Personal

Full name is Lloy James Ball... Parents are Arnie and Sandy Ball. Arnie coaches men's volleyball at IPFW for many years.... Lloy's wife's name is Sarah, and they are the parents of a son, Dyer (2001) and a daughter, Mya (2006)... Recruited to play basketball at the University of Indiana for Coach Bobby Knight... Played volleyball for his father at IPFW where he also got a communications degree... Began playing volleyball before the age of five: "I remember dad setting up pillows along the floor in the family room. Then, he and I would play one-on-one volleyball with a balloon. Slowly, I progressed to a heavier ball and more organized games."... Since there was no high school volleyball in Indiana, only played in the summer and made his first breakthrough at age 15 by getting an automatic position on the 1987 Olympic Festival. Ball was the youngest player ever to compete in the competition... In 1988, Ball had his first national team experience when Scott Fortune went down with a bad ankle sprain and U.S. Head Coach Bill Neville asked Ball to go with the team to Japan. Ball became the youngest player ever to compete with the national team... Following the 2004 Olympics in Athens, he stopped playing with the U.S. Men, but played two winter seasons with the Iraklis volleyball club in Greece and the 2006-11 winter seasons with Zenit Kazan in Russia... Rejoined the U.S. Men's Team in 2007 after U.S. Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon traveled to Russia to meet with him. He told his wife he wanted his son to remember him playing in the Olympic Games. Dyer was in Beijing to see Lloy win the gold medal... Following the 2008 Olympic Games, Lloy was the subject of a book entitled "The Biggest Mistake I Never Made."... Retired from the U.S. Men's Team for a second time following the 2008 Olympic Games.

Career Highlights

2018: Finished tied for ninth with his team at the CEV Snow Volleyball Tour event in Moscow
Since 2008, has played for Team Pineapple at the USAV Open National Championships and other professional men's volleyball events
2008: Won the gold medal at the FIVB World League and was named MVP and Best Setter
2008: Won the gold medal and qualified for the 2008 Olympic Games at the NORCECA Continental Olympic Qualifying Championship
2008: Finished with an average of 0.32 kills per set (81 sets played) and .17 aces per set. He also had .23 blocks per set and 1.21 digs per set. He averaged .73 points per set
2008: Finished Olympic Games with 24 points on 11 kills, 11 blocks and two aces. Started seven out of eight Olympic matches at setter and was credited with 208 running sets and one fault for an average of 6.3 running sets per set
2007: America’s Cup (Gold Medal).
In 2007, Ball played with the U.S. Men's Team for the first time since the 2004 Olympic Games. He finished the season having played 29 sets for the U.S. Men and was credited with 38 points
2007: Finished fourth at the FIVB World Cup. Ranked fifth among all setters and was credited with 328 assists and four faults in 722 attempts. He was also credited with scoring 27 points on eight kills, 12 blocks and seven aces
2007: Won gold and was named MVP and Best Setter of the NORCECA Men’s Continental Championship
2004: NORCECA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (Gold Medal)
2004: Houston Series
2004: USA Global Challenge
2004: Made his third-straight Olympic appearance in Athens, Greece, where Team USA finished fourth
2004: Team USA qualified for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, by winning the NORCECA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Caguas, Puerto Rico on Jan. 10
2003: NORCECA Zone Championships (Gold Medal)
2003: World Cup ( Fourth Place).
2003: Named Best Setter of the NORCECA Zone Championships in September after leading Team USA to the gold medal and a berth in the 2003 World Cup, the first Olympic qualifier
2003: Guided the USA Men to a fourth-place finish at the World Cup with an 8-3 record.
2002: Bulgaria Tour
2002: Greece Tour
2002: Florida Tour
2002: World Championships
2002: Captained Team USA to a ninth-place finish at the 24-team World Championships as the team finished with a record of 4-2 and handed eventual world champion Brazil its only loss of the tournament.
2001: Did not play with the National Team. Played professionally for Casa Modena Salumi in Italy and led the team to the 2001-2002 Italian Domestic League championship
2000: Australia Tour
2000: Continental Cup
2000: Korea Tour
2000: World League
2000: Finished the year first on the team in aces (44), second in digs (220) and fourth in blocks (63)
2000: Set every match of the Continental Cup in leading the team to the title and a berth in the 2000 Sydney Olympics
2000: Led the team to a 4-1 record on the Korea Tour with 17 digs, 12 kills, 11 aces and nine blocks
2000: Led the team to a 4-0 record against Olympic host Australia
2000: Named best setter at the 2000 World League and Americas' Cup
2000: Played professionally for Daytona Volley in Italy.

Olympic Experience

4-time Olympian; 1-time Olympic medalist (1 gold)

Olympic Games Beijing 2008, gold (Team - Men)
Olympic Games Athens 2004, 4th (Team - Men)
Olympic Games Sydney 2000, 11th (Team - Men)
Olympic Games Atlanta 1996, 9th (Team - Men)

World Championship Experience

Most recent: 2002 – 9th (Team - Men)
Years of participation: Team - Men 1994, 2002
Medals: 1 (1 bronze)

Bronze – 1994 (Team - Men)

Athlete Bio

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2024 Olympic Games - Volleyball