ABOUT ALI

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Ali Wood Lamberson has had a full and varied volleyball career. As a former collegiate indoor volleyball athlete, professional beach player, educator, and NCAA beach national championship coach, Ali puts her knowledge, experience, and network of relationships to work personally to help athletes and coaches realize their goals.

Collegiate Beach

Ali was the assistant coach for the 2016 and 2017 University of Southern California (USC) National Championship Beach Volleyball team. At USC Ali focused on developing sideout efficiency and increasing game tempo. She handled all scouting duties and implemented video technology at all training sessions. Ali spent the 2019, 2018, and 2015 collegiate beach seasons serving as the Assistant Coach for Tulane University, helping the Green Wave to their most team wins in program history and best finish at AVCA Pairs Championship (9th). She served on the AVCA Collegiate Championship Selection Committee from 2012 - 2014 and the event’s Seeding Committee in 2013 and 2014. From 2021-22 she was the Head  Beach Volleyball Coach at Marymount California University. Through her work at USA Volleyball, Ali was instrumental in the addition of beach volleyball as an NCAA sport. In 2020 Ali joined Beach Prospects, the nation's top beach volleyball recruiting service.

USA Volleyball

In 2006 Ali became USA Volleyball’s first full time beach staff. She served as the Director of International and High Performance Beach Programs from 2006 to 2013, overseeing all aspects of support and development for USAV’s Olympic, Pan Am, and Youth and Junior Beach athletes. She created elite athlete funding, sports medicine, and video scouting support programs and rewrote the High Performance Plan for Olympic bound athletes. Ali served as the Team Leader for numerous international events including the double gold medal 2008 Olympic Games.

In 2008 Ali launched USAV’s Beach High Performance Program comprised of the USA Youth and Junior Beach National Teams, the Beach High Performance tryouts and national camps, and the USAV Beach High Performance Championships, the premiere elite beach event for athletes ages 12-25. Under Ali's direction the USA Youth and Junior teams won more than six international medals.

Ali took the lead representing USAV’s support of adding sand volleyball to the NCAA Emerging Sports List.  Providing input on topics as diverse as court construction, talent identification, and competition formatting, to hosting the annual USAV Beach Collegiate Challenge, Ali helped forge the relationship between the AVCA, NCAA, and USAV. 

In 2013 Ali left her director position at USAV to focus on her true passion, coaching. She then led the USA Under-17 Beach National Team to a historic gold and silver medal finish at the inaugural 2014 FIVB U-17 World Championship, and a second consecutive USAV Beach High Performance Championship title. The next two years she led the USA Under-19 and Under-15 Girls Beach National Teams to back-to-back USAV Beach High Performance Championships. Additionally in 2018 she coached the USA U-19 National Teams to 4th and 9th place finishes at the FIVB Youth World Championships and the Youth Olympic Games.

Coach Education

From 2007 to 2020 Ali served as a lead cadre member for USA Volleyball’s Beach Coaching Accreditation Program, teaching national BCAP and B-IMPACT courses and collaborating on curriculum development. As a life long learner and student of the beach and indoor games, Ali has continued to offer coaching seminars and clinics for groups and individuals. 

Beach Athletic Career

Ali competed on the AVP, FIVB, BVA and WPVA pro beach volleyball tours from 1992-2005, competing in 178 career tournaments. She earned a fifth-place finish at the 2001 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championship in Austria with former Florida State Head Coach Danalee Bragado-Corso and was voted the BVA’s Top Server in 2000.  She has four pro beach final four appearances to her credit, and since her retirement continues to play recreationally. (Full career stats.)

Indoor Volleyball

Following only  2 years of junior club volleyball, where her Ichiban U18 team took 2nd at the prestigious Volleyball Festival, Ali received a full-ride to UC Irvine where she was the school's top outside hitter (1986-89) and a 1989 First Team All-Region Selection. She lead the Anteaters to their first-ever NCAA tournament appearance and top 20 ranking in 1988. She then spent one season as a middle/opposite with Vfl. Oythe in Germany’s Bundesliga and one season as an outside hitter with the PVL’s San Jose Stars.

From 2001-2005 she was head coach of the Cal State University Dominguez Hills (NCAA DII) women's volleyball team, leading the Toros to one of their best seasons to date and their first-ever regional ranking in 2004. From 1998 to 2005 she also ran a series of successful adult volleyball classes, The Indoor Intensity Clinic. From 2021-22 she was the Head Women's Indoor Volleyball Coach at Marymount California University.

Ali has coached indoor club volleyball since 1999, first as a coach and consultant for South Bay Volleyball Club, then as the Head Coach and Club Director for Starlings LA West which she founded in 2004. Recently she returned to coaching indoor club at South Bay Nfinity VBC in Torrance, CA. 

Education

A three-time Scholar Athlete award winner and the 1990 Senior Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Ali graduated from UCI in 1990 with a bachelor's degree in English. She earned her master's degree in behavioral science: negotiation, conflict resolution and peace building from Cal State Dominguez Hills in 2003, where she then taught a graduate level course in Alternative Dispute Resolution for Sport. In 2005 Ali was certified as a mediator by the Los Angeles County Bar Association. 

Personal

A South Bay native, Ali is married to John Lamberson. Her blended family consists of daughter Josephine, step-daughter Kaylee, niece Madeleine, step-granddaughter Olive, and a fluffy collie named Aerowyn. Ali enjoys playing all sports, watching movies, and winetasting.