Foluke Akinradewo

Foluke Akinradewo

Akinradewo in 2012
Personal information
Full name Foluke Atinuke Akinradewo
Born October 5, 1987
London, Ontario, Canada
Height 1.89 m (6 ft 2 in)
Spike 330 cm (130 in)
Block 307 cm (121 in)
Volleyball information
Position Middle blocker
Current club Azerbaijan Rabita Baku
Career
Years Teams
2005–2008
2008–10
2010–11
2011–12
2012–13		 United States Stanford University
United States USA Volleyball Team
Japan TAB Queenseis
Russia Dinamo Krasnodar
Azerbaijan Rabita Baku
National team
2003–present  United States

Foluke Atinuke Akinradewo (born October 5, 1987) is a member of the U.S National Indoor Volleyball team and competed at the 2012 London Olympics. She played college women's volleyball at Stanford University. She was named Pac-10 Player of the Year in 2007 and 2008. From February to July 2008, she trained with the U.S. national team and was an alternate on the 2008 Olympic team.

Playing with her national team, Akinradewo won the gold medal and the MVP award at the 2010 FIVB World Grand Prix.[1]

High school and personal life

Akinradewo was born in London, Ontario, Canada, to Ayoola and Comfort Akinradewo. She holds a tri-citizenship with Canada, Nigeria and the United States, and used to audition for commercials when she was little.[2]

Akinradewo attended St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where she was a three-year letter winner in volleyball and was also on the basketball and track & field teams. She was an All-American selection in 2003 and 2004 and an all-state selection in 2002, 2003 and 2004. She was named the Florida Dairy Farmers Volleyball Player of the Year in 2005. In addition to volleyball, she was an all-state selection in basketball and was a four-time Florida State Champion in track.

Stanford

Akinradewo majored in human biology at Stanford University.[3]

As a freshman in 2005, she was named the Pac-10 Freshman of the Year and the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Pacific Region Freshman of the Year.[4] She was named an AVCA Second Team All-American and led the squad in hitting percentage (.397), a mark which ranked third in the Pac-10, 13th in the nation and third for a single-season in school history. In 2006, she was named to the NCAA Final Four All-Tournament Team as she led Stanford to an NCAA Division I runner-up finish to Nebraska. For the year, she was named a First Team All-American by the AVCA and Volleyball Magazine.[5]

In 2007, Akinradewo was named the AVCA National Player of the Year[6] and was the Honda Award winner for volleyball.[7] She broke the Pac-10 and Stanford single season hitting percentage record by more than 50 points, as she averaged .499 percentage, a mark that was first in the nation and second since rally-scoring was introduced in 2001. She was named to the Final Four All-Tournament Team as she led Stanford to their second consecutive Division I national runner-up finish to Penn State. As a senior in 2008, Akinradewo repeated as the Pac-10 Player of the Year and got her third consecutive Honda Award nomination. She repeated as a First Team All-American and led Stanford to their third consecutive NCAA title match.

International career

Akinradewo joined Toyota Auto Body Queenseis in October 2010 . In 2010–11 V.Premier League, Akinradewo was named Spike award . Akinradewo won the silver medal in the 2012 FIVB Club World Championship, playing with the Azerbaijani club Rabita Baku.[8]

2013

Akinradewo's club, Rabita Baku won the Azerbaijan Super League Championship[9] winning their sixth title in a row.[10][11] She won the league's Best Spiker award.[12]

2014

Akinradewo was part of the USA national team that won the 2014 World Championship gold medal when ther team defeated China 3-1 in the final match.[13][14]

Team USA

Akinradewo competed for Team USA in the 2012 Summer Olympics. She earned a silver medal for her efforts.

Awards

Individuals

College

Clubs

References

  1. ↑ FIVB. "USA claim third FIVB World Grand Prix title with perfect record". Retrieved 2010-08-29.
  2. ↑ Getting to know Foluke Akinradewo
  3. ↑ CBS Interactive. "Foluke Akinradewo". Retrieved 2010-08-29.
  4. ↑ St. Thomas Aquinas. "Raider Reflections" (PDF). Retrieved 2010-08-29.
  5. ↑ Stanford places four on All-American squad
  6. ↑ American Volleyball Coaches Association. "2007 AVCA All-America Teams". Retrieved 2010-08-29.
  7. ↑ 2007 Division I National Player of the Year is Foluke Akinradewo
  8. ↑ "Trentino Diatec and Sollys Nestle crowned in Doha". Doha, Qatar: FIVB. 2012-10-19. Retrieved 2012-10-19.
  9. ↑ "Рабита" празднует чемпионство (in Russian). Azerbaijan Volleyball Federation. 2013-04-17. Retrieved 2013-04-28.
  10. ↑ ""Rabitə" ölkə çempionudur!" (in Azerbaijani). Azərbaycan QƏZETİ. 2013-04-19. Retrieved 2013-04-28.
  11. ↑ ""Rabitə" ölkə çempionudur" (in Azerbaijani). Azərbaycan QƏZETİ. 2013-04-28. Retrieved 2013-04-28.
  12. ↑ "Super Liqanın "ən"ləri bəlli oldu" (in Azerbaijani). Record.az. 2013-04-28. Retrieved 2013-04-29.
  13. ↑ Benedetti, Valeria (2014-10-12). "Volley, Mondiale: Usa batte Cina 3-1". La Gazzetta dello sport (in Italian) (Milan, Italy). Retrieved 2014-10-12.
  14. ↑ "USA win first World Championship title, China and Brazil complete the podium". Milan, Italy: FIVB. 2014-05-11. Retrieved 2014-05-11.

Sources

External links