DATE: Tuesday, October 7, 1997              TAG: 9710070457

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C8   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY VICKI L. FRIEDMAN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: 41 lines

RHODES: VOLLEYBALL STAR AND OH, SO MUCH MORE

Robert Rhodes calls himself a Renaissance man, yet the Western Branch junior would make Thomas Jefferson look lazy.

He plays piano and trumpet. He can sing bass or tenor and he does both, for the school's varsity singers and chamber chorus. He carries a 4.2 GPA and excels in math and history. He's in Latin club, model United Nations, part of stage crew and on the debate squad. He swims, plays basketball, tennis and soccer and this fall starts for the Bruins' volleyball team that is 9-0.

A middle blocker, Rhodes spent the summer honing his volleyball skills. He went to camp and put up a net in the back yard so he could spike balls with his brothers.

But the real change this season is in attitude.

``I have a whole different aggressive nature to the game,'' he says ``The first year I was intimidated and there was a hesitation. This year I'm playing for God. I have no peer pressure; I have no intimidation. It's just going out to play for God's glory.''

Ballet is also helpful.

Yep, Rhodes dances - jazz and tap, too - and he says that enhances his game.

See he wears a size 17 shoe and is 6 feet, 2 1/2 inches tall. ``A lot of people jump and land on their heels,'' he says. ``And when you wear a size 17, you don't want to land wrong.''

Rhodes never misses practice, even though an ankle sprain hindered his finishing last week's win over Hickory. Instead of running drills the next day, Rhodes walked through them.

Rhodes' load of activities never weighs him down. He doesn't date and hasn't been to a party outside of Latin club. He says he wants to be a magician or a neurosurgeon, and he'd participate more if he could.

In what? ``I wish,'' Rhodes says, ``we had a lacrosse team here.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo

Volleyballer Robert Rhodes...

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