VOLLEYBALL : Beach Tournament Caters to the City

If historians ever trace beach volleyball to its genesis, it’s a safe bet they’ll find it began at some company picnic where the participants slammed down as many beers as volleyballs and swatted more flies than overhand spikes.

Way, way back in the beach blanket days of Frankie and Annette--or maybe that’s Frankie and a net--it all started. You get the picture: Untanned hordes of city slickers in black socks invade the sand like Rommel rolled through North Africa, throw up a couple of poles and throw down some suds.

History has come full circle, sort of.

Starting today, a Midwestern beer company is sponsoring a tournament called CityBeach--smack in the middle of a bustling St. Louis intersection.

Instead of station wagon loads of city folk making the long drive to the sand, CityBeach organizers have brought the sand to the city. Approximately three million pounds of sand is being trucked to the intersection of Martin Luther King Drive and Lenor K. Sullivan Boulevard, where four beach volleyball courts will be constructed near the muddy banks of the mighty Mississippi River.

“I talked to somebody out there and they said they’re just going to dump a bunch of sand in the street,” said beach volleyball professional Linda Chisholm of Van Nuys, who will participate in the event. “You can bet it’ll be different from anything I’ve ever done.”

Chisholm, a Birmingham High graduate, is one of four players from from the Women’s Professional Volleyball Assn. that will play in an exhibition match at 5 tonight. Chisholm and the other touring pros also will direct clinics during Saturday’s competition. Organizers expect 128 players to compete in the amateur event.

Add Chisholm: Competitors on the WPVA tour are probably hoping Chisholm, 29, falls into the Mississippi during her St. Louis stay. She’s still taking all their money.

Chisholm and teammate Jackie Silva won their fifth consecutive tournament last Sunday, easily defeating Kathy Gregory and Janice Opolinski, 15-3, to win the $12,000 Reebok World Championships at Pismo Beach, the richest stop on the tour.

Chisholm and Silva split $4,000, and have each earned $6,200 this year to lead the circuit.