Destinee Dante Hooker (born September 7, 1987) is an American indoor

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

player. She is a opposite attacker. Hooker was a member of the

United States women's national volleyball team The United States women's national volleyball team participates in international volleyball competitions and friendly games, and is governed by USA Volleyball. The current head coach is three-time Olympic gold medalist and retired dominant beac ...

. She starred in both volleyball and

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

Career

High school

Hooker attended Southwest High School in Texas, where she was a standout athlete in

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

, track and field, and volleyball. As a junior and senior, she was an all-state volleyball outside hitter. She was also the 2004 and 2005 Texas state champion in the high jump."Destinee Hooker"
teamusa.org. July 1, 2012. Retrieved August 5, 2012.

College

Hooker played on the

volleyball team from 2006 to 2009. In 2007, she was named to the AVCA All-American second team. She was then named to the first team in both 2008 and 2009. In 2009, she was the Big 12 Player of the Year and the NCAA Division I volleyball championship's Most Outstanding Player, as Texas lost to

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...

in the finals. While at Texas, Hooker was named as one of the four finalists for the

Honda Sports Award The Honda Sports Award is an annual award in the United States, given to the best collegiate female athlete in each of twelve sports. There are four nominees for each sport, and the twelve winners of the Honda Sports Award are automatically in th ...

in volleyball for both the 2008–09 season as well as the 2009–10 season. In track and field, Hooker won the NCAA outdoor

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

championship in 2006, 2007, and 2009. She also won the NCAA indoor high jump championship in 2009; her winning jump of 6' 6" (1.98 meters) broke the indoor collegiate record."Destinee Hooker"
. texassports.com. Retrieved August 5, 2012. She won four NCAA high jump championships overall.

International

Hooker joined the U.S. women's national volleyball team in January 2008. Her first official tournament with the team was the 2010 World Grand Prix, where she helped the U.S. win the gold medal by averaging 4.76 points and 2.46 digs. She was also fifth in scoring at that year's

FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship The FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship is an international volleyball competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of ' (FIVB), the sport's global governing body. The initial gap between championships was varia ...

. In 2011, Hooker was named the Most Valuable Player of the FIVB World Grand Prix, as the Americans won the tournament again. She ranked second with 101 points scored during the Final Round. Hooker averaged 5.91 points and 5.13 kills in the FIVB World Cup to help the U.S. to the silver medal in that event. She was named the Best Spiker in the World Cup with a 49.53 kill percent and .419 hitting efficiency. Hooker played in the first six matches of the

2012 FIVB World Grand Prix The 2012 FIVB World Grand Prix was a women's volleyball tournament played by 16 countries starting 8 June 2012. The finals were held at the Beilun Sports and Arts Centre in Ningbo, China.CSVFIVB announces pools for 2012 World Grand Prix(In Spanis ...

, which the U.S. eventually won. Hooker then won the silver medal with the U.S. in the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. She ranked second overall in scoring in that tournament and won the Best Spiker award."Brazil stuns US for gold in women's volleyball"
sports.espn.go.com. August 11, 2012. Retrieved August 11, 2012.

Personal

Hooker was born in

Frankfurt, Germany Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

, and resides in

San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

. Her sister,

Marshevet Hooker Marshevet Hooker (born September 25, 1984) is a professional sprinter, competing internationally for the United States and sponsored by adidas. Hooker participated in the 2008 Summer Olympics at Beijing, China, finishing 5th in the 200 metres ...

, is a track and field athlete who competed in the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

Awards

Individual

* '' 2011 World Grand Prix "Most Valuable Player"'' * '' 2011 World Cup "Best Spiker"'' * '' 2012 Summer Olympics "Best Spiker"'' * '' 2016/17 Brazilian Superliga "Best Spiker"''

Club

* 2011–12 Superliga - Simple cup icon

Champion, with Sollys/Nestlé (Osasco) * 2012–13 CEV Women's Challenge Cup - Simple cup icon

Champion, with

Dinamo Krasnodar Dinamo Krasnodar (''russian: Динамо Краснодар'') is a Russian women's volleyball club based in Krasnodar. It was founded in 1946 and plays in the super league, the top Russian league. History Soviet years Founded in 1946, the club ...

College

*Two-time AVCA All-America first team (2008, 2009) *2007 AVCA All-America second team *2009 Most Outstanding Player at the NCAA Division I championship *2008 NCAA Championship All-Tournament team *2008–09 Big 12 Conference Female Athlete of the Year *2008–09 Finalist for Honda Sports Award (volleyball) *2009–10 Finalist for Honda Sports Award (volleyball) *2009 Big 12 Player of the Year

References