CSUN Players Responded Swimmingly to Wake-Up Call

Many athletes are early risers, but collegiate volleyball players are not among that group.

Take the Cal State Northridge men’s team, for instance. With the exception of a few preseason tournaments, the Matadors play their matches at 7 p.m.

That’s why Coach John Price knew he had to be creative when he learned the Matadors were scheduled to play a 9 a.m. semifinal match at a tournament in Indonesia last month.

To make sure the players were ready, Price awoke them at 6:30 a.m. and made them swim in the hotel’s pool.

It wasn’t a popular tactic.

“There are two things volleyball players really hate,” Price said. “Running and getting up early. But I think if I had let them get up later and just have breakfast before going to the gym, they wouldn’t have played well.”

The Matadors defeated a team from Beijing, 15-12, 9-15, 16-14, 6-15, 15-11, and advanced to the final of the 10-team international event. Northridge lost to Seoul in three games in the championship match.

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Add Northridge: Price said the Matadors were not thrilled with his early morning wake-up call but they enjoyed their time in Jakarta.

“The facility was not the greatest in the world, but compared to the Matadome, it was good,” Price said.

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Fashion risk: She might not wear funky hair colors like Dennis Rodman, but Kim Maher of the gold-medal-winning U.S. Olympic softball team has emulated the NBA’s rebel king in other ways.

Maher, who played at Buena High and Fresno State, has a half-dozen tattoos on her buttocks, including one of the Olympic rings. She also wears breast rings.

She calls it “body art.”

“I’m not just another girl down the block,” Maher said.

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Next time, smoke signals: During a recent Late Model event at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield, Tommy Fry Jr. lost radio communication from his car to his father, who was scouting from the stands.

The senior Fry could send instructions to the car by radio, but his son could not respond.

“That’s the way I like it,” the father said. “He can’t talk back to me.”

Since the incident, Tommy, a rookie from Simi Valley, has won three consecutive feature races and will be seeking another victory Saturday night.

“I’m winning and my dad is happy,” Tommy said. “What more could a guy ask for?”

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Contributing: Fernando Dominguez, Irene Garcia, Bryan Rodgers.