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ON THE BEACH : Since Getting the Call, Opalinski and Partner Ringing Up Opponents

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Two weeks before the Women’s Pro Beach Volleyball Assn. tour started in April, Janice Opalinski had no partner and no worries.

She was relaxing in Hawaii, taking a break from teaching science at Capistrano Valley High School, and contemplating her future on the tour.

But her plans took a strange twist when she received a phone call from Jackie Silva, the leading money-winner on the tour last season, who was looking for a partner.

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Silva, a two-time member of the Brazilian Olympic team, had planned to team with Rita Crockett-Royster of Costa Mesa this season. But Crockett-Royster had committed to play in an indoor league in Italy and would have to miss the first three beach tournaments.

So Silva tracked down Opalinski.

“I really didn’t expect the call,” said Opalinski, a former standout at Dana Hills High School. “When I left I had no partner and ran the risk of not having one when the tour started. I was going to have to be a free agent.

Opalinski and Silva originally agreed to play the first three tournaments together while Crockett-Royster was in Italy.

Those plans changed after they won the first three stops on the tour. They hope to win their sixth consecutive tournament this weekend at the Huntington Beach Open at the Huntington Beach Pier.

“After three tournaments, we evaluated what we had done and decided to keep moving forward,” Opalinski said. “But with Silva, you never know what she’s going to do.”

Silva is one of the most outspoken and unpredictable players on the tour. In the last year, she has won 16 of the last 18 tournaments with four partners--Opalinski, Crockett-Royster, Patty Dodd and Linda Chisholm-Carrillo.

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Opalinski, who also is known for her fiery on-court demeanor, said she wasn’t sure how the partnership was going to work out at first.

“It’s interesting because we’re both strong personalities and we’re used to being leaders,” Opalinski said. “It created some conflict, but it also forced us to look at ourselves and be more patient when we play.”

Add volleyball: Beach volleyball players, like surfers, have a language all their own. The following are some of the terms you could hear from players at the Huntington Beach Open:

Team Advil--When two teammates are fighting and edgy with each other.

Bambi--A personality trait that makes a player tense and not play aggressively.

UC State--An unconscious state in which a player or team can do no wrong.

Shrimp cocktail--A short shot over the blocker.

Jumbo shrimp--A deep lob shot over the defensive player’s head.

Pipeline--An offensive shot down the middle between two players.

Husband/wife--A down-the-middle serve between two players.

Pokey--When a player uses her knuckles to hit the ball over the net.

Tomahawk/Tommy--A two-handed shot that’s either short or deep.

Roof--A blocked ball that a player can’t cover.

Other activities at the Huntington Beach Pier this weekend include a longboard surfing contest starting at 7 a.m. Saturday and Sunday, a wildest hairstyle contest at 1 p.m Sunday and a series of trivia contests. The PCH sky diving team is scheduled to land at center court to deliver the game ball for Sunday’s volleyball final. The matches start at 8:30 a.m. each day and the finals are set for 3 p.m. Sunday. The tournament will be taped by ESPN and shown July 23 at 5 p.m.

Surfing insiders said Tom Curren lost his competitive edge last year when he moved to France and went into semi-retirement.

But Curren has shown lately that he was doing more than sipping wine and nibbling on croissants and cheese in the past year.

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Curren has won three of the first four events on the Assn. of Surfing Professionals world tour this season and currently leads the standings by 1,042 points over Australia’s Rob Bain.

Curren competed in only one event last year, finishing second to Richie Collins of Newport Beach at the Op Pro.

Curren, who grew up in Santa Barbara, moved to Biarritz, France, with his wife, Marie, early in 1989. Curren took the 1989 season off to spend more time with his wife and newborn daughter, Lee Ann.

Since returning, he won the first three events on the tour--all in Australia--and then finished 33rd at the Coke Classic June 3 in Japan.

Collins is 13th in the standings with 3,278 points. His best finish this season was fifth at the Bundaberg Rum Masters at Burleigh Heads, Australia.

The next stop on the tour is the Gunston 500 at Durban, South Africa, June 26-July 1. The Op Pro, the ninth stop on the tour, is scheduled for July 30-Aug. 5 at the Huntington Beach Pier.

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San Clemente’s Shane Beschen continues to lead the point standings of the Professional Surfing Assn. of America’s U.S. tour, despite failing to make the quarterfinals at the Memorial Weekend Classic at Imperial Beach May 28.

Beschen, a senior at San Clemente High School, leads second-place Sean Mattison of Carlsbad in the overall standings by 212 points. Beschen took the lead in April when he won the Easter Surfing Classic at Bolsa Chica State Beach.

While Beschen struggled at Imperial Beach, Pat O’Connell of Laguna Niguel established himself as one of the hottest newcomers on the tour.

O’Connell, 18, won the Imperial Beach championship, his first contest as a professional, overcoming disaster in one of the heats. He broke his surfboard during his fifth heat, but a friend brought a backup board from O’Connell’s nearby hotel room to keep the teen-ager in the heat.

O’Connell, a senior at Dana Hills High, is currently 14th in the overall standings with 1,863 points. Mike Stewart of Anaheim leads the PSAA’s bodyboarding division by 334 points over Ben Severson of Wahiawa, Hawaii.

The next stop on the PSAA tour will be June 20-24 at the Oceanside Pier.

Beach Notes

The Women’s Professional Volleyball Assn. will have a free youth instructional clinic from noon to 4 p.m. on June 28 at the Laguna Beach main courts. For more information, call 497-0716. . . . Weekly two-man beach volleyball classes sponsored by the City of Newport Beach Parks and Recreation Dept. will run July 1-Aug. 26 at Corona del Mar state beach. For more information, contact the parks and recreation department at 644-3151. . . . The Huntington Beach rough-water pier swim will be at 9 a.m. June 30. The swim will be roughly a half-mile. For more information, call 536-5281. . . . Dates for the youth volleyball tournaments at the Laguna Beach main courts are July 14-15, July 28-29 and Aug. 11-12. Divisions include grades 11-12 and 10-and-under for boys, girls and co-ed teams. For information, call 497-0716.

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The grand opening celebration of the new International Surfing Museum in downtown Huntington Beach will be held Saturday beginning at 4:45 p.m. The museum is housed in a renovated, 1930s-era former doctors’ office at 411 Olive St. Exhibits include historic surfboards, collectors’ records of surfing music and a shrine to the late Duke Kahanomoku, credited as being “the father of modern surfing.” Starting Sunday, the museum will be open daily, from noon to 6 p.m., with a $1 admission charge.

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