U.S. OLYMPIC FESTIVAL LOS ANGELES 1991 : NOTEBOOK

Mario Treibitch has traveled the world playing, coaching and officiating volleyball matches. He figures volleyball has taken him to 46 countries.

This week, he is in Los Angeles as the head official for the Festival’s volleyball competition at Loyola Marymount. In two weeks, he will be in Havana as an official at the Pan American Games.

Treibitch, 48, from Flushing, N.Y., brought his vast volleyball knowledge to the United States in December of 1974 after leaving the Soviet Union. He was a Romanian living in the Soviet republic of Moldavia.

“My parents became Soviet citizens in 1940, when the Soviets took over that part of Romania,” he said.

Treibitch did not represent the Soviet Union in Olympic volleyball but was good enough to play for club teams in Leningrad that had Olympic players. Treibitch, who has college degrees in electrical engineering and sport, emigrated to France in 1973. He played in a French professional league but came to the United States within the year.