User:Eah9/GailCastroDraft

Gail L. Castro (Wolze-, -Kehl, -Malone) [b. November 12, 1957] is an American volleyball player, most widely known for her contributions in beach volleyball. She was born in Glendale, California and began playing volleyball at a young age, which eventually led her to representing the United States of America in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. At 5’11”, Castro is considered tall to be a distinguished defensive specialist. However, her height provided her with an advantage throughout her career as she had the ability to stretch out across the court to defend opponents. Her athletic ability and volleyball talent is what guided her through a successful professional volleyball career.

Career
Castro started her career as a traditional indoor volleyball player. In the 1970s she played at Crescenta Valley High School, where she was also a tri-athlete participating in basketball and gymnastics as well. She was later introduced to the Crescenta Valley Hall of Fame in 2018. After graduating from high school, Castro continued her indoor volleyball career at Los Angeles Valley College and California State University Long Beach. Her height allowed her to contribute as a middle blocker, before transitioning into defense later in her career. In college, she was also an all-conference player. Upon graduation from college, Castro decided to actively play professional volleyball overseas. She played professionally in Italy for two years.

Prior to being introduced to beach volleyball, Castro had never considered taking her sport outdoors. It wasn’t until after Castro’s two years in Italy that Darlene Bailey introduced her to beach volleyball. This version of the game was new to Castro, but she quickly found success. She competed in various California Beach Volleyball Association (CBVA) sanctioned tournaments and won her first open tournament in 1985 with Kathy Gregory as her partner. In 1987, Castro formed a partnership with Lori Forsythe. Together they competed in 69 tournaments in the American series before ending their run in 1992. Also in 1987, Castro helped establish the Women’s Volleyball Professional Association (WVPA) and served on its first board of directors. Then, in 1994 Castro took part in the Federation Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) World Tour for the first time with partner Elaine Roque. Throughout the years, Castro continued to compete in various beach volleyball tournaments. Her partners and her found success in some and failures in others.

Olympics
In 1996, Castro and Deb Richardson reconvened from previous partnerships and became a beach volleyball duo again. That same year, they represented the United States of America in the Olympic Games that were held in Atlanta. This was the first year that beach volleyball was considered an official olympic sport. In their first round of play, Castro and Richardson defeated Dutch duo Debora Schoon-Kadijk and Lisette Van de Ven. They ended their reign in the Olympic games when they lost to the Australian partnership of Natalie Cook and Kerri Pottharst in the second round. Finally, in the loser’s bracket they were eliminated by the Japanese pairing of Sachiko Fukita and Yukiko Takahashi, leaving them to finish in ninth place overall.

Post-Career
After finishing her career professionally, Castro continued on to share her love for indoor and beach volleyball with high school students as a coach. With her teams, she won two state championships in California. She is currently a teacher and coach at Tri-City Christian School in California.