Aviano's Xavier Fox hits the ball through the block of Sigonella's William Thompson on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, at Aviano Air Base, Italy. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
Coming Tuesday: Athlete of the Year for football.
When Xavier Fox stepped onto the volleyball court his freshman year, he was about as raw as possible.
Growing up in Vilseck, Germany, soccer was the sport he played on and off base. But a couple friends he made while in middle school after his family moved to Aviano convinced him he should give an indoor sport a shot.
Four years later, the 6-foot, 2-inch senior has played his final high school volleyball match. Fox, Stars and Stripes’ boys volleyball Athlete of the Year, was named Most Valuable Player as Saints won the DODEA-Europe boys championship for the first time in more than a decade.
But while Aviano almost made it look easy – with sweeps of two-time defending champion Black Forest Academy and No. 1 seed Naples on the final day – Fox said hard work during practice made all the difference, both for him and his teammates.
“I always want to win,” he said. “That’s the main goal, whatever the competition. This year, we had a lot of competitive guys on the team. Once they saw what it would take, we went and did it.”
The team, which featured three players who joined after the school failed to field a football team, mirrored Fox’s growth throughout his high school career as naturally athletic players gradually picked up specialized skills.
Fox’s play at the net largely came naturally. He was credited with 214 kills this year. But other aspects of the game – serving, bumping and passing – took a lot of repetitive work, he said. Every season, he said, he tried to add a new aspect to his game.
After working hard on a top-spin jump serve, he demonstrated it again and again on his teammates in practice. So while Naples served its way to the championship over a more inexperienced Ramstein squad in the semifinals, the Saints weren’t phased at all in the finals.
He said he was most proud of his team’s consistency during the tournament. Much of the credit for that, he said, goes to the Wildcats. Aviano lost only five sets the entire season – all during a weekend in Naples when the home team swept a Friday contest before the Saints came back with a five-set victory on Saturday. Before the championship match, that was the only time each team had lost all season.
“We would win one set with them and then just let up,” Fox said. “The best teams play good volleyball all five – or all three – sets.”
The only thing keeping Fox from playing volleyball year-round has been his favorite sport: soccer. He played for German youth clubs while attending Vilseck. He’s played at various levels of Italian soccer after moving to Italy.
One attribute helps him out in both sports. He’s left-handed and left-footed.
“100% advantage,” he said. “Especially if they’re not expecting it.”
He was elevated to an adult soccer team last year off base but then let go when he missed some practices. The reason? Traveling for volleyball. He’s the rare DODEA athlete who has played with local national teams off base in two sports, also having played in Italian volleyball leagues.
He was told last year he needed to make a choice.
“In the end, I just couldn’t do it,” he said.
A new soccer coach later decided he was OK with Fox sometimes missing time for volleyball and he rejoined the team.
Moving forward, though, Fox said his top goal is helping the Saints to a successful season on the soccer field. And then getting a scholarship to play that sport in college.
“Soccer is the sport I’m most passionate about,” he said. “It always has been.”
If that doesn’t work out, he’s open to the idea of following former teammate Gabe Fabbro and several other recent DODEA graduates who are playing volleyball at smaller universities in the States.
“Volleyball is a nice Plan B,” he said.
