USA Volleyball is the National Governing Body for the sport of volleyball in the United States. We run and manage the USA National Men's and Women's Volleyball Teams, the USA Olympic Teams, and also USA Youth and Junior National Teams for each gender. The Youth and Junior National Teams, along with a number of tiered training programs, fall under the High Performance Department, or HP.

The High Performance Department works to advance volleyball talent and build a broader and stronger pipeline of athletes and coaches for our USA Olympic Teams. The High Performance Program bridges the gap between our USA National Teams and youth volleyball programs across the country. This is done through a system of national tryouts which then qualify athletes for training programs, camps, and Youth and Junior National Teams. The HP Program at USA Volleyball is the “Pipeline” for volleyball athletes who aspire to reach the elite level of their sport and is intended to grow the pool of talented young players who may someday compete for a spot on the USA National and Olympic Teams.

The HP Program and Athlete Pipeline include players of each gender in five age groups that are based on the birth year of the athlete. Those age groups are referred to as Senior (oldest) Junior, Youth, Select, and Future Select (youngest). These age groups are determined by an athlete's year of birth using mandatory international criteria beginning approximately when they are 11 or 12 years old as Future Select athletes and continues for eight seasons through the Junior age group, often into their collegiate years. Many athletes also continue through their college years in the Senior age group in the Senior A2 Program, US National Training Team, US National Team, and ultimately, the USA Olympic Team.