Price Calls Signals on the Court, Too : Volleyball: Setter, a Corona del Mar graduate, used his skills as a quarterback to learn game’s finer points.

Whenever Coach Charlie Brande had to make a point to Ty Price during a Corona del Mar High School volleyball practice, he put it in football terms.

When Price was struggling with his serve during his junior year, Brande talked to his setter as though he were a football coach.

“You’ll be playing quarterback next fall and you’ll be rolling out and spot a receiver wide open in the end zone,” Brande told Price. “And you’re going to throw it right up in the stands. That’s just what you’re doing now with your serve.”

The point was well taken with Price. So well, in fact, that he let Brande know it when the Sea Kings won the 1988 Southern Section Division VI football championship.

“Sure enough, he rolls out, sees the receiver and zoom . . . it’s a bullet right to the guy,” Brande said. “Then he runs by the stands and shakes his fist at me.”

Price laughs about the story now.

“Charlie was always telling me stuff like that during practice,” Price said. “He’s hilarious.”

Price and Brande have gone their own ways since high school.

Price just completed his sophomore year at San Diego State, where he plays volleyball.

Brande was fired by Corona del Mar last fall in the wake of allegations that he was coaching high school players in the off-season. But he continues to coach one of the top boys’ and girls’ club programs in the nation.

But Price and Brande have been reunited this week at the Olympic Festival. Price is the starting setter and Brande is an assistant coach with the South team.

Price, 6 feet 1 and 190 pounds, beat out George Thompson, Pepperdine’s starting setter, for the starting spot on the South. Price had 79 assists, 12 digs and four kills Wednesday in a 3-15, 15-10, 15-12, 13-15, 15-11 victory over the North.

“It’s an honor just to be on this team,” Price said. “There were 160 guys who showed up for (13 spots) at the West tryouts alone.”

Price also is glad to get some playing time. He played in every match as a freshman at San Diego State, starting in seven.

But he played in only three matches his sophomore year, occasionally filling in for senior setter Tagore Evans of Malibu.

“My role kind of reversed,” Price said. “I expected to play little as a freshman, but I played a lot. I expected to play more as a sophomore, and I didn’t. It’s usually the other way around.”

Evans used up his eligibility this season, and Price could be the setter of the future for the Aztecs.

“There will always be someone challenging for a spot,” he said. “It’s always a fight.”

Price knew little about volleyball when he began playing during his freshman year at Corona del Mar. He stuck mainly to football and baseball, sports he had played since the third grade.

After his freshman year, Price was invited to play in a Newport Beach summer league. He was intimidated by the older players, and by his lack of knowledge about the sport.

“Charlie was officiating the matches,” Price said. “I had no idea what I was doing out there. I would line up on the wrong side . . . everything I did was wrong.

“Then Charlie started yelling at me: ‘Hey guy, you have to rotate after every serve, that’s how the game’s played.’ ”

For the next two years, Price endured Brande’s yelling in practice.

“The thing about Charlie that a lot of people don’t like is he’s a huge believer in the mental aspect,” Price said. “He would drill you and run you to death. But he made sure you were tuned in mentally when you’re fatigued.”

By his senior year, Price had developed into one of Southern California’s top setters. He compares the position to quarterback.

“The setter calls all the plays, just like the quarterback,” Price said. “And the setter’s touching the ball all the time, just like the quarterback.”

Price was recruited by Iowa State and St. Mary’s for football, but chose to wait until after his senior year of volleyball to decide where to go.

“I was thinking about Iowa State,” he said. “But that was the Midwest, and I didn’t want to go back there. I almost went with St. Mary’s, but they wanted me to sign after football season.

“I had a pretty good junior year with volleyball, and I asked Charlie if I had a shot at playing in college. He told me I did, so I decided to hold out and wait.”

After helping the Sea Kings to a Southern Section title that spring, the volleyball offers began pouring in. Price narrowed his choices to Cal State Long Beach, Hawaii and San Diego State.

“I thought about Hawaii,” he said, “but I had a hard time getting everything processed for registration. It came down to either Long Beach or San Diego.”

Price figured Long Beach was too close to his parents’ home in Newport Beach. He wanted to go away to school.

“San Diego was great,” he said. “Beautiful weather, a great campus. It’s a big school, but I fit in well.”

He’s fitting in at the Festival, too. He’s playing with and against several friends, including former Marina High standout Duane Cameron (South) and Edison’s Brian Boone (West) and Mike Diehl (West).

“There are a lot of great players here,” Price said. “It’s just fun to be here with them.”