Johnson Can Juggle Volleyball, Hobbies

Alison Johnson rattles off her list of hobbies, leaving one to wonder how she finds time to play pro beach volleyball.

Between practices and tournaments, she manages to make room for hobbies such as spear fishing, fly fishing, hiking, surfing, sailing, bungee jumping and playing the piano and guitar.

No distractions, just complements to Johnson’s training for the Women’s Pro Volleyball Assn. beach tour, which stops Saturday and Sunday at the Long Beach Promenade for the U.S. championships.

She was the beach tour’s rookie of the year in 1990 and is ranked 11th this season with four fourth-place finishes.

Her fish stories are becoming legend on the tour. Johnson’s partner, Lori Biller, a former La Quinta High standout, has asked to tag along on a spearfishing trip.

“I love going scuba diving and spearfishing down at Emerald Bay in Laguna,” said Johnson, who lists halibut, bass and corbina as her favorite prey. “Lori wants me to take her with me sometime, and we’ll cook whatever we catch.”

Johnson also dives for lobster.

Wearing heavy gloves, she swims near the bay’s tiny caves and crevices, shining a small spotlight on her potential victims, who crawl out onto rocks in the safety of darkness.

“You can’t spear them,” she said. “You grab them by the tail, and they flop around in your hands with their sharp spines. Then I measure them, keep only ones that are big enough, and stuff them in bag.”

Johnson has been juggling her volleyball schedule with her hobbies since her high school days at Tustin, when she spent summers at her family’s beach home in San Clemente.

She learned to surf, scuba dive, spearfish and sail. She started flyfishing and experimented with bungee jumping after marrying Bob Johnson in 1989.

In fact, her volleyball career started in junior high on the sand courts just north of the San Clemente Pier. She played pickup games against “all the local guys who took me under their wing.”

She lettered in volleyball, basketball and softball at Tustin, playing for three volleyball coaches in four years. She wasn’t widely recruited after her senior year, but was invited to walk on at Pepperdine.

The summer before her freshman year, she dislocated her right shoulder playing on the beach. Her shoulder continued popping out whenever she tried to hit a volleyball.

“I was told to do more weightlifting and that would solve problem,” she said. “It didn’t.”

With her college career on hold, she underwent surgery to shorten shoulder tendons and ligaments to help hold it in place. After a year rehabilitating, she had one year of college eligibility left.

Nina Matthies, who had taken over as Pepperdine’s coach, let Johnson join the team as a walk-on.

“I never played until my senior year, and then I rode the bench,” Johnson said. “Nina used to kid me that she kept me on the team because I made her laugh.”

She graduated from Pepperdine with a finance degree in 1986, worked as a loan officer and pursued an accounting degree at Cal State Fullerton. After passing her certified public accountant’s exam in 1989, she decided to give the beach volleyball tour a try.

“I didn’t want to look back 20 years from now and regret not trying it,” she said.

Johnson’s glad she did. Winning the rookie of the year award and taking a fourth-place at the world championships last summer with Dennie Shupryt-Knoop rank as her career highlights.

“I’m happy where I’m at in my playing career,” she said. “Things have gone quite well as far as how far my abilities can carry me.”

After splitting time between accounting and volleyball the last few years, Johnson is devoting her efforts to volleyball full time now.

Except for a few fishing trips.

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Winning ways: Karolyn Kirby, the WPVA’S dominant player the past three seasons, is closing on former partner Jackie Silva’s career victory record.

Kirby, a former U.S. national team captain from San Diego, has won 38 tournaments entering this weekend’s U.S. championships at Long Beach. Silva, who won seven tournaments with Kirby in 1990, leads with 41 victories. Kirby already has set the career earnings record with $227,041.

Although she’s nearing the record, Kirby will have to wait until next summer to attempt to match it. The U.S. championships and the world championships Aug. 21-22 at Manhattan Beach are the only tournaments left.

Kirby and partner Liz Masakayan have won 10 of 11 tournaments this season and have a 63-5 match record. They have won 18 consecutive matches. With a second-place finish this weekend, the team could clinch the Chevy Pro bonus pool that awards a new car to the winners.

Masakayan and Kirby aren’t the only team winning big this summer. On the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals’ tour, San Clemente’s Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes of Pacific Palisades have won 13 of 17 tournaments, including the past five. Huntington Beach’s Cammy Ciarelli and Holly McPeak of Manhattan Beach have won the last four AVP women’s tournaments.

Beach Notes

Australia’s Gary Elkerton moved into first place in the Assn. of Surfing Professionals’ world-tour standings after the Gunston 500 in Durban, South Africa on July 18. He takes a 188-point lead over Tahiti’s Vetea David into the $125,000 Lacanau Pro scheduled Aug. 14-18 in France.

The standings after three events:

1. Gary Elkerton (Australia), 2,330; 2. Vetea David (Tahiti), 2,142; 3. Dave Macaulay (Australia), 2,136; 4. Damien Hardman (Australia), 2,132; 5. Barton Lynch (Australia), 2,092; 6. Todd Holland (Cocoa Beach, Fla.), 2,000; 7. Derek Ho (Hawaii), 1,830; 8. Sunny Garcia (Hawaii) and Shane Beschen (San Clemente), 1,710; 10. Luke Egan (Australia), 1,632. Orange County surfers: 15. Jeff Booth (Laguna Beach), 1,500; 24. Mike Parsons (San Clemente), 1,280; 35. Dino Andino (San Clemente), 928; 39. Marty Thomas (Seal Beach), 768; 44. Richie Collins (Newport Beach), 688; 48. Todd Miller (Costa Mesa), 240.

Women’s standings (after five events): 1. Kylie Webb (Australia), 3,622; 2. Neridah Falconer (Australia), 2,542; 3. Layne Beachley (Australia), 3,540; 4. Pauline Menczer (Australia), 3,460; 5. Wendy Botha (Australia), 3,355; 6. Vanessa Osborne (Australia), 3,326; 7. Pam Burridge (Australia), 3,232; 8. Jodie Cooper (Australia), 3,127; 9. Rochelle Ballard (Hawaii), 2,860; 10. Lynette MacKenzie (Australia), 2,700. Orange County surfers: 15. Lisa Andersen (Huntington Beach), 2,320; 20. Nea Post (Huntington Beach), 1,942.

Bulletin board: Entry deadline for the 43rd annual Huntington Beach rough water swim is Thursday. The half-mile swim around the Huntington Beach Pier will feature 10 age-group divisions is scheduled for a 9 a.m. start Aug. 21. Entry fee is $14 and includes a T-shirt. For more information, call 714-536-5486..

Tom Knapp, president of Irvine-based Club Sportswear, has been reelected president of the Surf Industry Manufacturers Assn. for 1993-94. Also reelected were Jimmy Olmes of Freestyle USA as SIMA vice president, Tom Holbrook of Quiksilver as treasurer and Rand Hild of Raisins as secretary.