Reaching New Limits of Playing Hurt

Beach volleyball players are no strangers to injury, but several freak accidents have shocked the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals recently.

Brian Lewis, one of the tour’s top players, smashed his mouth on the side of his backyard swimming pool this month and had to be rushed to the hospital.

Lewis, who lives in Huntington Beach, was swimming the butterfly stroke at night Aug. 8 with the lights off and he miscalculated the edge. His face crashed down on the tile surrounding the pool.

“It usually takes me the same amount of strokes to get there and this time I was one off,” he said.

Lewis went to the emergency room at Hoag Hospital about 9 p.m. with two teeth cracked and two teeth hanging on threads.

About 1:30 a.m., with the Manhattan Beach Open scheduled to begin the next day, Lewis was roaming around Huntington Beach, looking for an open drug store to fill a prescription of painkillers and antibiotics. He couldn’t find one so he went home.

At 7:30 a.m., he met an oral surgeon, who wired his teeth back in his mouth. That day, he played in the tournament with partner Scott Ayakatubby and placed fourth.

He also returned to the pool the next night.

“I said, ‘I have to face the enemy.’ No butterfly. Just some floating,” he said.

Lewis, who placed second last weekend at Belmar, N.J., with Ayakatubby, will play at the Miller Lite U.S. Championships at Hermosa Beach beginning Friday.

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Add injuries: Kurt Dumm was walking down the hallway in his home one morning and felt something jiggle on his arm. He looked down and saw a bright red lump on his elbow the size of a softball.

Over the next 24 hours, Dumm watched the redness creep down his arm. The next day, he left his job as a security guard and went to a doctor, Gus Gialamas, who ordered Dumm into Columbia San Clemente Hospital.

“Are you serious? I have a tournament this weekend,” said Dumm, who is working his way up the AVP ladder.

Gialamas told Dumm he was going to try to save his arm.

“Right then, I knew it was serious. It was scary,” Dumm said.

Dumm had a serious infection and was in the hospital for about a week receiving antibiotics. He also had surgery on his elbow and when he awoke, he saw a large tube sticking out of his arm, draining the infection.

“All I could think about was volleyball,” he said.

Gialamas turned to him.

“Kurt, you have your arm, you have your life,” he said.

And with that, Dumm also had volleyball. Almost 15 pounds lighter, he returned Aug. 9 for the Manhattan Beach Open, one day after his 27th birthday and three weeks after he checked out of the hospital. Dumm and partner Greg Ryan of Hermosa Beach were eliminated early, but Dumm is not easily discouraged.

“I’m a pretty positive person. I always think my glass is half full,” he said.

Dumm played for San Clemente High and Chapman University before helping Orange Coast College to the state championship in 1989 and playing a season for San Diego State in 1992.

His best finish in an AVP main draw event was ninth this season at Atlanta with Ryan. He is competing today in the qualifying tournament for the Miller Lite U.S. Championships at Hermosa Beach.

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Since its successful Olympic debut, women’s volleyball has enjoyed increased exposure.

“We’re more recognized, some of the individuals. All the media [exposure] has created the closest thing we’ve ever had to star power,” said Women’s Professional Volleyball Assn. star Nancy Reno at the Evian National Championships at Huntington Beach last weekend.

But Reno, whose split with partner Holly McPeak after the Olympics was highly scrutinized, also has learned about that double-edged sword called fame.

“As far as all the so-called drama, that’s what the media is paying attention to. But that’s just another day on the beach for us,” she said.

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After the Olympics and the WPVA Evian Invitational at New York, Aug. 8-11, there were 15 partner changes on the tour heading into the National Championships last weekend.

One of the teams that didn’t split is Barbra Fontana Harris and Linda Hanley, who placed fourth at the Olympics and have won three WPVA tournaments in 12 appearances this season.

Fontana Harris of Laguna Beach has a theory about the break-ups: “It’s a given that you’re going to play against your old partner [in the next tournament]. It’s a joke on the tour that whoever breaks up the partnership is going to lose.”

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Debbie Bradbury of Huntington Beach won the Senior Men’s Bodyboard competition at the U.S. Surfing Federation National Championships last week in Hawaii. Yes, the men’s competition.

Bradbury, who competed with the men because there is no women’s senior division (30 and over), said her victory came on three- to four-foot waves that had perfect lefts, which allowed for long rides and numerous opportunities to execute her 360s.

Competition was at Ala Moana Bowls, where, according to Bradbury, the opening shot of the wave breaking on the old TV show “Hawaii Five-O” was filmed.

Before the Hawaii event, Bradbury competed in the U.S. Open in Huntington Beach, where she advanced to the first round of the main event.

Bradbury, 40, who has been bodyboarding for 10 years, said her favorite breaks are next to the Huntington Pier, 56th Street in Newport Beach and T Street in San Clemente.

“Bodyboarding for women still has a long way to go in California, but I would like to help give the sport more exposure,” Bradbury said. “The U.S. Open was my first international competition. I would like to turn pro, but unlike Brazil, where women bodyboarding is really big, there isn’t much opportunity for women [here].”

Bradbury will next compete in the Bodyboard International Assn.’s Sept. 28 contest at Salt Creek.

A saleswoman in the garment industry, Bradbury said her bodyboarding allows an escape from the world of fashion.

“I keep my bodyboarding separate from my working life,” she said. “I think some of my clients would be very surprised if they knew what I did in my spare time.”

Bradbury said she tries to practice her bodyboarding about four days a week but has recently returned to pool swimming. She works out with Long Beach State’s Beach Masters Swim Club.

Though she has decided to devote more of her time to swimming, she said she has no intentions of giving up her bodyboard. “I would never think of stopping bodyboarding,” she said. “I’m having too much fun.”

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.

* California Beach Volleyball Assn. tournament

When: Saturday and Sunday

Where: Capistrano Beach

Divisions: Men’s AA

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

Information: (714) 498-3380