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. Their last head coach was three-time Olympic gold medalist and retired dominant be ...

. She starred in both volleyball and

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

Career

High school

Hooker attended Southwest High School in

San Antonio, Texas San Antonio ( ; Spanish for "Anthony of Padua, Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the List of Texas metropolitan areas, third-largest metropolitan area in Texa ...

, 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 (appro ...

, 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 ca ...

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 t ...

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 broke the indoor collegiate record. 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 Women's Volleyball 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 var ...

. 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, 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, were 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 am Main () is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the foreland of the Taunus on its namesake Main, it forms a contin ...

, and resides in

. Her sister, Marshevet Hooker, 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 officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

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

College

*2008, 2009 AVCA All-America first team *2007 AVCA All-America second team *2009 Most Outstanding Player at the NCAA Division I Tournament *2008, 2009 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

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hooker, Destinee 1987 births Living people Olympic silver medalists for the United States in volleyball Volleyball players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Texas Longhorns women's track and field athletes Texas Longhorns women's volleyball players Sportspeople from Frankfurt African-American volleyball players Expatriate volleyball players in South Korea American women's volleyball players American expatriate volleyball players in Germany Opposite hitters American expatriate volleyball players in Italy American expatriate volleyball players in Brazil American expatriate volleyball players in Russia American expatriate volleyball players in China American expatriate sportspeople in South Korea 21st-century African-American sportswomen 20th-century African-American sportswomen 20th-century American sportswomen NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships winners 21st-century American sportswomen