Two coaches with Illini backgrounds will serve on USA Volleyball High Performance staffs for the 2010 USAV High Performance Championships next month in Wisconsin.
Former Illini assistant coach Anne Kordes is the head coach of the U.S. Girls' Select A1 Program team. Kordes has been the head coach at St. Louis for the past six years, compiling a 127-58 record and guiding the Billikens to three NCAA Tournament appearances in the last four seasons.
Former Illini player Laura Bush is one of five assistants on the A1 staff. Bush, currently an assistant coach at Minnesota, was an American Volleyball Coaches Association second-team All-American for Illinois in 1989.
In addition, the husband of former Illini All-American Mary (Eggers) Tendler is on the High Performance staff. Blaine Tendler of Burlington, N.C., will serve as head coach of the U.S. Women's Junior Continental Team. Mary Tendler is the head coch at Elon (N.C.) University.
The High Performance program will enter four teams in its championships tournament July 26-30 at Wisconsin Dells, Wis.
More than 90 teams are expected to compete in the tournament's six different age and gender brackets.
In a related matter, Kordes has withdrawn as an assistant coach for the 2010 U.S. Women's Junior National Team. The team includes incoming Illini freshman libero Jennifer Bonilla of Reseda, Calif., and UI oral commitment Liz McMahon, a middle blocker/right-side hitter from Liberty Township, Ohio. The junior national team will compete in the NORCECA Continental Championship July 6-11 at Tijuana, Mexico.