Content area
Full Text
Six years ago, Angela Rock snapped photographs of members of the U.S. Women's Volleyball team as they stepped out of their van and walked into the Anaheim Convention Center for an exhibition match. Tonight, she'll see the national team in Anaheim again. But she won't be there to watch; she'll be there to play against Japan at 7:30.
Rock, 23, was a junior at El Toro High School the first time she watched the U.S. team. After witnessing the intensity and skill of the team's performance, Rock let it be known that world-class volleyball would be her athletic mecca.
"It got to be almost an obsession with me," Rock said. "I used to talk about them all the time. I wanted to know what they did in practice, how they wore their uniforms, everything. I drove my friends crazy."
Rock wasn't always interested in volleyball, or any team sport. She had grown up in Buena Park, spending much of her time riding motorcycles and skateboards with boys on her block.
But in her junior year, her family moved to El Toro. In an effort to meet people, she considered trying out for a team sport.
"I was really stuck," she said. "Back in Buena Park I always thought, `Play on a school team? No way.' I wasn't into it. But I had...