Rita "The Rocket" Crockett
           
             Rita Buck-Crockett grew up on a dairy farm in San Antonio, TX. At her high school she was freshman class president, star-athlete in both volleyball, basketball and even cheerleading for a year.

         After high school the thought of going to college was a thought at all until she was approached by a couple from San Antonio Junior college. The husband and wife couple gave her a scholarship or both basketball and volleyball. Soon after Rita followed the couple to continue her college career in just volleyball to the University of Houston.

         This is where her story begins to take off. After being over-looked at her first and only USA National team tryouts Ari Salinger, volleyball guru and at the time head coach of the National team, saw Rita at NCAA and invited her on to the 1980 Olympic team. Rita earned AIAW All-America honors at the University of Houston prior to joining the U.S. Olympic team to train for the 1980 Olympics.

           This 5'9" 23 year-old from San Antonio, TX took her first flight in her life to Moscow, Russia. Despite the boycott Rita still managed to get the award of Rookie of the Year. This was a start of many awards to come.

           In 1981, she was one of six players selected to the All-World Team. In 1981, she led the U.S. to a bronze medal at the World Cup in Osaka, Japan, and in 1982, that team won the bronze medal at the World Championships in Lima, Peru.

          A 1984 issue of Sports Illustrated touted her as the world's best athlete and nicknamed her "The Rocket," because of her 42-inch vertical leap and her 100 mile-per-hour kills.  Also in 1984 Rita and her teammates won the silver medal against china making them the first US Olympic volleyball team to get that high opening a higher standards for other players to step onto this team.

          And if indoor volleyball wasn't enough, Rita carried her act onto the sand during her summers and eventually becoming the first African-American to win a beach volleyball World Championship along side with her partner Jackie Silva.

         Rita has National and International experience as a player and a coach at the age of 51. She has coached and played in the U.S., Japan, Italy and Switzerland over the last 17 years.

         She had coaching experience from Long Beach University, University of Iowa, and Florida State University before creating her own volleyball academy helping girls get athletic scholarships to a variety of colleges. players in the world.
Check out this youtube link: USA vs. BRA 1984

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