Kennedy Hustler Beattie Can Flat-Out Play : Volleyball: His attitude leads Golden Cougars to quarterfinals tonight against San Pedro.

The nicknames “Helmet” and “Crash Dummy” are affixed to him like a true-to-life Speed Racer.

When he competes, he anticipates the perfect moment, revs into sixth gear and floors it.

Then he picks himself up off the floor and admires his work: Another volleyball saved from touching the ground.

Meet Sean Beattie, senior back row specialist/outside hitter for the Kennedy High boys’ volleyball team.

In a sport where height and leaping ability are prerequisites, the 5-foot-11 Beattie, whose Golden Cougars face San Pedro tonight in the City Section 4-A quarterfinals, has established his own niche at ground level.

Quite simply, the ball doesn’t hit the deck. Beattie does.

His efforts earned him the “Helmet” nickname when Beattie was a sophomore.

“His technique wasn’t so good back then and he would dive for these balls and it was like, oh God, he’s going to kill himself,” Kennedy Coach Mike Stanton said. “He was crazy. He was going to go full at it, head first, and didn’t care what part of his body he was going to destroy.”

Beattie, who stood 5 feet 8 at the time, saw it a different way.

“I didn’t think I was going to make the team so I hustled as hard as I could and tried to keep everybody going,” he said. “Anything to catch Coach’s eye.”

It worked.

He made the team and kept the attitude, which led to a new nickname his junior year: “Crash Dummy.”

There’s no new moniker this season, but the traits still remain.

“I bruised my butt in the last practice we had,” said Beattie.

“I’ve got a big knot there from diving on my side. I don’t know what I hit. Maybe I landed wrong.”

Beattie does little wrong in the back row, where he sometimes shows--could it be?--finesse.

He has a soft touch receiving serves and is the top passer on the Golden Cougars.

He also shows ingenuity when he’s playing the outside hitter spot, often fooling defenses with off-speed kills.

But it is Beattie’s skills off the court that make him an integral part of the Kennedy team.

A few months ago, Beattie took offense to a parting shot from an opponent who termed the Golden Cougars overrated in a newspaper article.

Beattie made several copies of the article, showed it to his teammates and openly questioned team attitude.

Since then, the Golden Cougars (13-1) have won 10 matches in a row.

“He definitely fired me up,” said setter and team captain Michael Paloma.

Volleyball isn’t the only sport where Beattie leaves his mark.

He excelled as a goaltender for the Kennedy soccer team, naturally throwing his body in every direction to prevent a goal.

“As a senior goaltender, he was one of the best in the San Fernando Valley,” said Golden Cougar soccer Coach Fred Singer.

Beattie also plays defenseman on a Southern California Youth Hockey Assn. team that recently lost in the “A” Division state final.

The team practices often began at 4 a.m. and lasted two hours because “it’s hard to find ice time in this city,” said Beattie, whose dad, Glen, coached the team.

“My mom (Cathy) would make breakfast when we’d get home.”

Beattie’s devotion has seemingly spread to the entire Kennedy team, which tied Granada Hills for the Northwest Valley Conference championship and will play host to a quarterfinal match for the first time since 1987.

“This is by far the best team I’ve had,” said Stanton, in his 11th year at Kennedy. “It’s just solid all the way through.”

Middle blocker Mike Whitmore, who transferred from Granada Hills after last season, leads the Golden Cougars in kills and blocks, and Paloma leads the team in craftiness from his setting position.

The equation seems to add up for fourth-seeded Kennedy, which would advance to the semifinals for the first time with a victory over fifth-seeded San Pedro.

“In the past I’ve had a middle blocker or two but no outside hitting or I’ve had outside hitting without intimidation from the middle blockers,” Stanton said.

Now, apparently, he has it all.