STANFORD, Calif. – Courtney Thompson, a former U.S. national team member and University of Washington standout, has been named assistant coach for the Stanford women's volleyball program, as announced Monday by head coach Kevin Hambly.
"I am thrilled to welcome Courtney to The Farm and the Stanford volleyball program," said Hambly. "She has had an incredible volleyball and professional career and is a great role model for young women.
"Courtney's energy and passion for the game are infectious; it matches her love for teaching and impacting those around her. She has a wealth of knowledge to share about the game with our team and especially our setters."
Thompson replaces Alisha Glass Childress on the staff and will work directly with Stanford's setters and offense.
"I'm very excited to be stepping back into volleyball at the collegiate level," said Thompson. "Stanford has a long tradition of achieving excellence and pushing the boundaries of what's possible for their student-athletes. I consider it an incredible honor to join this amazing staff and to work alongside and learn from Coach Hambly. I'm grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the rich legacy of Stanford volleyball and fired up for what's ahead!"
A champion on multiple levels, Thompson is a two-time Olympic medalist with USA Volleyball and served as a co-captain from 2013-16. She helped the United States take home a silver medal at the London Games in 2012 and won a bronze medal in Rio in 2016. She also helped the U.S. capture gold at the 2012 FIVB World Grand Prix and the 2014 FIVB World Championship.
Thompson's professional volleyball career included six national championships with stops in Puerto Rico (2007, 2009, 2011), Switzerland (2008, 2013, 2014), Austria (2010), Poland (2012) and Brazil (2015).
No stranger to the Pac-12 Conference, Thompson played at Washington from 2003-06 and guided the Huskies to the 2005 NCAA championship. A three-time AVCA First Team All-American, she set a then-Pac-10 record for career assists (6,552), which was third-best in NCAA history. Also a three-time CoSIDA Academic All-American, Thompson was the first female athlete at Washington to have her collegiate jersey retired.
Thompson has been involved in a variety of mindset training, culture development and methodology since her playing career ended. She has been a coach and content creator with Gold Medal Squared, where she trained and taught over 7,500 volleyball coaches of all levels (club, high school, collegiate) on technical skills, implementing statistics, strategy and tactics, training methodologies and culture development.
Most recently, Thompson has served as a mindset and culture consultant for Compete to Create, where she has focused on improving the culture of world-leading organizations by coaching key staff on personal and institutional mindset skills and optimization. There, she worked alongside founders Pete Carroll of the Seattle Seahawks and Dr. Michael Gervais.
Thompson is also the CEO and co-founder of the Give it Back Foundation, a non-profit foundation focused on inspiring and empowering young athletes through sports, designed to foster life skills that form a championship mindset.
"I look forward to seeing what kind of impact she will have on our incredible volleyball athletes and the coaching staff," added Hambly.