Latest / Laguna Talks / Laguna Open Volleyball

Transcript

Laguna Open Volleyball · Laguna Talks

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: This disclaimer is a statement notifying listening audiences that any
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: opinions expressed in our shows are not representative of Laguna
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Radio Inc., its management, or its board of directors.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: Hey there, what's up Laguna? Janice Murray here with a
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: public service announcement. The City of Laguna Beach will conduct
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: its next quarterly public test of the outdoor warning system
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: this Tuesday, September 15th at 4 p.m. That's Tuesday, September
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: 15th at 4 p.m. The test will be a loud
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: siren on the 23 speakers throughout town. It should only
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: last about one minute. We here at KXFM just don't
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: want you to be surprised by the noise. Remember, this
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: is only a test. In a real emergency, like a wildfire,
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: be ready to listen and follow safety advisories from this
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: warning system. And I'm Janice Murray with a public service
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: announcement from your community radio station 104.7 KXFM right here
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: in Laguna Beach.
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: Janice, we have a pretty nice Tuesday afternoon across Laguna Beach.
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: Plenty of sunshine, a little bit of a breeze, but
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: we always take that. 73 at the beach, pretty close
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: to 80 on the hilltop of the canyon, 77. Nice evening,
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: but the clouds will be taking over. That marine layer
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: pattern is now in full force. 63 for the overnight low. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: very little change. Some early morning clouds and sunshine and
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: 73 degrees each day. The intense humidity from Hurricane Marie
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: is now a distant, distant past. That's my forecast. I'm
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: meteorologist Dave Murray. Tune in. Turn on to KXFM. 1047
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: Lagunas Community Radio. Oh, yeah.
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: Good afternoon, Laguna.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: Here we are. The love train has arrived.
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: It's two o'clock.
• 2:26
  Speaker 5: And I'm your host, Billy Freed, for an hour of
• 2:28
  Speaker 5: scintillating chat here at Laguna Talks on this beautiful Tuesday,
• 2:32
  Speaker 5: post-Labor Day. The heat is broken, and we're living our
• 2:36
  Speaker 5: best lives. Hey, I'm here to talk about this weekend's
• 2:40
  Speaker 5: Laguna Open, this historic beach volleyball tournament on Main Beach.
• 2:45
  Speaker 5: And with me is Mark Dawson and Brian Lewis. Good afternoon, fellas.
• 2:50
  Speaker 5: Hang on. There we go. I got you on. Tell us, well,
• 2:55
  Speaker 5: give us an overview of this tournament because, you know,
• 2:58
  Speaker 5: everybody knows Laguna as a surf town, a mountain biking town, skateboarding, skimboarding.
• 3:04
  Speaker 5: You guys are in the middle of this great beach
• 3:09
  Speaker 5: volleyball tradition here, which is just as significant, just as
• 3:12
  Speaker 5: historic as our surf history. Isn't that right?
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: I would say so. I mean, the tournament goes way back. Yeah.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: I can't tell you exactly when it started, but when
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: I moved to Laguna in 1964, it was going strong.
• 3:28
  Speaker 5: I've seen the pictures, man. And there was huge crowds
• 3:31
  Speaker 5: back then.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, way bigger. It was a big deal until the
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: city decided to not be involved when the AVP came
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: along because of the liquor sponsorship. Although we had done
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: two years with Cuervo as a sponsor, and we did that,
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: but then... whoever was in charge at that time, they said, no,
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: we don't want to be associated with that. So it stopped.
• 4:01
  Speaker 5: This was when?
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: That would be, I don't know exactly, like 83, 84, 85.
• 4:08
  Speaker 5: Main Beach had already been converted to a park.
• 4:11
  Speaker 6: Right.
• 4:11
  Speaker 5: But you guys go back, this tournament goes back to
• 4:14
  Speaker 5: the days when they were probably serving alcohol right on
• 4:17
  Speaker 5: the beach.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: Probably.
• 4:19
  Speaker 5: The good old days.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: I know a lot of people were drinking it right
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: on the beach.
• 4:23
  Speaker 5: Well, yeah. I mean, that's a whole other conversation. But yeah,
• 4:28
  Speaker 5: we know we cleaned up the beach and there used
• 4:30
  Speaker 5: to be a lot of crazy dance halls and everything
• 4:33
  Speaker 5: in the old Laguna. So we think this volleyball tournament,
• 4:35
  Speaker 5: I know that the centennial committee that's going to be
• 4:38
  Speaker 5: celebrating Laguna's 100th anniversary next year is doing a series
• 4:42
  Speaker 5: of films, 100 films for 100 years. And each decade
• 4:47
  Speaker 5: is going to get 10 stories. And I was just
• 4:49
  Speaker 5: reviewing it and I know the Laguna Beach Open figures
• 4:52
  Speaker 5: pretty significantly in this story. They have a couple dedicated
• 4:55
  Speaker 5: to it. I don't know if they've reached out to
• 4:57
  Speaker 5: you guys.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: No, I hadn't. I knew there was a hundred stories
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: I didn't know, too, were going to be volleyball.
• 5:04
  Speaker 5: And do you know a little bit about, we don't
• 5:06
  Speaker 5: know the exact year it was founded, but it was
• 5:09
  Speaker 5: part of the AVP or it was separate? What kind
• 5:12
  Speaker 5: of tournament was it?
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: Well, yeah, before the AVP, things were completely different.
• 5:16
  Speaker 5: And AVP stands for?
• 5:18
  Speaker 6: Association of Volleyball Professionals.
• 5:20
  Speaker 5: Thank you, Brian. That's Brian there chiming in who knows
• 5:23
  Speaker 5: all the facts here.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: You know, I would have– I really figured Blair would
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: be here and he would have all this information.
• 5:30
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: And I'm not really– I don't really keep track of
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: dates all that well.
• 5:34
  Speaker 5: And Blair is running the tournament now.
• 5:38
  Speaker 6: Allegedly, yes.
• 5:40
  Speaker 5: I know there's been some confusion about who's actually the
• 5:43
  Speaker 5: leadership team now.
• 5:44
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean– Prior to the AVP coming on board,
• 5:48
  Speaker 6: it was people like Mark running the tournaments. And it
• 5:52
  Speaker 6: was some of the best players in California that would
• 5:54
  Speaker 6: show up. And it's been a tournament for over 50 years.
• 5:57
  Speaker 6: And it's definitely one of the most iconic beaches in
• 6:00
  Speaker 6: the world.
• 6:00
  Speaker 5: So not unlike the Brooks surfing contest, it was more
• 6:03
  Speaker 5: of a community volleyball tournament that grew in stature because
• 6:07
  Speaker 5: it attracted the best players? Is that accurate?
• 6:10
  Speaker 6: Well, it attracted the best players from all over California.
• 6:13
  Speaker 6: So guys from Santa Monica, guys from Corona Lamar, guys
• 6:15
  Speaker 6: from Newport Beach, guys from Del Mar, San Diego, they
• 6:19
  Speaker 6: all came to Laguna because it's such an iconic event.
• 6:22
  Speaker 5: And there was a period I was reading when, was
• 6:25
  Speaker 5: it Karsh Karali? Is that how you say his name?
• 6:27
  Speaker 6: Karsh Karali.
• 6:28
  Speaker 5: And his partner was?
• 6:31
  Speaker 6: He played with Ricky Luties. I only lost to him
• 6:32
  Speaker 6: 18 times in the finals.
• 6:34
  Speaker 5: But they dominated for a little while, right?
• 6:36
  Speaker 6: Him and Ken Steffes, they dominated for quite a long time, yes.
• 6:39
  Speaker 5: And they really brought a spotlight to the sport, didn't they?
• 6:42
  Speaker 5: I mean, even during the Olympics, it felt like I
• 6:44
  Speaker 5: was hearing his name and I didn't know anything about
• 6:47
  Speaker 5: the sport.
• 6:48
  Speaker 6: Yep. Karch, he's a two-time indoor volleyball player, Olympian, and
• 6:53
  Speaker 6: one-time beach. All gold medals, by the way. And now
• 6:57
  Speaker 6: he's ushering in our men's for the next Olympics that
• 7:00
  Speaker 6: are going to be here in Los Angeles. But it
• 7:02
  Speaker 6: was really Randy Stoklo, Sinjin Smith, Tim Hovland and Mike
• 7:05
  Speaker 6: Dodd were.
• 7:06
  Speaker 5: Those were the core guys.
• 7:07
  Speaker 6: Those were the core guys. And then there was a
• 7:09
  Speaker 6: lot of guys like myself. I was 10 years behind
• 7:11
  Speaker 6: those guys, but they paved an amazing path for me
• 7:14
  Speaker 6: to go make a living for over 17 years.
• 7:17
  Speaker 5: How cool is that? So were those all California guys?
• 7:20
  Speaker 6: All California guys.
• 7:21
  Speaker 5: So they were the most famous players in the world,
• 7:24
  Speaker 5: but they were all from here.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 7:25
  Speaker 5: So when they came to Laguna, was there prize money
• 7:27
  Speaker 5: in this?
• 7:28
  Speaker 6: There was.
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: Not a lot.
• 7:29
  Speaker 5: Not a lot.
• 7:29
  Speaker 6: I mean, guys were working at the chart house during
• 7:31
  Speaker 6: the day and playing volleyball as much as they possibly could.
• 7:33
  Speaker 6: And then... showing up on the weekends and trying to
• 7:35
  Speaker 6: make a go at it.
• 7:37
  Speaker 5: Like skimboarding.
• 7:38
  Speaker 6: Like skimboarding. Yeah. But then Cuervo came along and put
• 7:42
  Speaker 6: in a lot of money, so the stakes.
• 7:43
  Speaker 5: Got a lot higher. Really was Cuervo a single brand
• 7:46
  Speaker 5: that elevated the sport?
• 7:47
  Speaker 6: That and Miller Lite.
• 7:48
  Speaker 5: And Miller Lite. Those are the two.
• 7:50
  Speaker 6: Brands that really elevated the sport.
• 7:51
  Speaker 5: You know, I'm sure they saw it from a marketing
• 7:54
  Speaker 5: perspective that it's a great sport to watch. It's great,
• 7:58
  Speaker 5: and especially on the beach, right? I mean, this is
• 8:00
  Speaker 5: something that even if you don't know the game, the athleticism...
• 8:04
  Speaker 5: The beach scene, everybody's looking good, bathing suits, bikinis.
• 8:09
  Speaker 6: It was an incredible venue. I played football, basketball, baseball.
• 8:13
  Speaker 6: I was at a baseball game in sunny Mead. It
• 8:16
  Speaker 6: was 116 degrees, and my dad was like, you know,
• 8:18
  Speaker 6: I really want you to come down and watch this
• 8:20
  Speaker 6: tournament and go to beach.
• 8:22
  Speaker 5: That's how it started for you?
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: 1984.
• 8:24
  Speaker 5: So you had not played volleyball before that?
• 8:26
  Speaker 6: Nope. I grew up in Kronen Amar, but I played
• 8:28
  Speaker 6: all those other sports.
• 8:29
  Speaker 5: Team sports.
• 8:29
  Speaker 6: Team sports. And then I watched this thing happen. where
• 8:34
  Speaker 6: it was this massive raging party that just happened to
• 8:37
  Speaker 6: have a volleyball tournament going on.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: And was that, since you remember that very vividly, was
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: there a tequila bottle?
• 8:44
  Speaker 6: Oh, yeah.
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: And I ran into the.
• 8:47
  Speaker 6: Person you were talking about who was, enjoying that tequila
• 8:50
  Speaker 6: bottle just up at Crystal Cove. His name is Lynn,
• 8:53
  Speaker 6: and I won't give his last name, but he was
• 8:55
  Speaker 6: a legend. He used to walk out there and drink
• 8:57
  Speaker 6: an entire bottle. I think it was iced tea.
• 8:58
  Speaker 5: And play.
• 8:59
  Speaker 6: No, he was just a... He.
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: Was a player, but not at that level.
• 9:03
  Speaker 6: Not at that level.
• 9:04
  Speaker 5: No. I mean, I assume that there was enough seriousness
• 9:07
  Speaker 5: with this competition that people weren't really imbibing while they
• 9:09
  Speaker 5: were playing.
• 9:11
  Speaker 6: No, the fans were definitely. And that's where I saw
• 9:13
  Speaker 6: this encounter with one of the players, Randy Stoklas.
• 9:15
  Speaker 5: Randy Stoklas, another famous name.
• 9:18
  Speaker 6: One of the fans decided to get up a little
• 9:20
  Speaker 6: close to him, and Randy literally grabbed this guy by
• 9:22
  Speaker 6: the neck. And in the newspaper, I cut it out
• 9:26
  Speaker 6: of the Daily Pilot the next day. And it says,
• 9:27
  Speaker 6: I don't know what you're talking about. I never touched
• 9:29
  Speaker 6: the guy, but you can. see his hand ready to
• 9:33
  Speaker 6: choke this guy. And I was like, Oh God, I
• 9:35
  Speaker 6: love the sport. And so the next year was the
• 9:38
  Speaker 6: Olympics here in Long Beach, the indoor stuff where we
• 9:40
  Speaker 6: won a gold medal, 84, 84. And so 85, I said,
• 9:43
  Speaker 6: I'm going to start playing volleyball. And that's when I
• 9:45
  Speaker 6: started playing volleyball. And then.
• 9:47
  Speaker 5: So how old were you at the time? 16. So,
• 9:50
  Speaker 5: I mean, you came to it rather late. I mean,
• 9:52
  Speaker 5: a lot of people will start much younger, right?
• 9:54
  Speaker 6: Yep. They do now for sure.
• 9:57
  Speaker 5: And then where did your career go from there?
• 9:59
  Speaker 6: I played at Corona Lamar. High School, then I played
• 10:01
  Speaker 6: a couple years at Orange Coast College, and then was
• 10:04
  Speaker 6: flying out after playing matches on... Friday nights and go
• 10:07
  Speaker 6: and compete Saturday and Sunday in these tournaments all over
• 10:09
  Speaker 6: the place.
• 10:10
  Speaker 5: That had prize money?
• 10:11
  Speaker 6: That had prize money, but I was an amateur, so
• 10:13
  Speaker 6: I had to give all my money back and found
• 10:15
  Speaker 6: out really quickly that I was actually halfway decent at this.
• 10:17
  Speaker 6: And so I gave it a go, and my parents
• 10:19
  Speaker 6: divorced me for about four years and got on TV
• 10:22
  Speaker 6: a lot and made a lot of money.
• 10:23
  Speaker 5: On the pro circuit?
• 10:25
  Speaker 6: Yes.
• 10:26
  Speaker 5: The AVP circuit? That was the AVP, yes. Are there
• 10:28
  Speaker 5: any other competing leagues, or do they really dominate?
• 10:32
  Speaker 6: They've dominated for a long time, and they've had their
• 10:34
  Speaker 6: fair share of troubles. The FIVB, which is the international
• 10:38
  Speaker 6: group now that really is the kingpin throughout the world,
• 10:42
  Speaker 6: they're the ones that are dominating the sport, and they're
• 10:43
  Speaker 6: the ones that have produced the Olympics as well.
• 10:45
  Speaker 5: Yeah, because the Olympics, it's become so big, and there's
• 10:48
  Speaker 5: so many cultures. I mean, you guys will tell me,
• 10:51
  Speaker 5: but what countries really excel at this sport?
• 10:55
  Speaker 6: Sweden.
• 10:55
  Speaker 5: Sweden.
• 10:56
  Speaker 6: Yes, they won the gold medal the last go-around, yes.
• 10:59
  Speaker 6: What about?
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: Netherlands.
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: Netherlands.
• 11:00
  Speaker 5: What about Asian countries? Is China a player in this?
• 11:04
  Speaker 6: Not really.
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: No?
• 11:05
  Speaker 4: No.
• 11:05
  Speaker 6: Indoor they are.
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 11:07
  Speaker 6: Not on the beach.
• 11:07
  Speaker 5: Not on the beach. We're talking two different things here.
• 11:10
  Speaker 6: Obviously, Brazil has been fantastic for years and years. But
• 11:14
  Speaker 6: the countries like, like I said, Sweden, the Netherlands, some
• 11:18
  Speaker 6: of those other countries, Lafayette, those other countries.
• 11:22
  Speaker 5: I think I'm wondering about Eastern European countries because they
• 11:24
  Speaker 5: tend to breed tall people. They end up in the
• 11:27
  Speaker 5: NBA and all of that.
• 11:28
  Speaker 6: Yeah. And they're well-funded.
• 11:30
  Speaker 5: And they're well-funded.
• 11:31
  Speaker 6: Yes.
• 11:32
  Speaker 5: Yeah. So they're competitive as well.
• 11:34
  Speaker 6: They're very competitive.
• 11:35
  Speaker 5: Serbia, Croatia, those countries?
• 11:37
  Speaker 6: Indoor they are.
• 11:38
  Speaker 5: Not as much on the beach.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: Indoor.
• 11:39
  Speaker 6: Yes.
• 11:40
  Speaker 5: Okay. Well, they have beaches. Croatia has got beaches everywhere.
• 11:43
  Speaker 6: It's deemed sand volleyball now because they have these large
• 11:47
  Speaker 6: facilities where they can practice all year long. And so
• 11:49
  Speaker 6: it doesn't matter what the weather's like outside.
• 11:51
  Speaker 5: Okay. But there are players that play both well, right?
• 11:55
  Speaker 6: Not too many.
• 11:56
  Speaker 5: No, it really– what is the difference athletically?
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: It's really different now. Things you've really jumped for.
• 12:00
  Speaker 5: Specialized.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: Things really changed when they changed the rules of the game,
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: the beach game, and they made the court smaller. I
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: wanted really to get your opinion on this. When you–
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: being familiar with the indoor game and the beach game
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: from the 60s, 70s, and 80s, the indoor game has–
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: they're so much better. than the players were in the
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: 60s and 70s. The game is, for the men and women,
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: it's night and day now. But I don't see that
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: on the beach. I actually make the case.
• 12:35
  Speaker 5: The level of improvement?
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I kind of, in some cases, I think the
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: play is less. Less impressive.
• 12:42
  Speaker 6: The athletes are phenomenal today, bar none. They're bigger, stronger, faster,
• 12:46
  Speaker 6: they jump higher. But, to your point, in 2000, they
• 12:50
  Speaker 6: came and made a clean swoop and they changed the game, so...
• 12:53
  Speaker 6: It used to be a 30 by 30 court. There
• 12:55
  Speaker 6: was no antennas. It was side out scoring, which you
• 12:58
  Speaker 6: had to serve to get a point. And then in 2000,
• 13:00
  Speaker 6: they changed everything and made it eight meters by eight meters.
• 13:04
  Speaker 6: They put in antennas and it was ping pong scoring
• 13:07
  Speaker 6: and let serves were allowed.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: And you can reach over to block.
• 13:11
  Speaker 5: Those are seismic changes. Huge.
• 13:13
  Speaker 6: Especially for a guy who's six foot nothing like me.
• 13:16
  Speaker 6: It really impacted my game from a serving standpoint. And
• 13:20
  Speaker 6: it let a much taller, bigger athlete, but you know, so.
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 13:23
  Speaker 6: Evolution of all sports.
• 13:24
  Speaker 5: I'm going to ask you a really dumb question here.
• 13:26
  Speaker 5: Pardon me for saying this, but is beach volleyball always two-man,
• 13:30
  Speaker 5: or is there six-person beach volleyball? What is it?
• 13:33
  Speaker 6: Professionally, it's two-man. Olympics is two-man, but you go to
• 13:36
  Speaker 6: the Manhattan, six-man, and that's one of the best events
• 13:39
  Speaker 6: you'll ever go to in your life.
• 13:40
  Speaker 5: Okay, so there is six. And then indoor, it's always six,
• 13:44
  Speaker 5: or do they have two-man as well?
• 13:45
  Speaker 6: It's six.
• 13:46
  Speaker 5: It's always six. So it's very different strategically.
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, very different.
• 13:49
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: And, you know, when I go to some of the
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: tournaments now, well, here– That's pretty much all I do.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: I intentionally, when I see a guy go up and hit,
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: a guy that might be 6'10, I want to see
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: how high he's jumping. And these guys aren't, I don't
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: see 24 or 30 inches between their feet in the sand.
• 14:08
  Speaker 5: It's the shorter guys who can jump higher?
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: Well, generally it was, because the shorter guys, you have
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: to jump higher.
• 14:15
  Speaker 6: Laguna is an anomaly in the fact that it's real sand.
• 14:19
  Speaker 6: and it's a deep sand beach. There's a couple of
• 14:21
  Speaker 6: them around, but you have to have really good ball control.
• 14:24
  Speaker 6: You have to pass the ball all the way up
• 14:25
  Speaker 6: to the net so you can get a set up
• 14:26
  Speaker 6: in front of you and be able to deal your offense,
• 14:30
  Speaker 6: whether you're hitting or shooting, whatever. So if you have
• 14:32
  Speaker 6: a bad pass and the set's off the net, and
• 14:35
  Speaker 6: to your point, even if you're 6'8 and you're jumping
• 14:38
  Speaker 6: 12 to 20 inches, you're not going to be as
• 14:40
  Speaker 6: effective as if you're on a really hard-packed surface where
• 14:43
  Speaker 6: you can jump and use your height.
• 14:44
  Speaker 5: Got it. So Laguna is more challenging.
• 14:47
  Speaker 6: Yes.
• 14:48
  Speaker 5: A setting, real sand.
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it always was.
• 14:51
  Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah. But, I mean, I look at these, Lionel
• 14:54
  Speaker 5: Messi and these soccer players, I mean, he's like, what, 5'8?
• 14:58
  Speaker 5: And these guys can leap. Yeah.
• 15:00
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: It is different. They're running full speed and they can
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: get a lot.
• 15:04
  Speaker 5: Of, you know, leverage.
• 15:05
  Speaker 6: Right.
• 15:06
  Speaker 5: It's very different standing still and trying to get vertical.
• 15:09
  Speaker 6: Isn't it?
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: And out of sand.
• 15:11
  Speaker 5: And they're not on sand. Thank you.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: It's phenomenal. And you're just taking two or three steps
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: and jumping versus, you.
• 15:17
  Speaker 6: Know, a full-on... I've seen some of the best athletes
• 15:21
  Speaker 6: from football, baseball, basketball, and you watch them take two
• 15:24
  Speaker 6: steps on the sand. You're like, yeah, that guy's not
• 15:25
  Speaker 6: going to be able to do that.
• 15:28
  Speaker 5: What is it? It's a different part of your foot?
• 15:31
  Speaker 5: It's just a bunch of stuff. A bunch of stuff.
• 15:34
  Speaker 6: It's a not fixed surface, so to speak. It's a variable.
• 15:38
  Speaker 6: So a lot of people are just trying to accustom
• 15:40
  Speaker 6: to it.
• 15:40
  Speaker 5: Yeah, that's right.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: You really have to do it for a long time
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: and learn. And obviously... build the right muscles to.
• 15:50
  Speaker 5: And Mark, what's your path to volleyball? How did you
• 15:53
  Speaker 5: get into the game?
• 15:54
  Speaker 6: Well, I.
• 15:54
  Speaker 5: You told me you grew up here.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: Right, I grew up here, moved to Laguna when I
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: was 10 and 64, and hung out at Main Beach
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: in Laguna. So I watched these guys and played on
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: adjacent courts when I wouldn't even have to duck to,
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: you know, to walk under the net. And I'd watch
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: people like, you know, P. Dot and Phil Anderson, and
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: they were kind of the best local players in And
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: just grew up there on that beach and then started
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: playing and just, you know, kept playing. So that was,
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: it was a natural thing. It was just what we did.
• 16:27
  Speaker 5: And did you go on to become a professional?
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: No, no.
• 16:30
  Speaker 6: No.
• 16:31
  Speaker 5: Just fun, amateur always. Yeah, yeah. And I guess what
• 16:35
  Speaker 5: I'm hearing from you guys is Laguna Beach really has
• 16:37
  Speaker 5: a special place in the annals of beach volleyball.
• 16:41
  Speaker 6: Volleyball as a whole, I mean, they've produced six or
• 16:45
  Speaker 6: seven Olympic athletes. Wow. Um, Dane Blanton was the last
• 16:48
  Speaker 6: one to win a gold medal for the USA. He
• 16:51
  Speaker 6: went to Laguna beach high school, Adam Johnson, the guys
• 16:54
  Speaker 6: in the hall of fame, one of the best volleyball players. Um,
• 16:57
  Speaker 6: Linda Hanley's from here, Rachel walk holder. Um, the list
• 17:02
  Speaker 6: goes on and on.
• 17:03
  Speaker 5: I feel like I should know this stuff. I mean,
• 17:04
  Speaker 5: I know that we produce Olympic, uh, water polo players, the.
• 17:08
  Speaker 6: Dvorak family, um, dusty Rudy. They're, yeah, they're phenomenal athletes
• 17:14
  Speaker 6: as well. Yeah.
• 17:15
  Speaker 5: So tell us what happened. There was the, I don't
• 17:17
  Speaker 5: know what years you'd call it, but there was a
• 17:20
  Speaker 5: time when kind of the tournament itself lost its popularity.
• 17:24
  Speaker 5: There wasn't the kind of crowds that we were talking
• 17:26
  Speaker 5: about in the 60s. And then there's been a recent renaissance,
• 17:30
  Speaker 5: so to speak, would we say?
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, maybe. But what happened is the tournaments were put
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: up and down the coast by the California Beach Volleyball Association.
• 17:42
  Speaker 5: Which is different from the AVP.
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the AVP... only came into existence in, what, 85?
• 17:50
  Speaker 6: Yes.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: Something like that.
• 17:51
  Speaker 5: And that was a bunch of people who said, let's
• 17:53
  Speaker 5: organize this sport, let's get TV contracts.
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't say a bunch of people. One or two.
• 17:59
  Speaker 6: Sinjin, Randy, a bunch of guys from this, Kevin Cleary,
• 18:03
  Speaker 6: Leonard Armato, former Shaquille O'Neal's agent.
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: Oh, yeah.
• 18:07
  Speaker 5: Yes. He was a player?
• 18:08
  Speaker 6: He was a player, player. Not necessarily a player, but
• 18:13
  Speaker 6: he was the one who organized the tour back in
• 18:16
  Speaker 6: that time.
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: But it had already, another guy, Dave Wilk, started the
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: league two years before that. And I think he's the
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: guy that brought in Cuervo. And that was the, and
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: he organized the players, right? Basically, the players revolted.
• 18:34
  Speaker 5: And were they also almost imagining that these guys were
• 18:37
  Speaker 5: negotiating TV deals?
• 18:40
  Speaker 6: Correct.
• 18:40
  Speaker 5: Because it once you get TV, then you get the
• 18:43
  Speaker 5: big spot.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: That was the big, big thing.
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: Uh huh.
• 18:47
  Speaker 5: So they were obviously proponents of the sport, but was
• 18:51
  Speaker 5: it also in a way for them a money grab?
• 18:53
  Speaker 5: Was this something let's form a league. We can make
• 18:54
  Speaker 5: a lot of money with this.
• 18:56
  Speaker 6: There's going to be a movie that's coming out. Ooh,
• 18:59
  Speaker 6: maybe in about a week or so. It's called the
• 19:00
  Speaker 6: King of the beach. Oh, Kings of the beach. Wow.
• 19:04
  Speaker 6: Tom Fier's produced it. Um, It's going to tell exactly
• 19:08
  Speaker 6: what happened and how it happened.
• 19:10
  Speaker 5: Oh, wow.
• 19:10
  Speaker 6: Some of the best guys in the world. Wow. And
• 19:13
  Speaker 6: you'll learn a lot.
• 19:15
  Speaker 5: I'm going to put it on my list. Yeah, so
• 19:18
  Speaker 5: interesting timing. So Laguna Beach Open was not initially part
• 19:23
  Speaker 5: of the AVP.
• 19:24
  Speaker 6: Right.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: It was never part of the AVP.
• 19:27
  Speaker 5: Never part.
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so Laguna was part of the tournament series initially.
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: And put on by the California Beach Volleyball Association.
• 19:34
  Speaker 5: Which was amateur, just to get this clear, or was
• 19:37
  Speaker 5: it professional?
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: No, it was amateur.
• 19:39
  Speaker 5: Right, so no money in it.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: It was the organization for decades that ran the tournaments.
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: Laguna was a member. I went to the meetings. And then.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: Dave Wilk came along. And I think Dave actually lived
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: here at the time. Do you know? Are you friends
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: with Dave? Yes.
• 19:58
  Speaker 5: Okay.
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: And so he.
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: He formed a professional league, and I won't go into
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: all of that. But again, Laguna would have been part
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: of it, but they did not want to be associated
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: with the liquor, the alcohol. They didn't like that mix
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: of liquor on the beach, a beach sport.
• 20:21
  Speaker 5: I'm just curious, who was making that decision on behalf
• 20:25
  Speaker 5: of the entire tournament?
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: It would have been the city council.
• 20:28
  Speaker 5: It really was the city council?
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: It would have to be. Who else would make that?
• 20:32
  Speaker 5: So they... I didn't know they could even legislate– well,
• 20:35
  Speaker 5: they can certainly tell you you can't drink on the beach.
• 20:37
  Speaker 5: But I guess they could actually say we will not
• 20:40
  Speaker 5: allow you to join the AVP because of– what am.
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: I– Yeah, they could certainly– I mean it's– This is
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: a scandal. Isn't it the city's beach? I mean why
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: couldn't they?
• 20:51
  Speaker 5: It was a shame. Well, I know that they certainly
• 20:54
  Speaker 5: outlawed drinking on the sand. And that was– I don't
• 20:57
  Speaker 5: know if that came exactly at the time when they
• 20:59
  Speaker 5: converted it to a beach park.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: Oh, no, no, that was before.
• 21:02
  Speaker 5: That was before.
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: It's always, yeah, it's always been.
• 21:05
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 21:06
  Speaker 5: But you could still have a sponsor for a tournament
• 21:09
  Speaker 5: without the alcohol.
• 21:10
  Speaker 6: No.
• 21:10
  Speaker 5: No, because the alcohol had to be consumed.
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: No, you wouldn't be consumed, per se, I don't think.
• 21:18
  Speaker 6: No, you did not have to consume it. They just
• 21:20
  Speaker 6: did not want the alcohol branding on the beach. I see.
• 21:23
  Speaker 6: And so, therefore, as players, we weren't allowed to play
• 21:26
  Speaker 6: in the Laguna Beach Open. Because we were going somewhere
• 21:29
  Speaker 6: else because the city of Laguna Beach didn't want to
• 21:32
  Speaker 6: have Miller Lite or Jose Cuervo here.
• 21:34
  Speaker 5: That's outrageous.
• 21:36
  Speaker 6: The tournament went on for years.
• 21:38
  Speaker 5: Was there a lot of resentment amongst the players, the
• 21:41
  Speaker 5: organizers of this tournament, that the city is holding us
• 21:45
  Speaker 5: back from major money that can be prize money?
• 21:49
  Speaker 6: It was a sad day for a lot of the
• 21:51
  Speaker 6: players because it's such an iconic venue. And all the
• 21:53
  Speaker 6: players really look forward to coming here year after year.
• 21:55
  Speaker 6: And as a kid watching... The tour come here and
• 21:59
  Speaker 6: all those great memories that I had watching players come
• 22:02
  Speaker 6: and then not having the ability to play as much
• 22:05
  Speaker 6: as I wanted to in Laguna Beach because of those
• 22:09
  Speaker 6: rules and regs set around the tournaments. It was a
• 22:12
  Speaker 6: sad day for us all.
• 22:13
  Speaker 5: God, I'll bet. That was around what year?
• 22:15
  Speaker 6: That was 86.
• 22:18
  Speaker 5: 86. Well, not a lot has changed.
• 22:21
  Speaker 6: Yeah. But it's a great venue. I mean, like I said,
• 22:25
  Speaker 6: it's one of the most iconic venues. And the fact
• 22:27
  Speaker 6: that the tour is back here and the players, some
• 22:29
  Speaker 6: of the best players in the world will be here.
• 22:32
  Speaker 6: And the weather should be fantastic. So if you have
• 22:34
  Speaker 6: an opportunity, come down and check it out.
• 22:35
  Speaker 5: It's nice the heat broke. So now we rejoined. Now
• 22:39
  Speaker 5: it's part of the AVP.
• 22:40
  Speaker 6: Yes.
• 22:41
  Speaker 5: And how did that come about?
• 22:43
  Speaker 6: Don't really have an alcohol sponsor as far as I know. Wow.
• 22:46
  Speaker 5: I wonder if there was an alcohol sponsor, whether the
• 22:50
  Speaker 5: city would still maintain that position. It's such a nanny
• 22:54
  Speaker 5: state kind of thing. I mean, come on, it's a
• 22:56
  Speaker 5: legal adult beverage.
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but you know, the way it was done, maybe
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: you haven't seen the pictures, but for those two years,
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: there was a 30, 40 foot tall tequila bottle.
• 23:06
  Speaker 6: Massive.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: Blown up, sitting right there at the foot of Broadway.
• 23:10
  Speaker 6: But it was not the only beach to do that.
• 23:12
  Speaker 6: I mean, the Coastal Commission has come in and forbidden
• 23:16
  Speaker 6: a lot of cities from doing the exact same thing.
• 23:19
  Speaker 6: So therefore, a lot of tournaments... That we used to
• 23:22
  Speaker 6: have from the Seal Beaches and Hermosa's and Manhattan's and
• 23:26
  Speaker 6: all those places where we used to go. And the
• 23:28
  Speaker 6: two which pull up and actually serve alcohol on the
• 23:31
  Speaker 6: beach were no longer available. So therefore we went to
• 23:35
  Speaker 6: places like, you know, a fabulous parking lot in JCPenney
• 23:39
  Speaker 6: in Texas.
• 23:40
  Speaker 5: Oh my God.
• 23:42
  Speaker 6: That happened a lot.
• 23:43
  Speaker 5: So is this going to all be documented in the film,
• 23:45
  Speaker 5: do you think?
• 23:46
  Speaker 6: There's a bunch of it, yes.
• 23:47
  Speaker 5: Yeah. It's really fascinating because at the same time it
• 23:50
  Speaker 5: was elevating the sport, giving it a national profile and
• 23:53
  Speaker 5: doling out prize money to these great athletes. But, you know,
• 23:58
  Speaker 5: I know that, well, apparently you can actually drink in
• 24:02
  Speaker 5: High Slope Park. Not many people know that. You're supposed
• 24:04
  Speaker 5: to have a meal with it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And
• 24:06
  Speaker 5: it used to be you have to go to the
• 24:08
  Speaker 5: rec department and give them $ 10 for a permit and
• 24:11
  Speaker 5: I've done it once or twice, and then I got
• 24:12
  Speaker 5: yelled at by people walking through the park. You can't
• 24:15
  Speaker 5: have alcohol. I'm like, here's my permit.
• 24:17
  Speaker 6: Leave me alone. Just join the lawn bowling club.
• 24:19
  Speaker 5: Yeah, exactly. So, go ahead.
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: You know, thinking of the old volleyball tournaments, the California
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: beach volleyball tournaments before it became professional, it's really, in
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: my view, it's a completely different animal now. What those
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: tournaments represented was a an original California lifestyle. It was
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: just a completely different animal. I don't think I can
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: put words to that, but people that have experienced both
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: would certainly understand what I'm saying. Totally.
• 25:00
  Speaker 6: That's what enamored me. It was like the Wild Wild West,
• 25:03
  Speaker 6: these guys going out and playing. It was super cavalier.
• 25:06
  Speaker 6: They weren't decked out in all their sponsors and their T-shirts,
• 25:09
  Speaker 6: and they were just living a dream. They wanted to
• 25:11
  Speaker 6: go and play against the best players, and they traveled
• 25:15
  Speaker 6: up and down the coast to do it, all on
• 25:16
  Speaker 6: their own dime. Like I said, they used to work
• 25:18
  Speaker 6: at the chart house at night. They would play all day,
• 25:20
  Speaker 6: and they did it for the love, and they were
• 25:22
  Speaker 6: fantastic athletes. And then introduced money, and a lot of
• 25:26
  Speaker 6: that stuff changes. Yeah.
• 25:28
  Speaker 5: You know, it's so similar to the story of surfing
• 25:31
  Speaker 5: here in town, you know, with Hobie Alter and, you know,
• 25:34
  Speaker 5: the impact that he made changing, you know, the technology
• 25:37
  Speaker 5: of boards in his backyard. And, of course, now they're
• 25:40
  Speaker 5: opening Shack, the Surf Heritage and Cultural Center, thanks to
• 25:44
  Speaker 5: 96-year-old Dick Metz, who is iconic. And you hear these
• 25:48
  Speaker 5: stories about what Laguna was like starting as far back
• 25:52
  Speaker 5: as the 30s and the 40s and the 50s and
• 25:55
  Speaker 5: then into the 60s. And it's really... a story. It
• 25:58
  Speaker 5: makes you sort of proud to live here that Laguna
• 26:01
  Speaker 5: is such an important part of that history. And it
• 26:03
  Speaker 5: sounds like same with beach volleyball.
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely. And just being in Laguna in that period.
• 26:09
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: It's just, you know, thinking about it, talking about kind
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: of the difference, the change in volleyball at that period,
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: that's kind of the, whenever, I think everything around California
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: kind of changed in that same manner that about that same.
• 26:29
  Speaker 5: I mean, there was a lot going on here in
• 26:30
  Speaker 5: the sixties because we also had the hippie movement and
• 26:33
  Speaker 5: the brotherhood of eternal love. And there was a lot
• 26:35
  Speaker 5: of drug dealing going on and, uh, a lot of
• 26:37
  Speaker 5: experiment with, uh, consciousness raising psychedelics. And I mean, what a,
• 26:42
  Speaker 5: what a, what a fertile period in Laguna when I
• 26:45
  Speaker 5: think about also action sports and volleyball. And, you know, we,
• 26:49
  Speaker 5: I had Tex Haynes on, on the radio a month
• 26:52
  Speaker 5: ago promoting the Vic and, Here he is, kind of
• 26:55
  Speaker 5: a seminal figure in the sport of skimboarding. And it
• 26:57
  Speaker 5: all happened here because Aliso Beach has that steep pitch
• 27:01
  Speaker 5: and it's perfect for skimming.
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: And because of him. I mean, his love for it.
• 27:06
  Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah. He's so humble. But really, he stuck with
• 27:10
  Speaker 5: it all these years and put it on the map.
• 27:12
  Speaker 5: And now it's an international sport as well. So what
• 27:16
  Speaker 5: was the year then roughly when Laguna rejoined, the Open
• 27:20
  Speaker 5: rejoined the AVP or joined the AVP? Was that?
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: You know, I don't know. I'm not really that into it.
• 27:27
  Speaker 6: It was about eight years ago.
• 27:29
  Speaker 5: Yeah, it wasn't that long ago. Has that changed the
• 27:32
  Speaker 5: tournament dramatically?
• 27:34
  Speaker 6: Not necessarily.
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: No.
• 27:36
  Speaker 6: I mean, we already went down a path of having
• 27:38
  Speaker 6: so many non-indemnic sponsors where they literally sucked all the
• 27:43
  Speaker 6: aura out of the tour and out of volleyball as
• 27:45
  Speaker 6: a whole. Yeah. There wasn't really a lot of room
• 27:48
  Speaker 6: to go much further down. And now they're starting. There's
• 27:51
  Speaker 6: some great, like the Crab Brothers that are out there
• 27:54
  Speaker 6: and some of the play that you'll see. And they'll
• 27:57
  Speaker 6: elevate this game to a point that hopefully we'll be
• 28:00
  Speaker 6: seeing them all compete in the next Olympics here in L.A.
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: Wow.
• 28:04
  Speaker 6: But from that standpoint, it's phenomenal. And a lot of
• 28:07
  Speaker 6: the women, too.
• 28:07
  Speaker 5: If you play in the Pro League, you can still
• 28:09
  Speaker 5: compete in the Olympics.
• 28:10
  Speaker 6: Yes. Yeah.
• 28:11
  Speaker 5: That's new.
• 28:12
  Speaker 6: Just like the NBA.
• 28:13
  Speaker 5: Yeah, just like the NBA.
• 28:14
  Speaker 6: Yes.
• 28:14
  Speaker 5: Exactly.
• 28:16
  Speaker 4: And.
• 28:17
  Speaker 5: You know, I mean, I remember, who brought it back
• 28:20
  Speaker 5: eight years ago? Who was running the tournament?
• 28:22
  Speaker 6: Kirk Morgan.
• 28:23
  Speaker 5: Kirk Morgan. So the other hat I wear is La
• 28:27
  Speaker 5: Vida Laguna, which is, you know, we do outdoor adventure sports,
• 28:31
  Speaker 5: taking tourists out. And occasionally we'll get a corporate group
• 28:34
  Speaker 5: that wants to do a volleyball clinic. And Kirk was
• 28:37
  Speaker 5: always very helpful for us, helping us secure these. Quartz,
• 28:42
  Speaker 5: which are basically first come first. You really can't rent them, right?
• 28:45
  Speaker 5: You cannot reserve them.
• 28:45
  Speaker 6: You can go down to the city. Unless you can.
• 28:47
  Speaker 5: Pull a permit of some sort.
• 28:49
  Speaker 6: Being that I'm a high school girls beach volleyball coach,
• 28:52
  Speaker 6: you can work with the city to secure some quartz.
• 28:54
  Speaker 5: You can.
• 28:54
  Speaker 6: Yes.
• 28:55
  Speaker 5: And who was the female star 20 years ago who,
• 29:04
  Speaker 5: she's not tall, but her partner was tall.
• 29:07
  Speaker 6: Misty May?
• 29:08
  Speaker 5: Yes, thank you. Misty was our go-to celebrity volleyball person
• 29:16
  Speaker 5: that we would hire to run these clinics.
• 29:18
  Speaker 6: Oh, perfect.
• 29:19
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 29:20
  Speaker 6: She's amazing.
• 29:20
  Speaker 5: And she told great stories, very personable. And you look
• 29:24
  Speaker 5: at her and you're like, wow, she's not that tall.
• 29:25
  Speaker 5: And she was such a seminal figure in the sport, right?
• 29:28
  Speaker 6: She was incredible, yes.
• 29:30
  Speaker 5: I'm glad you brought this up, Brian, because you talked
• 29:32
  Speaker 5: about women. And you are a coach of the high
• 29:35
  Speaker 5: school women's sand volleyball team.
• 29:38
  Speaker 6: Yes, sir. Yeah.
• 29:40
  Speaker 5: And tell us about the quality of athletes and human
• 29:45
  Speaker 5: beings that you are helping mentor.
• 29:49
  Speaker 6: It's a great opportunity. I'm very thankful and blessed to
• 29:52
  Speaker 6: be the coach and have an opportunity to work with
• 29:56
  Speaker 6: all these individuals. We had over 67 girls try out
• 30:00
  Speaker 6: for the team last year, and I can only keep 30.
• 30:03
  Speaker 6: And we're only able to use two courts to practice.
• 30:07
  Speaker 5: And what grades are they in?
• 30:08
  Speaker 6: Freshmen and seniors.
• 30:10
  Speaker 5: Freshmen all the way through seniors? Yes. Okay. Is there
• 30:13
  Speaker 5: a varsity and a JV kind of thing?
• 30:15
  Speaker 6: There's a varsity and JV. We do have enough players
• 30:17
  Speaker 6: for a froshed-off team, but we just don't have the
• 30:19
  Speaker 6: facilities in which to keep them going. So they need
• 30:22
  Speaker 6: to find something else to do in the interim, and
• 30:24
  Speaker 6: hopefully they'll all come try out in November.
• 30:26
  Speaker 5: But you get a priority use of these courts for
• 30:29
  Speaker 5: a certain two?
• 30:31
  Speaker 6: We get two courts.
• 30:32
  Speaker 5: Two courts in the afternoon after school?
• 30:34
  Speaker 6: Yes.
• 30:35
  Speaker 5: And that's not enough? Not enough. Yeah, right, because you
• 30:37
  Speaker 5: can only put four people on a court at one time,
• 30:40
  Speaker 5: and you got 30.
• 30:40
  Speaker 6: Yeah, it's a shame, but there's supposed to be some
• 30:43
  Speaker 6: courts that are happening at the top of the world
• 30:45
  Speaker 6: elementary school. There's a 10-year master plan where they're going
• 30:47
  Speaker 6: to put some courts, so hopefully they'll See the opportunity
• 30:51
  Speaker 6: that we have to bestow on these young female athletes
• 30:54
  Speaker 6: and keep the sport going.
• 30:55
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 30:55
  Speaker 6: Because we do have a boys' program, too.
• 30:57
  Speaker 5: Uh-huh. And what does this do for their self-esteem, their athleticism?
• 31:01
  Speaker 5: You know, why is it important that we foster these
• 31:05
  Speaker 5: young athletes?
• 31:06
  Speaker 6: Well, you hit it. Self-esteem is important. One thing for sure,
• 31:09
  Speaker 6: working together as a team, sometimes you don't always want
• 31:12
  Speaker 6: to work together with somebody, but when you go into
• 31:14
  Speaker 6: the workforce, it's kind of the same thing. There's opportunities
• 31:17
  Speaker 6: for you to get along with somebody you may not
• 31:19
  Speaker 6: want to, but you have to work towards a common goal.
• 31:21
  Speaker 6: And then competing at a very high level and continuing
• 31:25
  Speaker 6: to play sports, it's so good for you mentally and physically.
• 31:29
  Speaker 6: We had the opportunity to make it to the semifinals
• 31:32
  Speaker 6: of CIF last year, which was a A big win
• 31:34
  Speaker 6: for all of us, for the school, as well as
• 31:37
  Speaker 6: all the young athletes. And just seeing how much these
• 31:41
  Speaker 6: student-athletes care about the school, the community, their friendships. That
• 31:47
  Speaker 6: goes way beyond just playing volleyball. So I'm super proud
• 31:51
  Speaker 6: of all these young athletes that we have. And hopefully
• 31:53
  Speaker 6: there's going to be a whole other wave coming in.
• 31:55
  Speaker 5: And we live in an era where young people are
• 31:56
  Speaker 5: stuck behind their screens all the time. And they're not
• 31:59
  Speaker 5: interacting with each other.
• 32:00
  Speaker 6: They have to.
• 32:02
  Speaker 5: That acronym now. Oh, that's IRL, in real life. I'm like,
• 32:05
  Speaker 5: oh my God, you have to name it now? Crazy. Yeah.
• 32:11
  Speaker 5: For a young girl or a young man who is
• 32:13
  Speaker 5: thinking about playing volleyball, what's the skill set physically, athletically,
• 32:18
  Speaker 5: that you need to excel at this sport?
• 32:21
  Speaker 6: There's a lot of intangibles. When you play beach volleyball,
• 32:25
  Speaker 6: you're literally naked, right? because you have to pass you
• 32:29
  Speaker 6: have to set you have to hit you have to
• 32:31
  Speaker 6: serve and when you play indoors you can be more
• 32:34
  Speaker 6: specialized um so if you're tall that's fantastic and if
• 32:38
  Speaker 6: you're athletic you can move really well and you got
• 32:41
  Speaker 6: good hand and coordination and you can jump and you
• 32:43
  Speaker 6: put all those things together that's what makes a fabulous
• 32:45
  Speaker 6: volleyball player.
• 32:46
  Speaker 5: Yeah i gotta think it take your these are real
• 32:49
  Speaker 5: athletes elite.
• 32:50
  Speaker 6: Athletes and you know not be afraid Because you literally
• 32:54
  Speaker 6: are out there with one other person. And so if
• 32:56
  Speaker 6: you have any weakness, it's going to be exposed.
• 32:58
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 32:59
  Speaker 6: And they're going to go after you and everybody on
• 33:01
  Speaker 6: the beach is going to be watching you.
• 33:02
  Speaker 5: And they're very close.
• 33:04
  Speaker 6: And you have to be really comfortable within your skin.
• 33:06
  Speaker 6: So that's something we work a lot on is feeling
• 33:09
  Speaker 6: comfortable because guess what? It's just a game. Right. At
• 33:13
  Speaker 6: the end of the day. At the end of the day.
• 33:15
  Speaker 6: We're all playing together for one common goal and that's
• 33:17
  Speaker 6: to be together as a As a group and a community.
• 33:20
  Speaker 6: And have fun. And have a lot of fun doing it.
• 33:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah.
• 33:23
  Speaker 5: Where does the Victoria Volleyball, where does that sit in
• 33:28
  Speaker 5: all of this?
• 33:29
  Speaker 6: Oh, it's an iconic four-man, which, you know, they have
• 33:32
  Speaker 6: every Labor Day, yes. I think Kirk played in it
• 33:36
  Speaker 6: this year. You know, he's the D now. He got
• 33:39
  Speaker 6: to play with a guy named Miles, who's a fantastic player.
• 33:42
  Speaker 6: And so there's A, B, C, D. And it's a
• 33:45
  Speaker 6: fun-filled weekend.
• 33:46
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 33:46
  Speaker 6: It's the who's who of who's who down in Laguna Beach.
• 33:49
  Speaker 5: Down in Laguna. It's more of a local thing.
• 33:51
  Speaker 6: It's a lot more of a local thing, yeah.
• 33:53
  Speaker 5: Yeah. I've been down there, and it's just so cool.
• 33:57
  Speaker 6: It's super cool.
• 33:58
  Speaker 5: Yeah. Just to see the stoke, the community coming out
• 34:01
  Speaker 5: and supporting it.
• 34:03
  Speaker 6: Yeah. So Vic has theirs. Three Arch has theirs as well,
• 34:07
  Speaker 6: and so does Emerald Bay. And they're all on the
• 34:09
  Speaker 6: Labor Day weekend.
• 34:10
  Speaker 5: Do they compete against each other ever?
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: They do. Yeah.
• 34:14
  Speaker 6: When they have the Open this weekend, they should have
• 34:18
  Speaker 6: a competition. Oh, really? There's a main beach team. There's
• 34:22
  Speaker 6: a Vic team, and there's an Emerald Bay team, and
• 34:25
  Speaker 6: a Three Arch team.
• 34:25
  Speaker 5: So there's a whole amateur component.
• 34:27
  Speaker 6: There's a battle of the four men. That's cool. And
• 34:29
  Speaker 6: they have to have a girl on the team, too.
• 34:31
  Speaker 5: All right.
• 34:31
  Speaker 6: Yes.
• 34:32
  Speaker 5: So let's talk about the format for this weekend. It
• 34:35
  Speaker 5: starts on Friday.
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 34:38
  Speaker 5: All day or in the afternoon?
• 34:39
  Speaker 6: It'll be all day.
• 34:40
  Speaker 5: All day.
• 34:41
  Speaker 6: So it's men and women, and you'll see some of
• 34:43
  Speaker 6: the best players in the world, as I aforementioned. There'll
• 34:46
  Speaker 6: be some local heroes that are playing in there as well.
• 34:49
  Speaker 6: And then it's going to go all the way through Sunday.
• 34:51
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 34:52
  Speaker 5: And I heard there is some sort of after party
• 34:56
  Speaker 5: at the Rivian on Saturday night. Is that just for
• 34:58
  Speaker 5: the players?
• 34:59
  Speaker 6: I think it's probably for everybody.
• 35:01
  Speaker 5: I think it is, yeah. For the record, we here
• 35:04
  Speaker 5: at the radio station tried to collaborate with you guys
• 35:07
  Speaker 5: because we wanted to throw a party on Friday night
• 35:10
  Speaker 5: on the promenade. And we wanted to bring DJs out and,
• 35:13
  Speaker 5: God forbid, alcohol. And we got shut down by the
• 35:18
  Speaker 5: city or we got denied because the city said, we're
• 35:21
  Speaker 5: not quite ready with Promenade. And yet, a week later,
• 35:26
  Speaker 5: the city is having their own official grand opening, which
• 35:29
  Speaker 5: really kind of made me think that's the real story.
• 35:32
  Speaker 5: They didn't want to be preempted. But it would have
• 35:34
  Speaker 5: been great because Shaq is having their grand opening this weekend,
• 35:37
  Speaker 5: Surf Heritage. And I thought, what a great– and they
• 35:40
  Speaker 5: both ended around 6 o'clock, so why not drive everybody over?
• 35:44
  Speaker 5: And we were told by the rec department. We actually
• 35:46
  Speaker 5: filled out an application. It was approved until it bounced
• 35:50
  Speaker 5: up to the city manager and the mayor. And I
• 35:52
  Speaker 5: got the call. We're not ready yet. But they are
• 35:56
  Speaker 5: saying that you can rent the space. They're saying you
• 35:58
  Speaker 5: can serve alcohol. But they haven't quite figured out. This
• 36:02
  Speaker 5: was going to be free, obviously. But there's the issue
• 36:06
  Speaker 5: of the restaurants that are there and what happens to
• 36:09
  Speaker 5: them if we're bringing in independent liquor salespeople. And we
• 36:14
  Speaker 5: were honestly looking for some way to cover our costs. Also,
• 36:18
  Speaker 5: there's some confusion with ABC as to whether or not
• 36:21
  Speaker 5: if you're serving inside, somebody gets a beer inside, can
• 36:25
  Speaker 5: they walk out with it? They're saying that if you
• 36:27
  Speaker 5: sit outside now with the ABC license and you get
• 36:31
  Speaker 5: a drink, you can literally walk the promenade with your
• 36:33
  Speaker 5: drink in hand.
• 36:34
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 36:35
  Speaker 5: We've come a long way.
• 36:36
  Speaker 6: Yes. That's going to be fun to watch that go down.
• 36:39
  Speaker 5: Yeah. There's the skeptics are saying we're turning it into
• 36:42
  Speaker 5: a food court for visitors and they're going to get
• 36:44
  Speaker 5: out of control and wild. And I'm like, you know,
• 36:46
  Speaker 5: slow your roll. I don't know about that, but I
• 36:49
  Speaker 5: think people are going to behave. I just don't, it's
• 36:51
  Speaker 5: not clear any of it, but it would have been,
• 36:53
  Speaker 5: We were hoping to do something like that, maybe next year.
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: Well, your alcohol serving, whose license would that be?
• 36:59
  Speaker 5: So we would get the license as a nonprofit. We
• 37:01
  Speaker 5: would apply for a one-day license from the Alcohol Bureau
• 37:04
  Speaker 5: of Control. I just did this last week because we
• 37:07
  Speaker 5: did an event at the Rivian. And, you know, we say, well,
• 37:11
  Speaker 5: they can serve alcohol too. This is going to lift
• 37:14
  Speaker 5: all the ships up rising tide. Everybody's going to want
• 37:15
  Speaker 5: to hang out and eat and drink and all that stuff.
• 37:19
  Speaker 5: I think it was the dirty little secret is they
• 37:21
  Speaker 5: didn't want us to preempt them. That's my view. I'm like, well,
• 37:25
  Speaker 5: it's not ready here. We don't want the whole thing.
• 37:28
  Speaker 5: We'll take half of it, that open space. We're not
• 37:31
  Speaker 5: going to close it off. People can still, the public
• 37:34
  Speaker 5: can walk down the sides. It would have been perfect.
• 37:36
  Speaker 6: You should have just got your picnic permit and went
• 37:38
  Speaker 6: across the street.
• 37:40
  Speaker 5: Well, you know, I think we actually looked at whether
• 37:43
  Speaker 5: we could do it on the cobblestones, but they say
• 37:44
  Speaker 5: you can't do alcohol there. Plus, Kirk had said, or
• 37:49
  Speaker 5: the rec said, that the Open has reserved the cobblestones.
• 37:53
  Speaker 5: So I don't know exactly what they're doing there.
• 37:55
  Speaker 6: Oh, yeah. Yeah.
• 37:57
  Speaker 5: So, but I figured, my God, I know it's a
• 38:00
  Speaker 5: tradition with mountain bikers when they, Hans Ray told me,
• 38:04
  Speaker 5: you know, the guys, the Euros come here, especially in
• 38:07
  Speaker 5: the wintertime when there's snow-capped mountains. And the first thing
• 38:10
  Speaker 5: they do when they arrive in Laguna is go have
• 38:12
  Speaker 5: a burrito from La Serena. That's part of the program.
• 38:17
  Speaker 5: And then they ride, and then they go to Laguna
• 38:19
  Speaker 5: Beer Co. and drink beer. And I figure, okay, you
• 38:22
  Speaker 5: don't drink it while you're competing, but my God, beer
• 38:24
  Speaker 5: must taste good after you play. 1,000%.
• 38:26
  Speaker 6: Yes. There's a lot of thirsty people.
• 38:29
  Speaker 5: Got to be.
• 38:30
  Speaker 6: Yes.
• 38:31
  Speaker 5: Yeah. What about Gatorade and those sports drinks? I would
• 38:35
  Speaker 5: think they'd be all over this for sponsors.
• 38:37
  Speaker 6: You would think.
• 38:39
  Speaker 5: Who are the big sponsors now? Are there any particular
• 38:41
  Speaker 5: ones that are like Cuervo's?
• 38:44
  Speaker 6: There's nobody like Cuervo.
• 38:45
  Speaker 5: Are they still involved?
• 38:46
  Speaker 6: There's nobody like Miller Lite. No, Corvo's not involved.
• 38:49
  Speaker 5: And Miller Lite?
• 38:50
  Speaker 6: Nope.
• 38:51
  Speaker 5: And no alcohol sponsor has stepped up?
• 38:54
  Speaker 6: There has been a few. There's even Fledgling. There hasn't
• 38:57
  Speaker 6: been a real indemnic sponsor to come along.
• 39:00
  Speaker 5: Putting up millions.
• 39:01
  Speaker 6: Putting up millions and having these wonderful athletes have an
• 39:05
  Speaker 6: opportunity to make a living.
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 39:07
  Speaker 6: It's a tough sled out there if you're a Fledgling
• 39:10
  Speaker 6: volleyball player and trying to figure out How you're going
• 39:13
  Speaker 6: to go fly somewhere and lose money along the way,
• 39:15
  Speaker 6: even if you finish in the top five, which doesn't
• 39:18
  Speaker 6: really pencil out. So I feel really sorry for the
• 39:20
  Speaker 6: kids today.
• 39:21
  Speaker 5: I'll bet. Yeah, it's a tough way to make a career.
• 39:23
  Speaker 5: Does it help you get into college, though?
• 39:26
  Speaker 6: The beach game for the women?
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: 100%.
• 39:28
  Speaker 6: There's over 400 colleges offering scholarships for these girls.
• 39:33
  Speaker 5: I know, because I know water polo is a big
• 39:37
  Speaker 5: pathway to get into elite schools. Same with volleyball.
• 39:40
  Speaker 6: Same with beach volleyball for girls. And indoor, too. So
• 39:43
  Speaker 6: the boys are isolated only indoor. there's no opportunities for
• 39:48
  Speaker 6: them on the beach at the current moment. Why is that?
• 39:49
  Speaker 6: It's not a CIF sport yet, which hopefully in the
• 39:53
  Speaker 6: next three to five years that will change, and then
• 39:55
  Speaker 6: there will be more opportunities at the college level. But
• 39:58
  Speaker 6: being Title IX is what it is, it's hard for
• 40:01
  Speaker 6: those schools to open up other opportunities for men.
• 40:04
  Speaker 5: It feels like the Olympics are really the best marketing
• 40:06
  Speaker 5: tool for the sport.
• 40:08
  Speaker 6: Every four years.
• 40:08
  Speaker 5: Every four years.
• 40:09
  Speaker 6: And then it just goes poof.
• 40:10
  Speaker 5: People forget.
• 40:11
  Speaker 6: And then it's gone.
• 40:12
  Speaker 5: Short attention span.
• 40:12
  Speaker 6: And then now what?
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 40:15
  Speaker 6: So there's no real long plan for the success that
• 40:19
  Speaker 6: we've had in the past on how to grow the sport.
• 40:23
  Speaker 6: But they don't really need to do that because the
• 40:24
  Speaker 6: sport is bigger than it ever has been amateurs-wise.
• 40:27
  Speaker 5: Amateur-wise.
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 40:28
  Speaker 5: But we need prize money so these people can make
• 40:30
  Speaker 5: a living.
• 40:31
  Speaker 6: You would hope so, yes. And for us to compete
• 40:33
  Speaker 6: on the national stage. No, I mean international stage.
• 40:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 40:36
  Speaker 5: Now, I heard it would be beautiful to see it
• 40:38
  Speaker 5: on television. I mean, wow. Laguna Beach, Main Beach, these
• 40:42
  Speaker 5: elite athletes. I mean, come on. Let's just say this
• 40:44
  Speaker 5: is the one sport where you see their flesh and
• 40:47
  Speaker 5: they look good. What about prize money? I hear it's
• 40:51
  Speaker 5: pretty big, this tournament. Something like $ 180, 000. Was that right?
• 40:56
  Speaker 6: It's about time. I mean, the boys in Manhattan made
• 41:00
  Speaker 6: a decent payday, which I was happy to see. And
• 41:03
  Speaker 6: there's less events but more prize money.
• 41:06
  Speaker 5: What do you mean the boys in Manhattan?
• 41:08
  Speaker 6: Well, I mean the kids in the finals.
• 41:12
  Speaker 5: Got it.
• 41:12
  Speaker 6: The athletes in the finals, both men and women.
• 41:14
  Speaker 5: So you're referring to Manhattan Beach?
• 41:16
  Speaker 6: Yes.
• 41:17
  Speaker 5: Okay. That was the last tournament?
• 41:18
  Speaker 6: That was the one right before Hermosa. So those two back-to-back.
• 41:22
  Speaker 6: And Hermosa was a lot less than the Manhattan Beach Open.
• 41:25
  Speaker 5: I see. Okay. And then they come down here.
• 41:27
  Speaker 6: Then they come down here, yes. This will be the
• 41:29
  Speaker 6: final crescendo.
• 41:31
  Speaker 5: How many weeks ago was that, Manhattan?
• 41:32
  Speaker 6: Three weeks ago. Three weeks ago.
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 41:34
  Speaker 6: And then last weekend they played in Hermosa.
• 41:36
  Speaker 5: So what did the winners take home?
• 41:38
  Speaker 6: They split $ 100, 000.
• 41:40
  Speaker 5: Not a bad payday.
• 41:41
  Speaker 6: That's a good payday.
• 41:42
  Speaker 5: That's between two guys.
• 41:43
  Speaker 6: Yes.
• 41:43
  Speaker 5: $ 50, 000 each.
• 41:44
  Speaker 6: Yep.
• 41:45
  Speaker 5: Win a couple of those and you can make a living.
• 41:48
  Speaker 6: You can, yeah.
• 41:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 41:49
  Speaker 5: So is Laguna somewhat comparable?
• 41:52
  Speaker 6: Not quite. I think it's probably a lower tier compared
• 41:55
  Speaker 6: to the Manhattans, the Crown Jewels. It's like the Wimbledon.
• 42:00
  Speaker 4: It is.
• 42:00
  Speaker 5: That's the biggest.
• 42:01
  Speaker 6: Yes.
• 42:01
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I feel like they have more courts too, don't they?
• 42:04
  Speaker 6: They have a lot of courts.
• 42:05
  Speaker 5: A lot of courts.
• 42:06
  Speaker 6: Yes, they have a lot of beach. Yeah.
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: So.
• 42:10
  Speaker 5: And then do these same players have tournaments in Europe
• 42:13
  Speaker 5: that they play at?
• 42:15
  Speaker 6: Only a few of them from the States can go
• 42:16
  Speaker 6: and play in the ones in Europe because you have
• 42:18
  Speaker 6: to have points and able to compete. So they have
• 42:21
  Speaker 6: a lot of other international teams that are competing all
• 42:24
  Speaker 6: the time. And it's just like the ATP, very similar system.
• 42:30
  Speaker 5: That's kind of a shame.
• 42:31
  Speaker 6: It is, especially when you have a lot of great athletes.
• 42:35
  Speaker 6: You're competing against each other for a couple spots in
• 42:37
  Speaker 6: the qualifier.
• 42:39
  Speaker 5: So how many significant tournaments are there throughout the year
• 42:42
  Speaker 5: for these people, men and women, to compete and make
• 42:46
  Speaker 5: some money?
• 42:47
  Speaker 6: Anywhere from 12 to 20.
• 42:48
  Speaker 5: Okay. And is there a season? I mean, right now
• 42:52
  Speaker 5: we're in the.
• 42:53
  Speaker 6: It's all year long.
• 42:54
  Speaker 5: It is all year long.
• 42:55
  Speaker 6: For these international players, because when it's our summer here,
• 42:58
  Speaker 6: it's their winter and vice versa. So they can go
• 43:00
  Speaker 6: to Australia and a lot of other countries that have
• 43:03
  Speaker 6: pretty decent weather.
• 43:03
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 43:04
  Speaker 6: And the winters aren't too bad here either. No.
• 43:07
  Speaker 5: In fact... Who would want to play this summer? It
• 43:09
  Speaker 5: was so hot. It was unbelievable.
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: That would be hard. Before we're done, I have a
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: story that you might be interested in.
• 43:16
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: Let's hear from Mark here. In 1977, I thought, this
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: California volleyball scene is really special. It's a beautiful laguna.
• 43:28
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: So I went to the, which group? The Kiwanis Club.
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: And they gave me some money to hire greg mcgillivray
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: and robin williams a local filmmaker to make a film
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: to to take to new york to take to abc
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: sports and we were going to uh the chamber of
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: commerce agreed to pay for helicopter and robin was going
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: to fly in the helicopter and just.
• 43:56
  Speaker 5: This was before drones yes yeah.
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: And they chickened out, so that didn't happen. But Greg
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: made this beautiful film.
• 44:06
  Speaker 5: Greg made a living shooting from helicopters early in his career.
• 44:10
  Speaker 5: He did.
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: They made a beautiful 13-minute film in 77, which in
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: then 78 I did take to ABC Sports in New York.
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: And not much came of it. I mean, it was
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: kind of early. But that film is out there somewhere. Wow. Yeah,
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: you might. talk to Greg and take a look at it.
• 44:32
  Speaker 5: Yeah. I'd love to find that. So at the time,
• 44:35
  Speaker 5: ABC wasn't doing anything on volleyball.
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: No, no, it was, you know, it turns out that
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: was a bit early.
• 44:40
  Speaker 5: How'd you get the meeting?
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: I just called him up. I don't remember exactly, but
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: you know, just made some phone calls.
• 44:46
  Speaker 5: Yeah. Who was, uh, was it Rune Arledge in those days?
• 44:49
  Speaker 5: Remember that name? Yeah. I don't know if he.
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: Said, yeah. Who knows who I actually met.
• 44:54
  Speaker 5: Howard Cosell.
• 44:56
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 44:57
  Speaker 5: Um, that's a pretty cool story. So, Are there local
• 45:02
  Speaker 5: sponsors too in Laguna that you guys have– anybody's recruited?
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure.
• 45:07
  Speaker 5: God, I think it's such a no-brainer.
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: That used to be all I could get was local sponsors.
• 45:12
  Speaker 5: But we don't know if anybody– and then we're missing Blair.
• 45:15
  Speaker 5: It's Blair– what's his last name?
• 45:17
  Speaker 6: Applegate.
• 45:18
  Speaker 5: Applegate. And he's currently running the show. Allegedly.
• 45:22
  Speaker 6: Allegedly.
• 45:22
  Speaker 5: Allegedly.
• 45:23
  Speaker 6: Why?
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: We're not sure.
• 45:25
  Speaker 6: Well, I know that Walden is with the actual Open.
• 45:28
  Speaker 6: He produces the Best of the West, which is the
• 45:30
  Speaker 6: five college collegiate teams that come down here and compete.
• 45:35
  Speaker 6: But he does have some affiliation with this event. I'm
• 45:37
  Speaker 6: just not sure what it is.
• 45:38
  Speaker 5: There's two different websites out there for the Open. And
• 45:43
  Speaker 5: somebody told me, no, don't pay attention to that website.
• 45:45
  Speaker 5: That's somebody else.
• 45:46
  Speaker 2: Oh, really?
• 45:47
  Speaker 6: Oh, yeah.
• 45:48
  Speaker 5: I have to go back to my notes and tell
• 45:49
  Speaker 5: you who. I don't want to throw anything out there
• 45:51
  Speaker 5: on the air that I may regret.
• 45:53
  Speaker 6: Same.
• 45:53
  Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah. So Blair is allegedly the captain. He took
• 45:58
  Speaker 5: over a couple years ago, we think. We're passing notes here.
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: I don't want to say anything that isn't– I don't
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: know who that is.
• 46:09
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I'm not going to mention any of those names
• 46:11
  Speaker 6: on the air. I have no idea.
• 46:13
  Speaker 5: Okay. But there is an organization– And do we have
• 46:18
  Speaker 5: any thoughts on how many people might be attending this weekend?
• 46:24
  Speaker 6: No idea.
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: No, but it's nothing like it used to be.
• 46:28
  Speaker 5: Nothing like it used to be. Well, how do we
• 46:30
  Speaker 5: get it back to what it used to be? Because
• 46:31
  Speaker 5: it looked like in these archival pictures that I saw,
• 46:34
  Speaker 5: I'm going to say there was a couple thousand people.
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: There were thousands. Thousands. Yeah, there were thousands.
• 46:39
  Speaker 5: Yeah, it's unbelievable to see these pictures. I'm like, how
• 46:42
  Speaker 5: come it was so big then and we're not drawing
• 46:44
  Speaker 5: those crowds now?
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: Well, you know, it was when you went to it,
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: you'd see everybody in town went there. And it was just,
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: you know, it was just different.
• 46:56
  Speaker 5: And do you guys have an official role in this
• 46:58
  Speaker 5: event this weekend?
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: I don't, no.
• 47:01
  Speaker 6: No, I don't. I'm just a huge advocate of volleyball.
• 47:03
  Speaker 5: Yeah, you'll be there all weekend?
• 47:05
  Speaker 6: I will not. I'll be in Arizona at my kids'
• 47:08
  Speaker 6: club baseball tournament.
• 47:10
  Speaker 5: Oh, too bad.
• 47:11
  Speaker 6: 107 degrees.
• 47:11
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 47:11
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: I'll be there for a bit. Yeah, watch.
• 47:16
  Speaker 5: So for those lay people like myself, we should bring
• 47:20
  Speaker 5: a little beach chair, right?
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, if you're going to hang around, bring them. Or
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: if you're lucky enough to get a boardwalk spot.
• 47:29
  Speaker 5: That's the premier spot.
• 47:30
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 47:30
  Speaker 5: Okay. Get there early. What time do the first games are?
• 47:36
  Speaker 6: Nine o'clock.
• 47:37
  Speaker 5: They start that early?
• 47:38
  Speaker 4: Early, yeah.
• 47:39
  Speaker 6: One thing that's great about the boardwalk, you can literally
• 47:41
  Speaker 6: walk up and down. So you see one match going on,
• 47:43
  Speaker 6: and if you have the ability in which to get
• 47:46
  Speaker 6: on your tippy toes and see a couple plays with
• 47:49
  Speaker 6: one player, and then you can walk down. There will
• 47:51
  Speaker 6: be five or six courts, and you can walk down
• 47:53
  Speaker 6: and find your little zone of the player that you
• 47:54
  Speaker 6: want to watch from the men and women. So from
• 47:58
  Speaker 6: that standpoint, the band is fantastic.
• 48:00
  Speaker 5: I mean, honestly, I'm excited just talking to you guys.
• 48:03
  Speaker 5: It just sounds amazing. I mean, I don't think that
• 48:05
  Speaker 5: our community is necessarily aware of the quality of players.
• 48:09
  Speaker 5: These are the elite players of the world.
• 48:11
  Speaker 6: Most of them are domestic players, yes.
• 48:15
  Speaker 5: Of the U.S.
• 48:16
  Speaker 6: Of the U.S., yes.
• 48:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 48:18
  Speaker 6: And like I said, there's a couple girls here from
• 48:19
  Speaker 6: Laguna Beach that will be playing as well.
• 48:22
  Speaker 5: Any guys from Laguna?
• 48:24
  Speaker 6: I don't think so.
• 48:25
  Speaker 5: No?
• 48:25
  Speaker 6: No.
• 48:25
  Speaker 5: What happened?
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: I don't know.
• 48:28
  Speaker 5: They all got old. Well, where's the next generation of them?
• 48:32
  Speaker 6: I don't know. I'm not responsible for that program.
• 48:34
  Speaker 5: But you've got the girls in there.
• 48:36
  Speaker 6: Paul Cuevas is the men's coach, and he's doing a
• 48:38
  Speaker 6: fantastic job with the boys and getting them ready to
• 48:42
  Speaker 6: go and battle. So they're playing at the beach this year.
• 48:45
  Speaker 5: Is there a particular city in Southern California or on
• 48:50
  Speaker 5: the coast that is consistently producing the best players?
• 48:54
  Speaker 6: Manhattan Beach. Manhattan Beach.
• 48:55
  Speaker 5: It really is Manhattan Beach.
• 48:57
  Speaker 6: Maricosta, both boys and girls.
• 48:58
  Speaker 5: Maricosta.
• 48:59
  Speaker 6: South Bay as a whole.
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: Some things never change.
• 49:02
  Speaker 6: Yeah. I mean, the numbers are staggering. They have a
• 49:04
  Speaker 6: lot of people that go to that school.
• 49:06
  Speaker 4: Interesting.
• 49:07
  Speaker 6: So from Redondo to Manhattan Beach to Aviation and the Loyolas,
• 49:11
  Speaker 6: they consistently produce some of the best players.
• 49:14
  Speaker 5: Interesting. Why do you think that is?
• 49:17
  Speaker 6: I think at a very early age, they're down there
• 49:18
  Speaker 6: touching the ball.
• 49:19
  Speaker 5: Uh-huh.
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 49:20
  Speaker 6: And as they grow into their body and all of
• 49:22
  Speaker 6: a sudden now you know.
• 49:23
  Speaker 5: The best athletes want to play volleyball.
• 49:25
  Speaker 6: And they're super competitive at a very young age and
• 49:28
  Speaker 6: that doesn't stop.
• 49:29
  Speaker 5: It's the culture it's the ecosystem that they're It is.
• 49:33
  Speaker 5: I grew up on the East Coast. I knew nothing
• 49:34
  Speaker 5: about South County. But every Olympics, I'd see swimmers and
• 49:38
  Speaker 5: they'd say, they're from Mission Viejo. I'm like, where the
• 49:41
  Speaker 5: hell is that? But it seems like we just breed
• 49:43
  Speaker 5: swimmers down here and to some degree water polo, more water-based.
• 49:52
  Speaker 6: We have 860 kids that go to the high school.
• 49:55
  Speaker 6: We're competing against– I watch it in the football arena
• 49:58
  Speaker 6: every weekend. or every Friday night where my son's on
• 50:02
  Speaker 6: the team and watching the varsity play. And we have
• 50:04
  Speaker 6: some of the better athletes, but then come the fourth quarter,
• 50:07
  Speaker 6: cause our kids are playing offense, defense, special teams. He's punting,
• 50:11
  Speaker 6: he's returning, he's kicking the field goal. And by the
• 50:13
  Speaker 6: fourth quarter, we're just getting worn down when they've got
• 50:16
  Speaker 6: a whole fresh set of players that are coming in.
• 50:18
  Speaker 6: There's over 2000 to 3000 kids that go to these schools.
• 50:20
  Speaker 6: So We have a finite number of kids that we
• 50:24
  Speaker 6: can throw out there on the field, and we don't
• 50:27
  Speaker 6: have a lot of the same facilities that a lot
• 50:28
  Speaker 6: of these other programs have.
• 50:29
  Speaker 5: Laguna's had an amazing run in the football arena. I mean,
• 50:33
  Speaker 5: for a school this size.
• 50:35
  Speaker 6: John Shanahan is an amazing coach, and what he's done
• 50:38
  Speaker 6: with his players and staff and created this culture within
• 50:42
  Speaker 6: the town has been phenomenal.
• 50:44
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 50:45
  Speaker 6: Big words like accountability and responsibility.
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 50:49
  Speaker 6: Ingrained into these athletes, which has been phenomenal. So I'm
• 50:52
  Speaker 6: a huge fan of what he's been doing.
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: Isn't it amazing how one or two people can have
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: such a profound.
• 50:58
  Speaker 6: Impact on things?
• 50:59
  Speaker 5: Yes, on your life. Great teachers, great coaches.
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: You mentioned Mission Viejo Swimming. That was the result of
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: a program there, a facility, a pool. And I'm not
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: sure the people involved, but I was aware of it.
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: It's not far from here. And that was probably the
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: result of a handful of people getting the money for
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: that facility and just really making a difference.
• 51:22
  Speaker 5: Yeah. You think this new pool is going to help
• 51:25
  Speaker 5: the water polo program?
• 51:26
  Speaker 6: Yeah. Unfortunately, a lot of our really good athletes have
• 51:29
  Speaker 6: had to move on to other schools because they don't
• 51:31
  Speaker 6: have a facility. And so therefore they don't have the
• 51:33
  Speaker 6: ability in which to train.
• 51:35
  Speaker 5: Oh, that's right. I didn't even consider that. How far
• 51:37
  Speaker 5: off are we before that pool's ready?
• 51:39
  Speaker 6: A couple of years, I think.
• 51:40
  Speaker 5: A couple of years. So if you're really outside your lane,
• 51:45
  Speaker 5: but if you're, if you're really focused on that sport, you're,
• 51:49
  Speaker 5: You've got to go to another school?
• 51:50
  Speaker 6: You've got to go to another school. How do you
• 51:52
  Speaker 6: do that?
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: You move?
• 51:54
  Speaker 6: No, you get in your car and drive.
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: So that's legal now? There's J.
• 51:58
  Speaker 5: Sarah, there's Elph.
• 51:59
  Speaker 6: There's a lot of schools that are private. Oh, okay.
• 52:03
  Speaker 5: St. Cath, St. What is it? St.
• 52:05
  Speaker 6: Margaret's. St.
• 52:06
  Speaker 5: Margaret's. Yeah.
• 52:08
  Speaker 6: Mater Dei, all those other schools like that.
• 52:11
  Speaker 5: Who have tremendous athletic programs.
• 52:13
  Speaker 6: And a lot of money, yes.
• 52:15
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 52:15
  Speaker 6: But it's great to see the... Amount of kids that
• 52:19
  Speaker 6: we have that are involved in sports here and how
• 52:22
  Speaker 6: competitive we are on a lot of the sports that
• 52:25
  Speaker 6: you wouldn't necessarily think that we're going to be really competitive.
• 52:28
  Speaker 4: Amazing.
• 52:28
  Speaker 6: Baseball, last year we made it to the finals. We
• 52:30
  Speaker 6: should have won.
• 52:31
  Speaker 5: That's incredible. And our enrollment is shrinking, right?
• 52:34
  Speaker 6: Correct.
• 52:34
  Speaker 5: Because we're not bringing in, obviously, I think it's the
• 52:36
  Speaker 5: cost of living issue, right? We're not bringing in young families.
• 52:40
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I believe it was 1,200 a year and a half,
• 52:42
  Speaker 6: two years ago, and now we're down to 860. That's
• 52:44
  Speaker 6: a big drop.
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: Well, it's about the houses that people don't live in.
• 52:51
  Speaker 5: Yes, also. But, you know, I've been watching on the
• 52:55
  Speaker 5: sidelines this whole debacle of the school board, and I'm
• 52:59
  Speaker 5: sure you're in the middle of it, too. I've had
• 53:00
  Speaker 5: people on the show here talk about it. It's like
• 53:03
  Speaker 5: I don't have a dog in the fight, so I
• 53:05
  Speaker 5: kind of tune it out because it's so rough. I
• 53:09
  Speaker 5: cannot believe what this fighting that's going on. But I
• 53:14
  Speaker 5: see the passion of the parents. some of whom said, yes,
• 53:17
  Speaker 5: I paid more to buy a house here, but it
• 53:19
  Speaker 5: was offset because I believe in the public school system,
• 53:22
  Speaker 5: and I know that Laguna's got an elite school, and
• 53:25
  Speaker 5: I want to see it stay that way.
• 53:27
  Speaker 6: It's amazing how many kids looking at just the football
• 53:30
  Speaker 6: program and the schools that these kids are getting accepted
• 53:35
  Speaker 6: to are some of the top Division I schools throughout
• 53:39
  Speaker 6: the country. And then the kids that aren't playing sports
• 53:42
  Speaker 6: and where they're getting placed academically, is phenomenal. So the
• 53:46
  Speaker 6: school as a whole is doing an unbelievable job of
• 53:50
  Speaker 6: placing these kids. And there's a lot of people who
• 53:53
  Speaker 6: are so happy to have their kids be able to
• 53:56
  Speaker 6: have an education at the school. And I do believe
• 54:00
  Speaker 6: that it's a very elite public school.
• 54:02
  Speaker 5: I'm glad to hear you say that. You know, I really,
• 54:04
  Speaker 5: when I see this ridiculous fighting and people pushing each
• 54:08
  Speaker 5: other or this one school board super, you know, saying
• 54:11
  Speaker 5: that she got pushed to the ground and I don't
• 54:14
  Speaker 5: know how much truth there is to that. But the
• 54:17
  Speaker 5: violence and the rhetoric and these kids are being forced
• 54:19
  Speaker 5: to endure it and the teachers are too. And it's like, God,
• 54:22
  Speaker 5: who wants to be under that cloud of controversy? It's
• 54:26
  Speaker 5: not good for the kids. They're getting dragged into it.
• 54:31
  Speaker 6: That could be the next Laguna Beach reality TV show.
• 54:35
  Speaker 5: God forbid. Anyway, guys, yeah, we're rolling up on 3 o'clock.
• 54:39
  Speaker 5: It's really been a pleasure talking to you guys. I
• 54:41
  Speaker 5: learned a lot about beach volleyball and Laguna's role in
• 54:44
  Speaker 5: this historically. Laguna Beach Open starts Friday morning, 9 a.m.
• 54:49
  Speaker 5: It's going to roll all the way through Sunday, 6 p.m.
• 54:53
  Speaker 6: I would say that's probably when it's going to end.
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 54:57
  Speaker 5: Well, it's really something special for our town, and I
• 55:00
  Speaker 5: hope people listening here will take the time to go
• 55:03
  Speaker 5: down and experience it because you're going to see the
• 55:05
  Speaker 5: best players. Not in the world, but domestically, or should
• 55:09
  Speaker 5: we say in California?
• 55:10
  Speaker 6: Could be the world. If we win gold, then they're
• 55:13
  Speaker 6: going to be the best players in the world.
• 55:14
  Speaker 5: Exactly, exactly. Where and when are the next Olympics?
• 55:19
  Speaker 6: In 2028, they're going to be in Long Beach.
• 55:22
  Speaker 5: In Long Beach? Yes. Are those, I assume, not natural
• 55:25
  Speaker 5: sand cores?
• 55:28
  Speaker 6: I would beg to differ, yes.
• 55:30
  Speaker 5: They are natural.
• 55:31
  Speaker 6: I think they'll be natural sand, but I'm not sure
• 55:33
  Speaker 6: where exactly it's going to be in Long Beach.
• 55:35
  Speaker 5: Got it, got it. Does that give our players an
• 55:38
  Speaker 5: advantage or not necessarily?
• 55:40
  Speaker 6: Not necessarily. They're so used to playing in every single
• 55:43
  Speaker 6: type of condition, from deep sand to more hard pack, compact,
• 55:48
  Speaker 6: or whatever it is, and not natural wind flows.
• 55:52
  Speaker 5: They're pros, so they're the best of the best. Yeah,
• 55:55
  Speaker 5: they'll take any terrain. Well, I wish you guys luck.
• 56:00
  Speaker 5: You're going to be there, Mark. Brian, you're with your
• 56:02
  Speaker 5: son in Arizona in 106th degree. He's a baseball player.
• 56:05
  Speaker 6: I'm going to be pushing us with Mark.
• 56:07
  Speaker 5: Yeah. And he's in college?
• 56:10
  Speaker 6: No, he's at the high school. I've got to go
• 56:12
  Speaker 6: pick him up from football practice, and I've got to
• 56:15
  Speaker 6: get my little eighth grader from Thurston Middle School and
• 56:18
  Speaker 6: then drive him around to some sports this afternoon.
• 56:22
  Speaker 5: That's what a dad does, isn't it?
• 56:24
  Speaker 6: I love it. Good.
• 56:25
  Speaker 5: Well, it doesn't fall far from the tree. Your kids
• 56:27
  Speaker 5: are following you in your footsteps, all-around athletes, good human beings.
• 56:31
  Speaker 6: They take after their mom.
• 56:34
  Speaker 5: That's a good one. And how do you guys know
• 56:35
  Speaker 5: each other?
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: Well, we don't.
• 56:38
  Speaker 5: Oh, you don't? No way.
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: We've actually met once before.
• 56:41
  Speaker 5: Serious? Yeah.
• 56:42
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 56:44
  Speaker 5: So you guys were asked to come on the show,
• 56:47
  Speaker 5: and you didn't know it. Well, you met each other
• 56:48
  Speaker 5: once before.
• 56:49
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 56:50
  Speaker 5: But you did it.
• 56:51
  Speaker 6: I know of him. He produced the tournament. My dad
• 56:54
  Speaker 6: made a movie called Beach Volleyball Coming of Age and
• 56:57
  Speaker 6: worked with McGilvery and was a player back in the day.
• 57:01
  Speaker 6: And so I definitely knew of Mark and him producing
• 57:04
  Speaker 6: this event in Little Beach, yes.
• 57:06
  Speaker 5: Yeah, so real quick, Mark, what do you do vocationally?
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: Well, software, computer software is my main thing. But I've
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: also been a general contractor.
• 57:14
  Speaker 5: Did anybody ever tell you you look like Ed Bagley Jr.?
• 57:17
  Speaker 5: You ever get that?
• 57:17
  Speaker 1: No, I don't think so.
• 57:18
  Speaker 6: No? No.
• 57:21
  Speaker 5: Anyway, I'm trying to paint a picture for our listeners. Yeah,
• 57:24
  Speaker 5: he's an actor. But it sounds like you had your
• 57:26
  Speaker 5: feet in the entertainment business a little bit.
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: Well, I worked for Greg for a while.
• 57:31
  Speaker 6: Who hasn't worked for Greg? I know.
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: Everybody in town.
• 57:33
  Speaker 6: Everybody.
• 57:34
  Speaker 5: He's on our board, by the way.
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: Oh, is he really?
• 57:36
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 57:36
  Speaker 5: He and Barbara.
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: They're great.
• 57:38
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 57:39
  Speaker 5: What would this town be without Greg McGillivray?
• 57:41
  Speaker 1: They helped me get through school.
• 57:43
  Speaker 5: Did they?
• 57:43
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 57:44
  Speaker 5: Yeah. Quality people. And so nice and humble.
• 57:47
  Speaker 6: His grandson, Charlie, is a good volleyball player, too, by
• 57:49
  Speaker 6: the way.
• 57:49
  Speaker 5: Good to hear.
• 57:50
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 57:51
  Speaker 5: All right. Well, we wish you guys luck with the tournament,
• 57:55
  Speaker 5: and sorry you're not going to be there, but Mark
• 57:58
  Speaker 5: is going to be there the whole weekend?
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: No, not the whole weekend.
• 58:01
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 58:01
  Speaker 1: On and off. I'll be walking the boardwalk up and down,
• 58:05
  Speaker 1: taking in, you know, moments. In my opinion, the women are,
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: not just because they're women, but I'm really more interested
• 58:15
  Speaker 1: in the women's volleyball. It seems more dynamic and interesting.
• 58:20
  Speaker 6: It's a better game to watch.
• 58:21
  Speaker 5: Yeah, it's a better game to watch.
• 58:23
  Speaker 6: The rallies are longer.
• 58:24
  Speaker 5: I would say they're lower to the ground, so they
• 58:26
  Speaker 5: keep the ball up more.
• 58:27
  Speaker 6: No, the girls are very tall and athletic, and the
• 58:32
  Speaker 6: net is six inches shorter than the men's. But the
• 58:37
  Speaker 6: rallies tend to go a little bit longer. The men's
• 58:40
  Speaker 6: game is like men's tennis, where it's just explosive.
• 58:42
  Speaker 2: Power.
• 58:43
  Speaker 6: Power, yes.
• 58:44
  Speaker 5: And there's more finesse amongst the ladies.
• 58:47
  Speaker 6: Correct.
• 58:48
  Speaker 5: Very cool.
• 58:48
  Speaker 1: But plenty of power.
• 58:49
  Speaker 6: Plenty of power, yes. Plenty of power, but there's some
• 58:53
  Speaker 6: more rallies to be had. All right.
• 58:54
  Speaker 5: Well, I will be there. I wish we were hosting
• 58:57
  Speaker 5: an after party, but we'll just have to head to
• 58:59
  Speaker 5: a bar.
• 58:59
  Speaker 6: Next year.
• 59:00
  Speaker 5: Yeah. Brian Lewis, Mark Dawson, thanks for joining us at
• 59:03
  Speaker 5: KXFM Radio. And you guys heard it here first. Maybe
• 59:07
  Speaker 5: not first, but you guys heard a good description of it.
• 59:09
  Speaker 5: I hope you come out and support. Laguna Open Volleyball
• 59:13
  Speaker 5: Tournament this weekend starting Friday. And we'll be back after
• 59:17
  Speaker 5: these messages. Thank you for listening.
• 59:25
  Speaker 4: I know I didn't call last week. The longer that
• 59:35
  Speaker 4: I hold off, the heavier it seems. And I never
• 59:42
  Speaker 4: know what to say anyway. Mother, pray for me.
• 59:55
  Speaker 5: KXRN LP, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Beach. KXFM on 104.6.