Aldis Berzins
Aldis Berzins | |||||||||||||
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Personal information | |||||||||||||
Born |
October 3, 1956 (age 59) Wilmington, Delaware, USA | ||||||||||||
Medal record
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Aldis Imants Bērziņš (born October 3, 1956 in Wilmington, Delaware) is a Latvian-American former volleyball player, who was a member of the American Men's National Team that won the gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics playing opposite of Karch Kiraly.
College career
Bērziņš was a star outside hitter on the Ohio State University volleyball team from 1975 through 1978. In those years he led the Buckeyes to four straight Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) championships and four appearances in the NCAA Final Four.
Honors
- MIVA Player of the Year: 1977 and 1978
- All-MIVA First Team selection: 1976, 1977, 1978
- NCAA all-tournament team selection: 1977 and 1978
- Volleyball Magazine All-American: 1977 and 1978
- MVP of the U.S. Men's National Team: 1983
- All-Tournament Selection at the World Cup in Japan: 1985
- USA Volleyball 75th Annual All-Era Team
- Professional Volleyball player in Italy
- Ohio State Varsity O Hall of Fame: 2002
Recent activities
Bērziņš now works with the Special Olympics. He recently coached Maryland Volleyball Program at the 16's 17's and 18's levels. He has three sons, Kris, Mik, and Dainis. Kris recently played professionally in Greece after an illustrious career at Loyola University Chicago. Mik graduated from Ohio State University where he won a NCAA National Championship in 2011. Mik is currently the graduate assistant coach at another OSU, Oregon State University. Dainis started in 2011 for Loyola as an outside hitter.