April Ross

April Ross has won more than one Olympic medal. She is one of the few women beach volleyball athletes that have done so. Alix Klineman, playing for the first time at the Tokyo Olympics and will attempt to win her third Olympic medal. Ross will also be hoping for her first Olympic medal. In fact, at 39, this could be her last chance to accomplish this. But she's confident top awards can be achieved. Ross stated to NBC Boston that if they play their best, or even a good game and they are able to play well, the team could win a gold medal. That's why I'm taking a little bit of luck too. Ross was born on the 22nd, 1982 in Costa Mesa California. She resided in the area along with her entire family. Ross was a competitive athlete in a variety of sports during her time at Newport Harbor High School. In addition to indoor volleyball, she played basketball and jogged track as a pre-collegiate athlete. When she played in the final sport she stood out. As a time at the high school level, according to her college biography she played as an outside-hitter, middle-blocker and setter. Gatorade Circle of Champions named her as the National Player in 1999. Additionally, in 2000, she was named Orange County Athlete of the Yr for volleyball. Ross has been playing with Klineman since 2017, but Ross's beach game was well-established long before that. In reality, she's had numerous big wins as well as one of her partners was an all-star volleyball player. For six years from 2007 to 2013 she teamed together with Jennifer Kessy who more recently played the role of Klineman's coach. Kessy was Ross's co-coach at the World Championships of 2009. In 2012, the pair won silver at London's Olympics. The legendary Misty Maytreanor team as well as Kerri Jennings won the gold. Ross Jennings took over for May-Treanor after she retired. Together, they won bronze medals in beach volleyball for the Rio Olympics of 2016. Ross was a college player at USC Trojans prior to beginning starting her professional career. She played in high school, as well as years prior to hitting the beach professionally. The time she spent at USC was awe-inspiring. The year 2000 was her freshman year. was when she won the Pac-10 as well as NCAA Freshman's of the award and become an All-American. In addition, she helped her Trojans get to the Final Four. The Trojans suffered a heartbreaking personal loss during her sophomore year and yet she went on to repeat as an All-American. Over the course of her two final years with the Trojans they helped achieve consecutive championships. She was a great player on the court, and was awarded the Honda Sports Award in 2003-04 as the top female volleyball player at the college level. Ross had been an international studies major at USC. Margie Ross was not able to see Ross achieve beach volleyball's top level. When Ross was a sophomore in USC her mother died of breast cancer. This meant that Ross remains near to her mother who passed away. Margie at the beach as well as in everyday life, continues to inspire her.