User:Sandsport

Steve Anderson was born September 27th 1964 in Louisville, Kentucky to parents Herman and Mary Anderson. He is the first African American to coach an Olympic team in either indoor or beach volleyball. He is also the first African American to win an Olympic Gold Medal in either discipline.

Introduced to the sport of volleyball at the age of fourteen by his female cousins Johnelle and Cheryl, Steve started playing on a concrete court in the local park with the Chickasaw Chicks volleyball club. Steve was fascinated by the level of technical skill required to play volleyball and quickly developed a passion for the the sport. His skills rapidly improved and he was asked to play with the Kentucky and Indiana All-stars and Louisville Flyers travelling volleyball teams. Travelling to tournaments in the State of Kentucky as well as the neighbouring States of Ohio and Indiana Steve began to see volleyball as a vehicle to expanding his horizons.

In 1984, with the support of his brother Bryan Anderson and two cousins Arthur Fullen and Bruce Jones Steve moved to Los Angeles, California to pursue his dream of playing volleyball in college. Injured and lacking the eligibility to earn a full athletic scholarship Steve took a year off to allow his shoulder injury to heal. In 1985 He began playing beach volleyball at the famous Santa Monica Pier which is credited for being the birthplace of the sport. Having only played beach volleyball for the first time at the age of twenty-one Steve had lots to learn and was fortunate to have many amazing mentors and role models such as Olympic Gold Medal Coach Mark Barber, beach legends Bobby Barber, Butch May, Gary Hooper, Howard Meadows and NBA and FIVB Legend Wilt Chamberlain.

In 1986, One year after playing his first beach volleyball game Steve and his African American beach volleyball partner Ken Harris qualified into their first AVP Professional Beach Volleyball Tournament. Steve went on to earned his California Beach Volleyball AAA rating several times and be a 4 year associate playing member with the AVP.

He also continued playing indoor volleyball and in 1990 his team won the USVBA Mixed Sixes National Championships played in Park City, Utah. Steve was voted Male MVP for the Tournament. Steve received other indoor volleyball awards including 1990 and 1993 USVBA First Team All American, 1992 USVBA Second Team All American and the 1990 USVBA National Mixed Sixes Male Player of the Year.

In 1990 Steve began coaching on the Women's Professional Volleyball Tour (WPVA) based in Los Angeles, California. Steve coached on the WPVA for five years and was instrumental in co-founding, with Lucy Han and Heather Hafner, the Association of Beach Volleyball Coaches (ABVC) which was the first professional outdoor coaching association in the USA. In 1994 Steve coached the first Swiss women's beach volleyball team to compete on the International FIVB World Tour, Marianne Bollinger and Miriam Buffat. In 1995 He began coaching Australians Natalie Cook and Kerri Pottharst and by the end of the year won a Silver Medal at the FIVB World Championships.

1996 Steve became the first African American to coach and Olympic Volleyball team and the first to win an Olympic Medal (Bronze) at the Atlanta Olympic Games. With his 1996 Bronze Medal Steve also became the first American born coach to win an Olympic Medal in beach volleyball. In 1998 Steve coached Natalie Cook and Angela Clarke to another FIVB World Championships Bronze Medal. In 2000 Steve again made history by becoming the first African American to coach a team to an Olympic Gold Medal in either discipline of volleyball. He was selected as Australian Coach of the Year by the Australian Volleyball Federation in 2001 and his team was selected as co-Team of the Decade by the Federation Internationale de Volleyball.

In 2001 at the age of 38 Steve came out of retirement as a player and was named 2001-2002 Queensland Australia's State Volleyball Best Attacker, Best Defender, Men's Number One Player, Number One Team with partner Brendan Turner and Men's Most Valuable Player.

In 2003 Steve coached Natalie Cook and Nicole Sanderson to a FIVB World Championship Bronze Medal. 2004 Steve coached an injured Cook and Sanderson to a 4th place finish at the Athens Olympic Games.

In 2006 Steve coached the Indonesian men's teams to a Bronze Medal and 4th place finish at the Doha Asian Games.

2010 Steve Mentored the Vanuatu coaches and teams to a Women's Silver Medal and Men's 5th place at the Noumea Oceania Championships.

From 1990 - 2010 Steve has coached over 100 individual professional beach volleyball athletes from 11 different countries including: Australia, USA, Japan, Costa Rica, Canada, England, Indonesia, France, Switzerland, Angola, Denmark and Vanuatu.

Outside of volleyball Steve has also established several organizations providing service to the community including in 1994 the Association of Beach Volleyball Coaches in Los Angeles, California, USA and in 20008 the African Scouts in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia a division of Scouts Queensland.