
TOTAL RECIPIENT HISTORY
2009-10: 450
2008-09: 409
2007-08: 354
2006-07: 308
2005-06: 287
2004-05: 276
2003-04: 305
2002-03: 205
2001-02: 178
2000-01: 130
1999-2000: 140
1998-99: 149
1997-98: 132
1996-97: 134
1995-96: 116
1994-95: 83
1993-94: 98
1992-93: 62
