April Ross’ only goal when she graduated from USC in 2005 was to travel the world.
She accomplished that and much more in a nearly two-decade beach volleyball playing career that will end next month.
Ross, who won an Olympic medal of every color with three different partners, is wrapping up her farewell AVP season.
A retirement ceremony is planned for Nov. 9 at the AVP League Championship in Los Angeles.
Ross, 42, won a medal in each of her three Olympics — silver in 2012 with Jen Kessy, bronze in 2016 with Kerri Walsh Jennings and gold in 2021 with Alix Klineman.
Ross last played internationally in 2022, then had son Ross in 2023. She and Klineman, who also became a mom in 2023, reunited this summer to play on the domestic AVP circuit.
“I didn’t want to leave the sport just by fading away,” Ross said. “I wanted to play again, if only to retire. Essentially, that’s what this season has turned out to be, kind of like a farewell tour.”
Klineman, 34, has not announced whether she will compete beyond 2024. Klineman previously said she thought she might be done, but then Ross messaged her last winter about getting the A-Team back together.
“I just started getting the itch to come back,” said Ross, who coached the team of Klineman and Hailey Harward while pregnant. “I didn’t really want to do it with just anybody. So my first thought was I want to get Alix to play the summer with me. It took a little bit of convincing.”
Ross made her pitch over breakfast in January. They tested out practicing for a couple of weeks. They worked out child care and entered the AVP’s Huntington Beach Open in May and Manhattan Beach Open in August. They went a combined 5-4 in those two events.
They continued with the start of the nine-stop AVP League season last month. Ross and Klineman are on the Miami Mayhem team with Theo Brunner and Trevor Crabb.
“This phase has made me appreciate how hard I worked for the entirety of my career,” Ross said. “Now that I’m a little bit removed and trying to get back to a level that is competitive, I have so much more appreciation for how much actual commitment, dedication, sacrifice it took for all those years trying to go to the Olympics and win the gold medal. This phase is me trying to do a bunch of different things at the same time.”
Ross has already signed up to be the head beach volleyball coach at El Camino College in Southern California and is also interested in commentating.
“I’ve played for so long that I have this storage of knowledge that I feel like I can pass on and help other people with, especially girls trying to make it to college or in college,” she said. “I love this sport. I love the community. So staying in it makes a lot of sense to me.”
After playing indoors at USC, Ross began her beach volleyball career in 2006. She played in more than 250 tournaments across 25 countries and 25 states within the U.S., according to her BVBInfo profile.
She accomplished everything she wanted.
“I’m going to miss the people,” she said. “I’m going to miss the breakfast at the hotel with all the other athletes and just chatting and seeing different places in the world. ... I’ll miss just going to the beach every day and training and being with that team and problem solving and everything that goes along with that. I won’t miss the competing, though. The competing just kept getting more and more stressful.”