It Didn’t Take Long for Volleyball Star Laurie Sawin of Corona del Mar to Adjust to New Sport in New Home : Making Up for Lost Time

In beach communities throughout Orange County, volleyball is not just a game. It’s a life style.

Girls learn the game as adolescents during long summer days in the sand and surf. You get the picture--6-feet-tall, beach blondes, bright bikinis and vicious spikes.

But one of the county’s top high school volleyball players stands about 5-feet 9-inches and started playing competitively as a sophomore at Corona del Mar High School-- after her family moved to California from Houston.

Laurie Sawin is the only senior and only returning player on the volleyball team that last year won the the Sea View League title, and finished second to Newport Harbor in the Southern Section 5-A. Corona del Mar went to the state quarterfinals, where it lost to eventual champion Irvine.

Last year, Sawin was first-team All-Sea View League and second-team All-Southern Section. This year, Corona del Mar is ranked fifth nationally in Volleyball Monthly’s October edition. Much of that success is because of Sawin.

“Her ability to unify the team is what has allowed us to be successful,” said Coach Charlie Brande, who appointed her team captain this year.

“She’s really like the mother hen. She’s in charge of everybody. If something is going wrong, I always go to her.”

Sawin, who can jump within an inch of a basketball rim, competed on the Sea Kings’ mile-relay team, which placed third at the state meet last year. Her athletic ability and determination have enabled her not only to compete but excel despite her late start.

“Until this year, she had always been an athlete playing volleyball. This year, she’s become a volleyball player who understands the game of volleyball,” Brande said.

Sawin arrived in California in February of her freshman year, too late for that year’s volleyball season which ends before January.

“I learned not to say, ‘Y’all’ really quickly,” said Sawin, who has a bit of a Texas drawl. “I got rousted all the time. My friends still laugh about that.”

With the encouragement of those friends, she sought out Brande, coach of the Orange County Volleyball Club, which plays during high school volleyball’s off-season.

Brande remembers a short girl with terrible technique who was “just another player” in his eyes, he said.

Sawin attended one workout. She left in tears after telling Brande she had a commitment to track and couldn’t do both sports at the time, he said. She returned when track ended.

“When she came back the second time, when she decided she had the guts and determination to come back and say, ‘I’m willing to do this,’ that’s when I decided she was worthwhile,” Brande said.

Said Sawin: “Out here, kids start volleyball in the fifth and sixth grade. He (Brande) took a chance with me and hoped my athletic ability would come through and help me learn quickly--and it did.”

Sawin is undoubtedly an athlete. She plays volleyball, soccer and runs track for the Sea Kings, and she is substantially shorter than most major college outside hitters.

“When I’m putting a program together or talking to a college coach, she grows a little,” Brande joked.

She is being recruited by several Division-I programs, including UCLA, Duke, Hawaii and Princeton.

Her ability to pass, or dig a ball with control, and her explosive jumping ability have college coaches looking at her despite her size, Brande said.

College coaches also have expressed interest in her track abilities, but it’s volleyball for Sawin.

“It just put all the things together. I think the best athletes in California play volleyball,” she said. “It’s the concentration game. In soccer, you can’t always score a goal, and that’s frustrating. In volleyball, there’s always a way to score. You can serve or you can just hit the ball. . . . I like the team sport idea.”

Brande, who coached the University of Hawaii to a national championship in 1981 and was an assistant at UCLA, believes Sawin is as good physically as any he has seen.

“Laurie has something special. Where she ranks at the top with any of those girls is in her ability to understand the team concept and to understand what it takes to be successful as a group,” Brande said.

It’s important to Sawin that her friends don’t think success has gone to her head. That’s something Brande helps with.

“Charlie is humbling,” she said. “He never lets anything go. He’s always out to teach a lesson.”

Last week Brande started practice by asking Sawin if she knew the meaning of egotistical.

“Well, of course I’m going to know what it is,” said Sawin, who has a 4.1-grade point average by taking college credit honors courses in history, French, English and civics.

“I said, ‘Yes,’ and he said, ‘It figures,’ ” she said. Brande teases her when she digs balls, and says, “Oh, All-star dug a ball,” Sawin said.

There are times, usually during a tough practice, when Sawin says she “hates” Brande, but she describes him as “your best friend off the court.”

“He cares probably too much. He does everything in his power to get you to be as good as you can be. His goal is for me to maximize my ability and concentration on every point,” she said.

Her teammates will need her concentration Tuesday night at 6:30 when the first-place Sea Kings play host to second-place Newport Harbor in a game that will probably decide the Sea View League champion.