Daniele Desiderio

Hello Academy Parents and Players,

My name’s Daniele Desiderio. I played professionally for twenty-one years, in seven countries. I captained the Italian national team for seven consecutive years, and I was named MVP of the Junior World Championship in 1997.

I coach with USA Volleyball in the National Team Development Program, working with elite boys and girls athletes. And since 2015 I have run this club — which I founded, and where I still coach.

What I care about is what a player is like in five years, not this season.

As a player

Italian Professional League · 1994–2008
The strongest league in the world at the time, and still the one every professional wants to play in. I joined at fifteen years and ten months — the second youngest player ever to enter it — and spent fourteen seasons there under some of the finest coaches the sport has produced.

Italian National Team · 1995–2008
World Championships and international competition across thirteen years, including seven consecutive years as captain.

Around the world · 2008–2015
Japan, Spain, Dubai, Qatar, France, Iran and Puerto Rico. My family came with me. Seven countries is seven completely different ideas about how the game should be played, and that is the part I brought back with me.

Honours

• MVP, Junior World Championship — 1997
• World Champion — 1997
• European Champion — 1999
• Mediterranean Cup Champion — 2001
• Five-time professional league champion, in three different countries
• The only Italian player to have won a title at every age group, from U12 through to the professional league

As a coach

• USA Volleyball — National Team Development Program, elite boys and girls athletes
• Academy Volleyball Club — Director, 2015 to present
• Academy Volleyball Club — Girls U12 through U18, 2016 to present
• Stanford University — volunteer assistant coach, men’s team, 2015–2016
• Palo Alto High School — head coach, girls varsity, 2015

I was corrected hard for twenty years, by coaches who believed I could fix it. That is the only reason I got anywhere. It is also how we coach here.

The club

Academy has brought through hundreds of athletes since 2015 — teams, camps, clinics, beach, and year-round training at every level.

• Four of the last five U11 Power League championships
• Seven USA Volleyball Junior National medals in five years
• Around 80% of our U18 seniors go on to play college volleyball

If you want to talk about your daughter — where she fits, what it costs, what the season asks of your family — book fifteen minutes with me. No subject is off the table. Book time with me →