This Job Pays Big Dividends : Sean Fallowfield Invests His Energy in Beach Volleyball

G et a job.

Every summer, parents sound the refrain, shaking accusing fingers at the tan bodies frolicking on the beach.

Hey, why don’t you earn some money? Be responsible.

Sean Fallowfield did the responsible thing. He got a job.

A real job. Not selling ice cream in the sand or renting boards. Fallowfield, a graduate of San Clemente High School and UC Santa Barbara, went to work as a commodities broker at a firm in Newport Beach.

And he found out that the beach paid better.

Fallowfield plays beach volleyball. He and his partner, Al Janc, are seeded eighth in the Club Sportswear Open Pro Class Volleyball tournament, today and Sunday at Laguna Beach’s Main Beach.

Fallowfield is one of the growing ranks of professional beach volleyball players who are taking advantage of the expanding interest in the sport and the increasing prize money.

“I looked at how hard I was working at my job, from 6:30 in the morning until 7 at night,” Fallowfield said. “I realized if I was this dedicated on the beach, it would pay dividends.”

It has. Fallowfield, who figured it would take him months before he starting earning good money as a broker, has been averaging $3,000 a month playing volleyball. This is despite the fact that he has never won a tournament and his best finish was third place at Daytona Beach, Fla., in March.

Although young players such as Fallowfield have yet to dethrone perennial winners such as Sinjin Smith and Randy Stoklos, the all-time money-makers on the tour and four-time winners of the Laguna Beach tournament, the wealth is now being shared.

The minimum purse offered in a tournament this season has doubled from last year’s minimum of $20,000. The Laguna Beach purse is $40,000.

According to Kevin Cleary, general manager of the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals, six tournaments in the 27-event tour offer $100,000 in prize money, the final event at Hermosa Beach is a $150,000 tournament, and total prize money on the tour is up 300% from last year.

And, Cleary said, membership in the association has also tripled.

“It’s because of the additional prize money,” Cleary said, citing the association’s new three-year, $4.5 million contract with the beer company that is the tour’s primary sponsor.

“Our sponsors have really made the big commitment,” he said. “And players are finding that it’s worth it not to work and to play volleyball.”

Fallowfield played on San Clemente’s 1981 Southern Section runner-up team and for two years at Santa Barbara City College, where he was named the 1983 state community college player of the year. Then he headed to UCSB.

He played on the beach tour in the summers and after he graduated from college two years ago. But after last season, he was starting to lose his motivation and considered quitting volleyball for good.

After getting out in the real world, Fallowfield changed his mind.

“After working, I realized I had taken for granted the life style I had been living before,” Fallowfield said. “And the money I was making, starting at the bottom as a broker, wasn’t even close.”

So, two weeks before this season’s tour started, Fallowfield quit his job and headed back to the beach. His broker license is good for two years, but he doesn’t know when, if ever, he’ll return to the office.

“I don’t want to put a time line on it,” Fallowfield said. “Things are going right for me this year, and with the right partner, I know I can keep improving.”

Fallowfield, 24, could have quite a few years left in him. Smith, considered by many to be the premier beach player, is 30.

“It’s not an easy sport to master,” Cleary said. “Guys peak in their late 20s and early 30s.”

And, Cleary said, the top winners this season could make $150,000 in six months of work. Add to that