David Smith (born May 15, 1985) is an American professional

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 who plays as a middle blocker for

ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle, is a professional men's volleyball club based in Kędzierzyn-Koźle in southern Poland, founded in 1994. They compete in the Polish PlusLiga. ZAKSA have won 9 domestic league titles, 10 national cups, and three CEV Cha ...

and the U.S. national team. Smith was a bronze medalist at the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

Rio 2016 The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

, Paris 2024 and the 2018 World Championship; the 2015 World Cup winner and a three–time Champions League winner (

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

) with ZAKSA.

Personal life

Smith was born in the

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

district of

Panorama City Panorama City is a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California, in the San Fernando Valley. It has a generally young age range as well as the highest population density in the Valley. More than half of the neighborhood's population was b ...

on May 15, 1985. Born nearly deaf, he wears hearing aids and reads lips to understand his teammates. He grew up in

Santa Clarita Santa Clarita (; Spanish for "Little St. Clare") is a city in northwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a 2020 census population of 228,673, it is the third-most populous city in Los Angeles County, the 17th-most populo ...

, where he attended Saugus High School. Smith is 6 feet, 7 inches (200 cm) tall. He married his wife Kelli in 2008. They have two children, a son Cohen and a daughter Amelie.

Career

College

Smith played for the UC Irvine volleyball team from 2004 to 2007. In 2004, his .369 hitting percentage was the highest on the team. He also had a 1.03 blocking average and 102 block assists. The following season, he had a .401 hitting percentage and a 0.86 blocking average. Smith then had a .412 hitting percentage, 1.27 blocking average, 129 block assists, and 143 total blocks in 2006. In 2007, Smith helped

University of California Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Irvine, California, United States. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, U ...

win the NCAA National Champions title. His .559 hitting percentage led the nation and was a new school record. He also broke the UCI single-season block assists record, with 160. Smith was named to the All-American first team and the NCAA All-Tournament team. He finished his UCI career as the school's all-time leader in block assists (471) and total blocks (520).

National team

Smith joined the U.S. national team in 2009. That year, he was named the Best Blocker at the World Championship Qualifier and played in the FIVB World League. In 2010, he helped the U.S. win the Pan American Cup. Smith tied as the team's second-leading scorer at the 2011 Pan American Cup, as the U.S. finished second. He then played in the 2012 FIVB World League, where the U.S. finished second. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, he was a substitute and had eight points.

Honors

Club

CEV Champions League The CEV Champions League is the top official competition for men's volleyball clubs from the whole of Europe. The competition is organised every year by the European Volleyball Confederation. Formula (2018–19 to present) Qualification A tota ...

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

– with

2021–22 – with ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle ** Gold medal europe

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

– with ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle * Domestic ** 2010–11 Simple gold cup

Spanish SuperCup, with

CV Almería Club Voleibol Almería, also known for sponsorship reasons as Unicaja Almería, is a professional volleyball team based in Almeria, Spain. It plays in the top flight of Spanish volleyball, Superliga de Voleibol Masculina, Superliga. Honors *''Sup ...

** 2010–11 Gold medal with cup

Spanish Championship, with CV Almería ** 2011–12 Simple gold cup

French SuperCup, with

Tours VB Tours VB is a professional men's volleyball club which is playing their home matches at the Salle Robert Grenon in Tours, France. Tours VB plays in LNV Ligue A, top volleyball league in France. According to Media Guide book, the annual budget o ...

** 2011–12 Gold medal with cup

French Championship, with Tours VB ** 2012–13 Simple gold cup

French Cup, with Tours VB ** 2012–13 Gold medal with cup

French Championship, with Tours VB ** 2013–14 Simple gold cup

French SuperCup, with Tours VB ** 2013–14 Simple gold cup

French Cup, with Tours VB ** 2013–14 Gold medal with cup

French Championship, with Tours VB ** 2014–15 Simple gold cup

French SuperCup, with Tours VB ** 2014–15 Simple gold cup

French Cup, with Tours VB ** 2014–15 Gold medal with cup

French Championship, with Tours VB ** 2019–20 Simple gold cup

Polish SuperCup The Polish Super Cup (, ) is an annually held match between the champions of the Ekstraklasa and the Polish Cup winners or, if the Ekstraklasa champions also win the Polish Cup, the Cup's runners-up. As of 2024, the Polish Super Cup has been p ...

, with ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle ** 2020–21 Simple gold cup

Polish Cup The Polish Cup in Association football, football ( ) is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout football competition for Polish football club (association football), football clubs, held continuously since 1950, and is the second most i ...

, with ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle ** 2021–22 Simple gold cup

, with ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle ** 2021–22 Gold medal with cup

Polish Championship, with ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle ** 2022–23 Simple gold cup

, with ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle ** 2023–24 Simple gold cup

, with ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle

Youth national team

* 2004

NORCECA U21 Championship

Individual awards

* 2012: French Championship – Best middle blocker * 2015: French Championship – Best middle blocker * 2016: French Championship – Best middle blocker * 2022: FIVB Nations League – Best middle blocker * 2023:

– Most valuable player * 2023: FIVB Nations League – Best middle blocker

References

External links

*
David Smith
at ''PlusLiga.pl''
David Smith
at ''Volleybox.net'' * * *
David Smith
at the

Paris 2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, David 1985 births Living people People from Panorama City, Los Angeles People from Saugus, Santa Clarita, California Volleyball players from Los Angeles Sportspeople from Santa Clarita, California American men's volleyball players Deaf volleyball players Volleyball players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Volleyball players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Volleyball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in volleyball American expatriate sportspeople in Northern Ireland American expatriate volleyball players in Germany American expatriate volleyball players in Spain American expatriate volleyball players in France American expatriate volleyball players in Poland UC Irvine Anteaters men's volleyball players Tours Volley-Ball players Czarni Radom players Warta Zawiercie (volleyball) players Resovia (volleyball) players ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle players Middle blockers Volleyball players at the 2024 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics 21st-century American sportsmen