Kim Hill takes on coaching position with Long Beach State

Tokyo Olympic champion Kim Hill has followed the example of team captain and fellow outside hitter Jordan Larson and will perform coaching duties in the upcoming American collegiate system season after she was hired as a volunteer assistant coach with Long Beach State in California.

The 32-year-old Hill played the last club season for Italian powerhouse Prosecco Doc Imoco Volley Conegliano, but didn’t get a new club for 2021-2022. She was announced by Long Beach State just 12 days after Larson, the Tokyo Olympics MVP, was confirmed as Texas University's new assistant coach.

“I am so excited for this opportunity,” Hill said. “To be a part of the Beach family and to work with such an incredible staff. I am hoping all of my experiences playing professionally over the years will add value to this team. I am expecting to learn a lot both from the coaches and the players.”

Hill has had a long and storied career, which included eight years of play for the United States women’s national team between 2013 and 2021. In the period, she won two Olympic medals (gold in Tokyo 2020 and bronze in Rio 2016), the title of the 2014 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship, golds at the 2018 and 2021 FIVB Volleyball Nations League and medals at the FIVB Volleyball World Cup (silver in 2019, bronze in 2015) and the FIVB Volleyball World Grand Champions Cup (silver in 2013, bronze in 2017).

The MVP of the 2014 World Championship will work under head coach Tyler Hildebrand, who was the Director of Coaching of the USA Volleyball Beach programme in 2018 and 2019.

“We are incredibly fortunate to have Kim be a part of our Long Beach family,” Hildebrand commented. “She has been one of the best outside hitters in the world for the past two decades, a two-time Olympian, and a gold medallist. She knows what it takes to be a great student, a great college volleyball player, and a great professional and Olympic player. What I am most excited about, however, is for our girls to learn from Kim as a person, a leader, and a mentor. She has already developed a broad skill set of how to be a part of, and nurture, a great team culture. We know our team will learn a lot from Kim.”

Larson and Hill are the most recent examples of American players who have turned to coaching in the collegiate system after ending their playing careers. Other players who made the same transition were setters Alisha Glass, Lindsey Berg and Courtney Thompson and opposite Karsta Lowe.

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