Cao Ping

In the sport of volleyball Cao Ping represented the Chinese national team before becoming a noted coach in the United States. In 1974 Cao was first selected to play for the Jiangsu youth team, making his senior début two years later. By the end of the decade, he had won back-to-back league titles and a national championship with the team and was soon added to the Chinese national team. At the end of 1979 he was part of the squad that won the Asian Men’s Volleyball Championship in Bahrain, which also qualified the team for the 1980 Moskva Olympics. Due to the boycott, however, China did not ultimately compete at the Games. One year later Cao was instrumental in helping China to qualify for the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Cup, coming back from 2–0 down to win 3–2 against South Korea. At the World Cup in Japan the Chinese team eventually went on to finish fifth.

During the early 1980s Cao continued to represent China at multiple international tournaments. In 1982 he was part of the squad that won silver at the Asian Games in Delhi, before finishing eighth at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. He also competed at the 1982 World Championships in Argentina and the 1983 Asian Championships in Japan.

Following his playing career Cao became a coach, first serving as the head coach of the Jiangsu women’s team from 1988 to 1989, with them winning the National University Games in 1988. In the early 1990s he had begun coaching abroad, working in both Bahrain and Malaysia. By 1997 he had emigrated to the United States where he coached a women’s team in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Cao then focused his coaching skills to girls’ youth volleyball, winning multiple tournaments and titles across the US. Towards the end of his career, he coached at Texas Advantage Volleyball in Dallas, earning more titles. Cao was bestowed with multiple honours, including being named the 17s age group coach of the year by the American Volleyball Coaches Association in 2016 and the National Coach of the Year by VolleyMag in 2019.