Spiking Bad Habits : Beach Volleyball’s Scott Ayakatubby Has Changed His Lifestyle, Cleaned Up His Act and Is Back in Top Form

After a year off, Scott Ayakatubby has returned to the pro beach volleyball tour bigger and stronger than ever.

He left the tour as a 6-foot-4, 187-pounder and is back at a muscular 205 pounds.

“He’s better than ever,” said Ayakatubby’s partner, Tim Hovland. “He’s been doing weights, and he’s cleaning up his act.”

The fast lane brought Ayakatubby’s pro beach volleyball career to a halt last year. A Hermosa Beach native, Ayakatubby grew up playing the game and went on to become one of the more consistent players on the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals tour. He won three events and ranked 13th on the AVP lifetime earnings list.

But for almost 10 years Ayakatubby says he abused his body, and it caught up to him early last season. He admits to being a “partier” who drank a lot of alcohol and experimented with drugs.

“Let’s just say I put down a lot of beers,” said Ayakatubby, a graduate of Mira Costa High. “Then I’d get up the next day and work out hard. I never gave my body a chance to recover. I was just living the good lifestyle. I was having fun.”

Ayakatubby’s physical problems began shortly before the start of the ’92 season. After the first tournament in late February in Hawaii, he experienced dizziness, shaking and an unusually rapid heart beat. He went on to play in four other events, all in a lot of pain because of severe cramping.

“It was scary,” said Ayakatubby, who played half a season at El Camino College before then-coach Pete Field kicked him off the team. “The cramping crawls up your body, starting with the legs, and it moves up to the stomach and chest. It feels like you’re going to die.”

Between matches he received fluids intravenously, but after a while it wasn’t enough to keep him going. He decided to take the remainder of the year off after placing 13th with partner Tim Walmer in San Diego.

“I just couldn’t handle it anymore,” Ayakatubby said. “It was painful, and I was embarrassed to play like that. I felt bad, like I was letting Tim down. I knew there was something wrong with me.”

Ayakatubby, 28, was examined by seven doctors and underwent a series of what he calls “torturous tests” to try to find the problem. He says the results were inconclusive, but the last doctor offered a theory.

“He heard I liked to party and drink, and he said that could be it,” Ayakatubby said. “The physical and mental stress put on the body by years of partying wear it down. That’s why my body wasn’t functioning right.”

So on Sept. 13, 1992, he quit drinking. He even got rid of his mouthwash, because it contained alcohol. He spent most of his time off reading spiritual, self-help and nutrition books.

“I really hit rock bottom,” he said. “I was really lost. I needed some help. . . . For four or five months I did nothing. I couldn’t even handle being in the sun. The hardest thing was watching my friends play volleyball. It killed me. I didn’t follow the tour, and I tried not to look in the sports pages.”

When his body finally recovered, Ayakatubby started an intense weight training and conditioning program that has proven effective. He started the season ranked No. 43 and has moved up to 18th this week.

“I feel like I’m alive again,” Ayakatubby said. “Now I have my life back. Without volleyball, I’m not happy. It’s my life. I feel lucky and great.”

Tour veteran Mike Dodd says Ayakatubby appears to be more fit and that his volleyball skills have not diminished.

“Obviously he must be taking better care of himself,” said Dodd, the AVP’s fourth-ranked player. “He certainly was not taking care of himself before. He had a rep as a partier. Everyone felt he was abusing his body and burning the candle at both ends.”

Ayakatubby is expected to do well at this weekend’s $100,000 Manhattan Beach Open, beach volleyball’s oldest and most prestigious tournament. Ayakatubby and Hovland are seeded fifth in the event, which begins today at 9 a.m. near the pier.

In ‘91, Ayakatubby made it to the final at Manhattan Beach with partner Steve Timmons. Ayakatubby earned a career-high $108,000 that year and was ranked eighth in the AVP.

“I didn’t want to watch the open last year because it was too hard,” Ayakatubby said. “I’m really looking forward to it. I grew up here and I have a lot of friends and people that know me. I have a huge following here. They get very loud and it fires me up that much more. People go wild.”

Ayakatubby’s best finishes this season have been with Hovland, a Manhattan Beach resident in his 13th season on the tour. They placed third at Cleveland on June 6, fourth at the June 20 Chicago Open and second at last week’s tournament in Ocean City, Md.

“He has potential to be one of the best,” said Hovland, winner of 60 opens. “He has a great jump serve and sweet hands. He’s the kind of guy I need to complement my game. We’re strong together.”

Ayakatubby says he’s playing at about 90% of his potential and expects to be at 100% at the season-ending U.S. Championships in Hermosa Beach.

“I need to rebuild my confidence,” he said. “I’m not used to playing in front of big crowds and TV. I need to get more focused and intense.”

The pressure to win is tremendous because volleyball is Ayakatubby’s only source of income and doctor bills have piled up. Despite the financial hardship, however, he says he’s learned a valuable lesson.

“I feel I’ve grown up,” he said. “I realized that I have to take responsibility for my life and future.”