University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
Bruins Add Alzina to Beach Volleyball Staff
January 08, 2018 | Beach Volleyball
Jeff Alzina named to the post of volunteer assistant coach.
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LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- UCLA head women's beach volleyball coach Stein Metzger announced today the hiring of veteran beach volleyball coach Jeff Alzina as the Bruins' volunteer assistant coach effective immediately.
Alzina replaces Sean Fallowfield, who recently departed to coach the Italian Beach National Team.
With over 20 years of experience coaching both beach and indoor volleyball, Alzina has worked extensively at all levels of the game, from club and high school all the way to the professional and Olympic level, and is considered one of the finest beach volleyball coaches in the world.
"Jeff is arguably the most experienced beach volleyball coach in the country and will be a great fit to replace Sean," Metzger said. "In fact, Jenny Jordan and I coincidentally both hired Jeff for many years during the peak of our professional careers, so much of what we now teach has been handed down from his legacy. We feel incredibly grateful for the opportunity to learn from him again and I'm certain that his knowledge, communication skills and forward thinking about the game will have an impact on the Bruins during our 2018 campaign."
Alzina has served as a national team coach for eight different countries, including the United States, and has twice been selected as the national team head coach, first with Greece from 1998-2000, overseeing the Greek women's national team's first-ever qualification into the Olympics for the Sydney games in 2000. He also was the national teams head coach for the United Kingdom in 2007.
Since 2001, Alzina has worked as a private instructor for over 600 beach professionals, including 35 Olympians, and coached in astonishing 83 Open tournament finals. He spent the last five years serving as the head coach for the USA Volleyball Men's Elite Development Group, selecting and training athletes in preparation for the 2016 Rio Olympics, as well as the 2020 Games in Tokyo.
Last summer, Alzina was selected by USA Volleyball as head coach for the U21 World Championships where his women's team won the bronze medal. He is currently the U19 World Championships head coach who will take America's best youth teams to China again in July.
After joining the beach staff at Long Beach State last spring, he helped the program double their wins going from 13-14 in 2016 to 26-10 and return to the NCAA Beach Finals in Gulf Shores, Ala., in 2017.
Locally, Alzina has also worked at the grassroots level, helping launch and serve as the head coach for the Seal Beach Sand Volleyball Club, and the L.A. Beach Volleyball Club. He also spent 2014 as the head coach for the inaugural varsity and JV girl's beach volleyball programs at Bishop Montgomery High School.
At the collegiate level, Alzina has spent two stints as an assistant coach with the women's volleyball program at Cal State Los Angeles. In nine years with the Golden Eagles, Alzina coached five All-Americans and 19 all-conference players while helping lead CSULA to the Division II Final Four in 2005.
Alzina graduated from UC Santa Barbara in 1991, and received his Master's Degree in Sport Psychology from Long Beach State in 2008.
