Del City High School senior Annette Cox plays four sports, but she always puts her grades and her family first. It’s no wonder where she inherited her sporty streak.

“My mom played volleyball in high school, and my dad played football, but now my dad is really active. He goes fishing and noodling all the time,” Cox said.

The track-runner, power-lifer and tennis player favors volleyball over all other sports.

“I have been playing volleyball since fourth grade. I also play club volleyball,” Cox said. “Volleyball is an escape for me. It’s a way to get away from the world and just focus on one thing.”

Cox has played club volleyball for Ignite and Premier but is shopping who she’ll play with this year. Playing in the offseason has made her “an overall better player.”

“And it has let me see players from around the country and has gave me a lot of friends and good memories,” Cox said. “I’ve been all over Texas, Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri.”

Balancing a year-round four-sport schedule hasn’t been the only challenge in Cox’s athletic career.

“I thought when I was a freshman, I had to be a certain height to be a middle [blocker] and that colleges would only want me if I was a certain height,” Cox said, “but I found out that it’s about how good of an attitude you have, and how hard you try, and how much you want it.”

After she graduates, Cox hopes her teammates remember these qualities about her.

“I hope they learned that the years you play a sport in high school go by fast and to enjoy them and have fun, and also to be the best player you can be,” Cox said. “You have to make friends and always have fun. It’s not all about being serious.”

Cox hopes to pursue a degree in sociology or psychology in college.

“And it that somehow doesn’t work out, I want to go to training to be a firefighter.”