With Career on Back Burner, Ciarelli Still Cooks

Cammy Ciarelli stood on one side of a volleyball court at the Huntington Beach Pier this summer, putting Olympians Linda Hanley and Barbra Fontana Harris through a pre-Olympic practice.

Although Ciarelli was acting as coach, she couldn’t resist testing her skills against two of the best players on the beach this season.

After spiking a volleyball through the hands of Fontana Harris, Ciarelli turned to a group who had gathered near the court.

“I still have it,” she said.

On the next drill, however, Ciarelli sent her spike wide.

“No I don’t,” she said with a laugh.

Such is the state of Ciarelli’s beach volleyball career: If she still wanted it, there is no question she could have it.

Ciarelli, 34, is a former Laguna Beach High and UCLA standout. She won 13 tournaments playing in the now-defunct women’s division of the Miller Lite AVP Tour in 1993 and ’94 before returning to the WPVA in 1995.

Last year, however, she decided to cut back on beach tournaments in order to spend more time with her children, Felicia, 8, and Antonio, 6, and her husband, Rocky, with whom she coaches the boys’ and girls’ volleyball teams at Huntington Beach High.

“Something that I am really firm about is being home with my kids,” she said. “You just know when it feels right. Now, when I go back to play. . . it’s not there anymore. Now, I’m into being with my family and being with Rocky. It’s great. It’s unbelievable to be home all summer. There are a lot of things you miss when you’re gone all weekend.”

After the birth of their children, Rocky encouraged Cammy to play on the beach.

“He is the father of the year in all ways. He didn’t have that much trouble saying, ‘Go, I want to father my kids.’ ”

Ciarelli also had support from her husband’s large, tightly knit family. Her mother-in-law, Sue Ciarelli, and her nieces, Allison Ciarelli and Keely Ziegler, who also play for the Oiler girls’ team, often baby-sat.

In 1991, Ciarelli teamed with Diane Pestolesi and the pair was sponsored by Hoag Memorial Hospital, where Pestolesi worked as a nurse. In their second tournament, Ciarelli and Pestolesi upset second-seeded Elaine Roque and Nina Matthies in the first round at Austin, Texas, before finishing ninth.

The next year, Ciarelli won her first WPVA tournament at Hermosa Beach playing with Jackie Silva. Ciarelli’s success on the short-lived AVP women’s tour came mostly with Holly McPeak. After the 1994 season, however, Ciarelli was caught in the middle of a dispute over the future of the sport.

Determined to honor her commitment to the AVP, Ciarelli wanted to stay. Most of the other women, however, were fed up with taking a backseat to the men and wanted to return to the WPVA. In the end, Ciarelli had little choice.

Ciarelli had difficulty finding a WPVA partner because most of the players were interested in playing international tournaments, aiming for the Olympics as well as big prize money. She started last season with Patty Dodd but soon realized where her priorities were.

“My kids are older and I think they need me around more,” she said.

Ciarelli seems to have the best of both worlds these days. She occasionally jumps into local WPVA tournaments, and she usually proves that she still has it.

She placed fourth at Hermosa Beach with Dodd in May and fifth at Long Beach last month with Liz Masakayan. Ciarelli is seeded 13th with Valinda Hilleary of Costa Mesa in the Evian National Championships, beginning at noon today at the Huntington Beach Pier.

Fontana Harris and Hanley are top seeded, followed by Karolyn Kirby and Nancy Reno and Lisa Arce and Holly McPeak. Saturday’s competition begins at 8 a.m. The semifinals will be Sunday beginning at 9 a.m., followed by the final at noon.

The best thing about the tournament for Ciarelli is that no matter how well she fares, her family is not far away.

“I get to make Sunday dinner,” she said.

The “it” may have changed over the years for Ciarelli, but she still has it.

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The National Sand Volleyball League, a new women’s professional four-person league, debuts Saturday at Long Beach, where the Long Beach Sharks will host the Orange County Diggers at 11 a.m. The Diggers will be led by former U.S. national team members Sheri Sanders, formerly of Long Beach State, and Daiva Fuerst, formerly of UCLA.

*

While the Kelly Slater/Shane Beschen final at the U.S. Open of Surfing might have been anticlimactic, the six-day event still attracted the largest crowd to watch a surfing event, said contest spokesman Mike Kingsbury.

Kingsbury said for the weekend count, which includes Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Huntington Beach lifeguard officials have estimated crowds to have been 195,000.

*

Australian Luke Egan, who lost in the quarterfinal round of the U.S. Open Sunday to Carlsbad’s Taylor Knox, was an apparent victim of Saturday’s eight-state blackout.

Egan, who was in the passenger seat of a rental car, was broadsided by another car at an intersection in Dana Point.

According to Egan, the traffic light was not working. After his car came to a stop at the intersection, Egan said a car came through and hit them.

“The air bag on my side came out and snapped my head back,” Egan said. “I felt kind of weird that night, but I was OK to surf. I don’t want to make excuses for my surfing because of this accident. It was just kind of frightening.”

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The Surfrider Foundation will be holding a beach barbecue at Seal Beach from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 24.

The Green Room will provide surf music. Also scheduled to perform will be the blues rock band Family Tree.

No admission will be charged, but proceeds from the sale of food will go to the Bolsa Chica Defense. For further information, call (310) 598-0230.

On the Beach appears weekly during the summer. Witherspoon and Hamilton can be reached at (714) 966-5904.

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Upcoming Events

A weekly list of volleyball, surfing and other beach competitions in Orange County.

* Women’s Professional Volleyball Assn. Evian National Championships

When: Today through Sunday

Where: Huntington Beach

* California Beach Volleyball Assn. tournament

When: Saturday and Sunday

Where: Capistrano Beach

Divisions: Men’s B

Cost: $30 per team. CBVA membership is mandatory and can be purchased for $10 per person at registration.

Information: (714) 498-3380

* California Beach Volleyball Assn. tournament

When: Sunday

Where: Capistrano Beach

Divisions: Women’s Unrated

Cost: $30 per team. CBVA membership is mandatory and can be purchased for $10 per person at registration.

Information: (714) 498-3380