Tsunami Volleyball 18s team to play in USA Volleyball National Championship

No matter the sport, or the level, it’s always hard to reach the top.

It’s not always the ‘best’ team. Luck is always a factor, big or small. Injuries, hot or cold streaks and anything else you can think of can take you far or send you home early.

Despite all that, the 18s Tsunami Volleyball team made history when they qualified for the USA Volleyball 18s National Championship back in March.

This Friday, Saturday and Sunday head coach John Guzman and his team will make the trek to Baltimore, Maryland in hopes of winning their first ever national championship.

“It’s a long journey. I’ve been coaching for 18 years and I’ve never had a team qualify for USAV Nationals,” Guzman said. “My assistant coach Steve [Rogers] is in the same boat. He’s been coaching over 20 years and has never done it…we go to some of these tournaments, they’re called national qualifiers…some of those divisions will have 140-some teams in it. You have to be either number one or number two in that division to qualify.”

Tsunami Volleyball is a club organization that operates out of Jonesboro. They have satellites in central Georgia, south Georgia, North Atlanta and Cobb County.

Reaching a national stage will do a lot for not only the Tsunami name, but for the recruiting of the players as well according to Guzman.

“It attracts attention from college coaches for sure,” he said. “We’ve had coaches come up and say, ‘Hey, congrats on the bid. Do you have any unsigned girls?’ Because they know the rigor that these girls had to play through in order to earn that bid.”

Nine players on the team are from Houston County: Three from Veterans, five from Houston County High School and one from Warner Robins.

Of that group, here are the ones currently committed:

Serenity Jones (Veterans) and Nyah Fox (Veterans) are going to Georgia State University.

Ella Curbow (Houston County) is committed to Francis Marion University.

Harley Mitchell (Houston County) and Jeneal Balbin (Houston County) will stay close to home at Middle Georgia State University.

In the early season ‘boot camp’ Tsunami hosts, amid other physical exercises was one that saw Guzman and the 18s team put down three goals — one of which was qualifying for nationals.

This group has set records before. Two years ago they became the first team from central Georgia to win the Southern Region Volleyball Association championship against teams from Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee.

They repeated the next year, and after nationals this year they hope to three-peat.

Though the success they’re experiencing on the court right now is great, for Guzman, that’s the not the end-game.

“Our goal is to be invited to the wedding years from now. We want to be that coach that they can count on, that they can lean on if they need to,” Guzman said. “We’re really looking forward to watching them continue their careers in volleyball or just watching them be productive citizens.”

Parents, fans and coaches know the countless hours of work and tears shed that have gone in to making it this far.

On behalf of the Houston Home Journal, we wish you luck in Baltimore!