Olympian TJ DeFalco: What you need to know about Team USA volleyball star

Team USA volleyball player TJ DeFalco has left its mark on the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

The 27-year-old was still in high school when he first joined the U.S. national team in 2015. He previously trained with volleyball legend Tyler Hildebrandwho compared DeFalco to one of the greatest athletes of all time: Le Bron James.

“I saw LeBron play in high school,” Hildebrand said ESPN in 2012. ‘Obviously LeBron is LeBron, and maybe it’s not that big of a difference, but the way TJ is so much better than other kids his age reminds me of [him].”

Hildebrand added at the time: “There is no doubt that TJ is the best volleyball player in the country for his age group. I don’t think anyone would debate that.”

DeFalco was a top recruit when he entered the NCAA. He played college volleyball at California State University, Long Beach, winning two NCAA championships during his four years with the team. Now his talents have made an impression on the world stage at the Paris Olympics. (Team USA won a bronze medal on Friday, August 9, beating Italy.)

“[Being in the Olympic Village] it doesn’t really hit you until it does, and then you’re like, ‘Holy cow. I’m in the village right now and there are 45 different countries around me right now and we’re all walking to the cafeteria,” DeFalco said. KTL in July, shortly before the Games started. “There is no other time frame on earth in which you can do that. It is very special and I am looking forward to it.”

He also looked forward to transforming the reputation of volleyball, which he called “a kind of sleeper sport.”

“When people finally watch it for the first time, [the reaction is]’Holy cow, why don’t more people watch this stuff?’” he said. “I would say to the audience, if you have time, nothing to watch or don’t play your favorite sports, give men’s volleyball a try.”

Scroll down for more information on Team USA’s TJ DeFalco:

He comes from a large family

DeFalco is one of seven siblings. According to his Team USA biography, all the children in his family have names starting with “T” and all are involved in volleyball. The DeFalcos grew up in Missouri before moving to Huntington Beach, California.

“It was a bit like the movie We bought a zoo,” the athlete told ESPN in 2012 about his roots in Missouri, where his family bred exotic animals.

He was homeschooled

Although he played volleyball for Huntington Beach High School in California after his family moved, DeFalco and his siblings were all homeschool students.

Paris is not his first Olympic Games

DeFalco previously competed in the Tokyo 2020 Games, but Team USA did not come close to medal contention at the time. “We have to have a little bit of dog in us,” DeFalco told VolleyballMag.com ahead of the Paris Olympics.

Is TJ DeFalco single?

While he showed off some of his Team USA Skims gear in July TikTokDeFalco hinted that his girlfriend – whom he did not name – is a fan of the brand. Before heading to Paris, he shared “some non-volleyball content” with his Instagram followers, including a photo of the couple on a boat.

He has played professional volleyball abroad

When not representing Team USA, DeFalco is an outside hitter for the JTEKT Stings in Japan. His professional career started in Italy in 2019 before moving to Poland where he played from 2021 to 2024.