TAMPA, AUGUST 18, 2023 – The American Volleyball Coaches Association has named Pri Piantadosi-Lima its 2023 Club Beach Coach of the Year. Piantadosi-Lima was named the South Florida beach volleyball program's first-ever head coach in June. USF's beach volleyball program will begin competing in the 2025-26 school year.
 
Piantadosi-Lima was named the 2023 AVCA Club Beach Coach of the Year for her work with Optimum Beach. She is the founder and owner of Optimum Beach, based out of St. Petersburg, which was named the 2022 USAV Beach Club of the Year. Piantadosi-Lima was also named the 2022 USAV Female Junior Coach of the Year with her work as the head coach of the USAV Beach National Team Development Program.
 
A co-founder of the Beach Volleyball Women's Coaches Alliance (BVWCA), an organization that provides networking and support for female beach volleyball coaches as well as unique camps and player development, Piantadosi-Lima was a standout player, earning 28 semifinal and 19 finals appearances while capturing eight US professional tournament championships. She was a six-time South American Champion (2009-11) and 2009 Continental Cup Olympic Qualifier champion while playing for Brazil and earned five Brazilian professional tournament titles among her many achievements as a player.
 
Her passion for the sport led her to become one of the most sought-after beach volleyball coaches in the country. She previously served as an assistant coach at Ecker College (2012-18), helping to launch their beach volleyball program in 2015 before going on to help lead the team to its first AVCA National Championship and two consecutive NCAA Championship podium finishes.
 
Piantadosi-Lima became the owner and founder of Optimum Beach in 2014. The club focuses on elite players and specific divisions dedicated to the development of high-level junior players and professional athletes. In her role, she was responsible for the daily operations, finances, budgeting, scheduling, selection and supervision of coaches and fundraising for the multi-location beach volleyball club and training program that has four divisional directors, two administrative staffers and 10 coaches.
 
 
Optimum Beach grew to operate satellite locations in Tampa, Tennessee, Kentucky and New York and features "The Optimum Beach Training System" that simulates game situations while integrating drills, agility, strength and conditioning, and mindset training.  Optimum Beach conducts camps and clinics for college coaches and players as well as tournaments and has produced 92 NCAA Division I, II, III and junior college athletes.
 
Piantadosi-Lima was named the 2021 Florida Region Outstanding Club Director and conducted international training in seven countries outside the United States. Optimum Beach has helped produce several outstanding players, including three-time All-American Lexy Denaburg (UCLA, 2021, '22 & '23); 2023 Atlantic Sun Freshman of the Year Madison Espy (University of North Florida); 2022 Canadian Provincial Championships winner Emma Braticevic; 2021 USAV U19 World Championship Trials champions Lexy Denaburg and Maddie May-Anderson; 2022-23 USA National Team Juniors Kennedy Coakley, Sam Crosby, Bailey Higgins and Ashley Pater; and 2022 U19 Word Championship runner-up Ashley Pater.
 
Optimum Beach pro teams finished fifth at the 2023 AVP Miami Tournament, seventh at the 2023 AVP New Orleans tournament and recorded three seventh-place finishes in the 2022 AVP Gold Series.
 
A 2003 graduate of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Piantadosi-Lima was inducted into UL-Lafayette's Athletics Hall of Fame in 2019. She was a two-time All-Sun Belt selection (2001-02) and won numerous all-tournament awards while putting her name in the volleyball record books, finishing among the all-time leaders in kills, attempts and digs in Ragin' Cajun history. She also served as the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) president.
 
A native of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Piantadosi-Lima started playing volleyball at the age of 15 in Rio and speaks English, Portuguese and Spanish. From age 15 until 19 she played on either the runner-up or champion team in the state, claiming numerous medals in U15, U17 and U19 age groups. At the age of 16, she started playing beach volleyball as well as indoor and was undefeated with her partner in every tournament from 1997-1999.
 
After college, she returned to beach volleyball. In 2009, she made five AVP semifinals and one final appearance. With that breakout year, she earned the 2009 Most Improved Player Award from the AVP. From 2009-2013, Piantadosi-Lima played in the Banco do Brasil Tour, finishing every year among the top five teams and earning five tour titles and three additional finals appearances. She represented Brazil playing in the South American Tour (2009-11) and became a six-time champion.
 
Piantadosi-Lima was the 2009 Brazil Olympic Qualifier champion while also playing in the very first edition of the Continental Cup in 2010, getting the victory for Brazil. In 2011 she played on the FIVB Tour and was an Olympic contender for Brazil. She played on the US Beach Tours (AVP/NVL/Jose Cuervo) from 2004-20, earning eight tournament titles and posting top-five team rankings every season.
 
About USF Athletics
USF Athletics currently sponsors 19 varsity men's and women's teams that compete in 11 different sports, 18 at the NCAA Division I level in the American Athletic Conference, which will expand to 21 teams with the recently announced additions of women's lacrosse (2024-25) and women's beach volleyball. The Bulls' athletic program began in 1965 and is in its 57th season in 2022-23. Nearly 450 student-athletes train and compete in the athletic district located on the east end of the campus in Tampa, Fla. The Bulls have claimed 26 American Athletic Conference team titles since joining the conference in 2013, including seven trophies in the 2021 calendar year, and own 140 conference titles claimed in 15 sports in department history, led by 20 each for men's tennis and men's soccer. USF has claimed 74 men's conference championships and 64 women's titles, led by 14 in women's tennis and 12 in volleyball. The Bulls have posted a combined annual grade-point average over 3.0 for more than eight straight years and have posted a program record of 17 straight semesters with a combined GPA over 3.0 as of the spring of 2023. USF has had over 600 student-athletes earn their degree since 2016-17.
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