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

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 ...

coach and player. As a player, she won a silver medal with 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. Their last head coach was three-time Olympic gold medalist and retired dominant be ...

at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly 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 ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Playing days

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

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

. She then played eight years on the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

, 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 Prefecture, 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.Challen ...

of the

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

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 area of Los Ang ...

, 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 Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is one of the largest ...

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

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

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 (stylized as BIG EAST) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that competes in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I, Division I in 10 men's sports and 12 women's sports. H ...

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 (; ) is an independent city#Germany, 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 ...

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, 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 to CEV Top Teams Cup and in 2007 to CEV Cup. T ...

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 university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

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

Florida State Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

before serving as the head coach of

Humboldt State University California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt (Cal Poly Humboldt or Humboldt) is a public university in Arcata, California. It is one of Cal Poly (disambiguation), three polytechnic universities in the California State University (CSU) sys ...

Lumberjacks 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, known as the Pan Am Games, is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas. It features thousands of athletes participating in competitions to win different summer sports. It is held among athletes from nations of th ...

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

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

. She retired from coaching at Humboldt State in 2012. Woodstra was inducted into the American Volleyball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2006.

References

External links

Susan Woodstra at Olympics.com

Olympedia Profile: Sue Woodstra

Southern California Indoor Volleyball Hall of Fame Profile

Volleybox.net Profile
* {{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 Sportspeople from Colton, California Pittsburgh Panthers volleyball coaches Volleyball players at the 1984 Summer Olympics USC Trojans women's volleyball players Volleyball players at the 1983 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1983 Pan American Games Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States in volleyball Arizona State Sun Devils women's volleyball coaches Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's volleyball coaches 20th-century American sportswomen