PULA, Croatia. --- Portland Pilots head volleyball coach Brent Crouch led the USA Volleyball Collegiate National Team to a gold medal last week at the U22 Global Challenge, held in Pula, Croatia. They defeated China in the finals to claim the 12^th annual European Global Challenge Championship. The team also defeated England and Slovenia to take the title.
 
"I'm really proud of the players and staff associated with the training and tournament," said Crouch. "It's no small task for a group of individuals to come together and form a competitive team, much less a gold medal winning team, in such a short period of time. Our total training period was 4 days! The teams we played, the junior national teams of Italy, Russia, and China, train together all summer, over years. For me personally, I learned a great deal about how the international game is played, and how events are run. To say it was a productive experience is a huge understatement, and I'm looking forward to continuing to work with USA Volleyball."
 
The Global Challenge began in Salt Lake City, Utah, as a modest volleyball tournament with a few foreign teams. Today, it has grown to a 32-team international invitational featuring top teams in u17 and u22 divisions from around the world. In recent years, Pula has witnessed a volleyball showdown between youth and junior national teams from Russia, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary and Denmark. Add to that a mix of club and country federation teams from Romania, Germany, Bosnia, Montenegro, and Puerto Rico. USA regional HP, youth national, junior national, and collegiate national teams have all traveled across the globe to compete against some of the best youth volleyball teams in the world.