Danielle Racquel Scott-Arruda (born October 1, 1972) is an American former

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

player. She played at the

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, and the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, breaking a U.S. female volleyball athlete record for Olympic appearances. For her lifetime achievements in the sport, Scott-Arruda was inducted into the

International Volleyball Hall of Fame The International Volleyball Hall of Fame (IVHF) was founded to honor extraordinary players, coaches, officials, and leaders who have made significant contributions to the game of volleyball. The Hall of Fame is located in Holyoke, Massachusetts ...

in 2016.

Early life

Scott-Arruda was born in

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; , ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It had a population of 227,470 at the 2020 United States census, making it List of municipalities in Louisiana, Louisiana's second-m ...

. She attended Woodlawn High School in Baton Rouge, where she was an All-State athlete in volleyball and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

College

Scott-Arruda played volleyball for

Long Beach State California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), also known in athletics as Long Beach State University (LBSU), is a public teaching-focused institution in Long Beach, California, United States. The 322-acre campus is the second largest in the ...

. In 1991, she helped Long Beach State to the NCAA Championship match. In 1992, she was the Big West Conference Player of the Year and helped Long Beach State to the NCAA semifinals. In 1993, Scott-Arruda led the 49ers to the NCAA National Championship. She was

American Volleyball Coaches Association The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) is an organization of over 9,000 members, incorporated as a private non-profit educational corporation in 1981, as the Collegiate Volleyball Coaches Association. It is currently headquartered in ...

(AVCA) All-Northwest Region and the Big West Conference Player of the Year, as she led the nation in hitting percentage. She was also the

National Player of the Year National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

. In 1994, she won the Honda-Broderick Award (now the

Honda Sports Award The Honda Sports Award is an annual award in the United States, given to the best collegiate female athlete in each of twelve sports. There are four nominees for each sport, and the twelve winners of the Honda Sports Award are automatically in t ...

) as the nation's best female collegiate volleyball player. In Scott-Arruda's collegiate career, she posted 1,778 kills, 693 digs, and 604 blocks in volleyball. She was a three-time AVCA All-American. She also earned All-

Big West The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...

honors in basketball, becoming the first Big West student-athlete to earn all-conference accolades in two sports in one season. In 1999, Scott-Arruda was inducted into the Long Beach State Hall of Fame.

International competition

In her first major international competition, Scott-Arruda won a silver medal at the

1994 Goodwill Games The 1994 Goodwill Games was the third edition of the multi-sport event, created by Ted Turner, which was held in Saint Petersburg, Russia between July 23 and August 7, 1994. The event – designed to improve Soviet Union – United States relatio ...

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. In her career, she played in over 420 matches and won numerous medals, winning silver medals at the 2002 FIVB World Championship in Germany, the 2008 Summer Olympics in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, and the 2012 Summer Olympics in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. She reportedly had a spike height of 128 inches (3.25 meters). Scott-Arruda carried the flag for the United States at the opening ceremony of the

2007 Pan American Games The 2007 Pan American Games, officially known as the XV Pan American Games () and commonly known as Rio 2007, were a major Americas, continental multi-sport event that took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 13 to 29, 2007. A total of ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

Sports Diplomacy

In 2019, Scott-Arruda visited

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

as a Sports Envoy for the

U.S. State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs ...

Sports Diplomacy Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in a par ...

Office.

Personal life

Scott-Arruda's parents are Charles Young and Vera Scott. She has one brother, Charles, and one sister, Stefanie. She was married to Eduardo Arruda, a former member of the Brazilian national team and they have a daughter Juliánné Arruda who is now 14 as of 2024. She learned to speak Portuguese fluently while living in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Individual awards

* ''Three-time AVCA All-American'' * ''1994 Honda-Broderick Award'' * ''1999 Long Beach State Hall of Fame'' * '' 2000 Summer Olympics "Best Blocker"'' * '' 2001 FIVB World Grand Prix "Most Valuable Player"'' * '' 2001 FIVB World Grand Prix "Best Scorer"'' * '' 2001 FIVB World Grand Prix "Best Blocker"'' * '' 2002 World Championship "Best Blocker"'' * '' 2009 Pan-American Cup "Best Blocker"'' * ''2016 International Volleyball Hall of Fame''

References

External links