LEXINGTON, Ky. – The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) is pleased to announce its 2016 Thirty Under 30 Awards. This award was created in 2009 to honor up-and-coming coaching talent at all levels of the sport.  To qualify for the award, nominees had to be 30 years old or younger in 2015.
 
"When coaching development is what you do, few days are more gratifying than the one on which you announce the Thirty Under 30 awards," said AVCA Executive Director Kathy DeBoer. "The number and quality of nominees keeps going up and the diversity of places where we are seeing youthful excellence continues to expand. Our future is bright."
 
Samford's newest assistant coach Kayla Walton is one of the 30 coaches selected for the award. Walton is about to enter her third week into the job at Samford and comes by way of having a highly successful season at Division III Hendrix College where there the team reached the NCAA Final Four.
 
"I feel blessed to be chosen for this year's AVCA Thirty Under 30 Coaches Award. To be recognized as an up-and-coming volleyball coach under the age of 30 is an honor." Walton said. "I am excited to continue my career here at Samford and cannot wait to see what the future holds."
       
Of the thirty recipients, 12 are NCAA Division I coaches, six in high school/club, four in NCAA Division III, three are NCAA Division II and NAIA, and two are two-year college coaches.
 
To view the head shots and bio of each winner, please visit our website by clicking here.