Susan Jean "Sue" Woodstra (born May 21, 1957) is an American retired female

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

player and coach who won the silver medal with the USA National Women's Team at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

Playing days

At the collegiate level, Woodstra earned All-American honors at

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

and played eight years on the

United States women's national volleyball team The United States women's national volleyball team participates in international volleyball competitions and friendly games, and is governed by USA Volleyball. The current head coach is three-time Olympic gold medalist and retired dominant beac ...

, serving as captain for four years, including for the 1984 Olympic silver medal team. Woodstra also played professional volleyball from 1984 to 1988 for the

NEC Red Rockets is a women's volleyball team based in Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan. It plays in V.League 1. The owner of the team is NEC. The club was founded in April 1978 as NEC's corporate team, participating the same year in the 10th V.Challenge League to ...

of the

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

V.League. She also played three season owith the Merrill Lynch/Reebok USVBA team where she earned MVP honors. Her number 4 hangs on a banner in the volleyball court in USC's

Galen Center The Galen Center is a multipurpose indoor arena and athletic facility owned and operated by the University of Southern California. Located at the southeast corner of Jefferson Boulevard and Figueroa Street in the Exposition Park (Los Angeles), Exp ...

, along with Tim Hovland's number 10.

Coaching

Woodstra entered coaching as an assistant at

Arizona State Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

in 1995 until she was hired as the head coach of the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...

Panthers women's volleyball team in 1989 where she served as head coach until 1992. During her tenure, she led her teams to

Big East Conference The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...

Tournament Championships in each season as well as three Big East regular season championships, winning the regular season each year from when the Big East instituted round-robin play in 1990. She also led the Panthers to four post-season appearances including one Women's Invitation Volleyball Championship appearance in 1989 in which Pitt finished third, and three NCAA volleyball tournaments, including in 1990 where Pitt reached the regional semifinal and finished ranked 18th in the final American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Coaches poll. Woodstra's earned Big East Coach of the Year honors in 1990. Her NCAA tournament teams were led by standout second team All-American outside hitter Ann Marie Lucanie, who won multiple Big East Tournament MVP awards and Big East Player of the Year awards. In total, Woodstra compiled an overall record of 110–39 (.738) over four seasons as head coach. After her tenure at Pitt, Woodstra became the head coach of the SC Münster women's profession volleyball team in

Münster Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state di ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, and led the team to a

CEV Cup The CEV Cup is the second tier official competition for men's Volleyball clubs of Europe. The competition takes place every year. Until 2000, it was the CEV Cup Winners' Cup. In 2000 it was renamed CEV Top Teams Cup and in 2007 it was renamed CE ...

championship in 1992. She then served as a volunteer assistant coach at Notre Dame for one season before taking over as the head coach of

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

Golden Bears volleyball team from 1995 to 1998. In 1999, Woodstra was hired as an assistant coach at

Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher e ...

before serving as the head coach of

Humboldt State University California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt also known as Cal Poly Humboldt, Humboldt or Cal Poly"Cal Poly" may also refer to California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California or California State Polytechnic Universi ...

Lumberjacks Lumberjacks are mostly North American workers in the logging industry who perform the initial harvesting and transport of trees for ultimate processing into forest products. The term usually refers to loggers in the era (before 1945 in the Uni ...

from 2002 to 2012. Woodstra took a leave of absence from coaching at Humboldt State in 2007 and the beginning of 2008 in order to serve as the head coach of U.S. women's national volleyball team in 2007 and an assistant coach during the 2008 Olympics. In 2007, she led the team to a bronze medal at the

Pan American games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...

. Woostra served as the first assistant coach for the silver-medal winning U.S. Olympic women's team in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

. Woodstra was inducted into the American Volleyball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2006.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Woodstra, Susan 1957 births American volleyball coaches American women's volleyball players Living people Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for the United States in volleyball People from Colton, California Pittsburgh Panthers volleyball coaches Volleyball players at the 1984 Summer Olympics USC Trojans women's volleyball players Pan American Games medalists in volleyball Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States Medalists at the 1983 Pan American Games Arizona State Sun Devils women's volleyball coaches Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's volleyball coaches