May 14, 2019
Midwest Volleyball Power Merges with the United Sports Academy
NORTH SIOUX CITY, SD – The United Sports Academy is proud to announce Midwest Volleyball Power, the premier volleyball club in the Siouxland area, has merged with the United Sports Academy, a multi-sport training and competition facility located in North Sioux City.
This merger means that Midwest Volleyball Power (MVP) will now offer their services through the United Sports Academy and will become the foundation for the volleyball program offered at the United Sports Academy. The volleyball club, which will now be known as MVP United, will be holding tryouts for volleyball teams this fall and will offer lessons and skill development sessions throughout the year.
"We are very excited to have MVP join our team at the United Sports Academy," states Shane Tritz, Executive Director. "Their level of expertise instantly elevates our volleyball program to the top level. This elite program will now be available at the United Sports Academy to all skill levels of volleyball players. We are looking forward to the impact the MVP United program and their coaches will have on athletes new to the game of volleyball along with athletes seeking an opportunity at the collegiate level."
MVP brings with them into this merger their organization’s leaders and coaches, Rick Pruett, Melissa Smith, Kam Smith, as well as their current coaching staff consisting of MVP alumni and collegiate athletes. Specifically, Head Coach Pruett’s resume includes 18 years of collegiate Head Coaching experience, 24 years of USA Junior Olympic Coaching and 6 years of High School Coaching experience.
The success of MVP is apparent by the college recruitment of their athletes and by the numerous championships of the MVP teams. This year, MVP had 9 teams from ages 12-18 that collectively brought 28 Tournament Championships back to Siouxland. Specifically, MVP 17 BLUE recently won the Midwest JVA Challenge in Des Moines defeating teams from Minnesota, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska. This team will be competing at the AAU Junior National Championships in Orlando June 21-June 24.
“MVP takes great pride that our passion, vision and hard work has proven successful as we have been able to assist over 50 high school girls to continue playing volleyball at the collegiate level. In addition, they have received scholarship money in excess of 3 million dollars,” states Melissa Smith, MVP Club President. “While we are happy with what our Club has accomplished up to this point, we want to continue to grow the game that we love in Siouxland. We believe that our partnership with United Sports Academy will put us in a position to do just that. In addition to focusing on high level competition with our National level teams, a facility like USA is key for our expansion and focus on development of athletes of all skill levels.”