December 05, 2003

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Palo Alto Online

Menlo coach will guide U.S. junior women

If Kyle Utsumi didn't have plans for the summer, he certainly does now.

The squad's schedule includes the Junior Pan American Championships in El Salvador in July. He also will coach his first Junior World Championships in Perth, Australia, in January 2005.

Most of the athletes who make the final 13-member team (there are currently 24 players) are expected to compete on the 2008 U.S. Olympic team.

Utsumi has coached the U.S. 18-Under team for the past three seasons. In addition, Utsumi has worked with both the U.S. Men's and Women's Olympic teams and, in the summer of 2000, supervised the Olympic News Service and acted as media specialist for the Olympic water polo events in Sydney, Australia.

This summer he will again be traveling with the U.S. Olympic team; from El Salvador he goes to Italy for a pre-Olympic tournament and then to Athens.

In February 2003, Utsumi was selected as a recipient of a National Youth Sports Award from the Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA), a nonprofit organization based at Stanford University. The annual awards recognize coaches and youth sports organizations across the country who strive to win, but who also strive to help their players develop skills such as teamwork, respect, discipline and perseverance that will serve them throughout their lifetimes.

At Menlo, Utsumi recently completed his seventh season of water polo coaching. His teams have won three Central Coast Section titles and this year finished 25-9 while winning the Peninsula Athletic League title and reaching the quarterfinals of CCS. He will continue to coach the girls' teams, since most of the National training takes place during the summer.

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