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United States Field Hockey Association
A member of the United States Olympic Committee
Griesbaum Named U.S. Assistant National Team Coach
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – University of Iowa assistant Tracey Griesbaum has been named assistant women’s national team coach by the U.S. Field Hockey Association. In addition to assisting head coach Tracey Belbin with the U.S. National Team in its preparations for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament and Olympic Games in 2000, Griesbaum will also serve as head coach of the U.S. Women’s Under-21 Team as it prepares for the Pan American Junior Championships in April, 2000.
“U.S. Field Hockey is very pleased to have a coach of Tracey Griesbaum’s experience and caliber join our national coaching staff of a full-time basis,” said USFHA Executive Director Jane Betts. “Her experience as a National Team player, as well as her coaching experience at a variety of levels in the elite team program, made her an excellent choice for this new position.”
A member of past U.S. Field Hockey coaching staffs, Griesbaum, 33, will fill the newly created position on a full-time basis. Coaching in various USFHA programs since retiring from the National Team in 1994, Griesbaum served as an assistant coach for the U.S. Under-20 team in 1999, head coach of the Under-23 team in 1998, assistant coach of the U.S. Under-21 team in 1993 and ’97 and co-head coach of the U.S. Under-18 in 1996. She has also served as a coach at U.S. Field Hockey’s national team selection camps.
In her duties with the Under-21 team, Griesbaum will direct and prepare the team for the Pan American Junior Championships, April 13-23 in Bridgetown, Barbados. The Pan American Championships serve as a qualifier for the 2001 Junior World Cup in Argentina. Griesbaum served as an assistant coach at previous Junior World Cup qualifying tournaments in Chile in 1997 and Venezuela in 1993. Griesbaum will also lead the Under-21 Team on a tour of Spain in March and on a European Tour in July.
In addition to her responsibilities with the Under-21 team and National Team, Griesbaum will assist in the development of the curriculum for U.S. Field Hockey’s Super Camp and Futures Program and serve as head coach at the USFHA’s B-Camp and first-level A-Camp. She will also work with athletes in the elite-level United Airlines Field Hockey League in the summer months.
As an athlete, Griesbaum played on the U.S. National Team from 1989 to 1991 and again from 1993 to 1994. She earned a bronze medal as a member of the 1991 Pan American Games team and played in the World University Games and 1989 Intercontinental Cup. In 1999, Griesbaum came out of retirement to play for the Philadelphia Fury of the United Airlines Field Hockey League. A 1989 graduate of West Chester (Pa.) University, Griesbaum earned All-America honors in 1986 and 1987. At West Chester, she was a Honda Broderick Award Nominee and the Pennsylvania Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (PAIAW) Field Hockey Player of the Year and Female Athlete of the Year in 1987.
An assistant coach at the University of Iowa since 1992, Griesbaum helped lead the Hawkeyes to a berth in the NCAA semifinals in 1999. She began her coaching career as head coach at LaSalle University from 1990-92.
The U.S. National Team will compete in the ten-team Olympic Qualifying Tournament, March 24-April 2, 2000 in Milton Keynes England. The top five teams from the tournament will qualify for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.
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