Johnson Digs In to Preserve His Athletic Career

The old Adam Johnson might have started looking for work elsewhere when he watched professional beach volleyball teeter on the edge of extinction this year.

With the women’s and four-player pro-beach tours calling it quits for ’98 because of financial woes, the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals also faced the same harsh economic realities.

But Johnson, a nine-year AVP veteran from Laguna Beach High and USC, stuck to his newfound optimism.

“I used to be more pessimistic,” Johnson said. “But it was just hard for me to see that beach volleyball would be disappearing completely. I was very optimistic we were going to work things out. And I was going to do whatever I could to help keep the sport around.”

The AVP, alive and well, will make its only Orange County stop this weekend at the $50,000 Seal Beach Open.

Johnson and partner Karch Kiraly, a former U.S. Olympian and current San Clemente resident, and Huntington Beach resident Brian Lewis are among the Orange County natives entered in a 40-team field that begins the tournament Friday and concludes Sunday.

“We’re very excited to be back in Seal Beach,” Johnson said. “We’ve missed it for the last few years. You always want to play close to home.”

Lewis, who grew up in Corona del Mar and now resides in Huntington Beach, is also looking forward to returning home with partner David Swatik, from UCLA and Manhattan Beach.

“All of us are jacked up for this tournament,” Lewis said. “To be able to play in front of friends and family, it makes everything a lot nicer. It’s a great atmosphere. And that’s what this game is all about.”

Lewis, a nine-year AVP veteran who is also on the board of directors, said the tour needs to regain some of that beach-friendly atmosphere that was lost in recent years amid the network television contracts, high ticket prices and restricted, fenced-off seating.

“It was always a very festive atmosphere,” Lewis said. “When you’re playing in too many places that are man-made, it kind of sucks the aura out of everyone.”

Although a change of scenery has helped the sport grow, Lewis said the California Coastal Commission has been making it hard for the AVP to return home.

“There are issues with our sponsor, which is an alcohol company, and that’s understandable,” Lewis said. “But I still don’t understand the whole issue about us charging admission.”

A compromise was reached for the Seal Beach event and there will be only limited, paid, reserved seating on center court with free admission for the remainder of the bleacher seats. The AVP charges for all center-court seating at most of its other events.

Lewis credited the leadership of Executive Director Harry Usher for helping the AVP survive.

“Some people react from inspiration, others out of desperation,” Lewis said. “I think there was a lot of the latter.

“But there were a lot of people who were helping out who maybe weren’t doing as much before. It’s nice to see them out there going the extra mile.”

That extra mile includes more community activism.

“We never used to go to hospitals or put on a lot of clinics,” Johnson said. “But the players looked at themselves and asked ‘What can we do and what do other sports do?’

“Now, we’re going into venues a week early, promoting the event, working with kids at volleyball clinics, meeting with the people around the city, and people are taking notice.”

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Changing times: The AVP has only three Southern California stops (Seal Beach, Hermosa Beach, Aug. 14-16 and San Diego, Aug. 21-23.).

“There’s no more tournament at Santa Cruz, Manhattan Beach, it’s a sad situation,” Johnson said. “Although I do think it’s good that we get across the nation. We’ve had huge crowds in Chicago, Michigan, New Jersey, the Florida stops. It shows the sport is growing.”

But if the sport is growing in popularity, such as its favorable reception at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, why did the women’s and four-player tours halt play this season?

“I’d love to see all facets of volleyball survive,” Johnson said. “But I look at it as what do the people want to see the most. For example, where do the big crowds go for tennis, singles or doubles?

“I think the two-man beach game is like singles in tennis.

“Can a women’s tour or four-man tour survive? Sure. I would like to see both work. We all might end up commingling together and I’m sure that’s been spoken about.”

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The National 15K Open Water Swim Championships begins Saturday at the Newport Beach Pier.

The race starts at 7 a.m. and will include more than 600 swimmers. The course starts at the Newport Beach Pier, bends north to 56th Street, heads south to the Wedge and then returns north to the Newport Beach Pier.

Aaron Lehr of San Juan Capistrano and Jennifer McLeod of Mission Viejo are the top Orange County competitors. Both are members of the Long Distance Open Water National Swim Team.

Lehr, 21, who finished second in the 1998 National 25K in Florida in April, was the runner-up in last year’s race. That event took place in a lake near Colorado Springs.

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Also scheduled for Saturday is the Newport Pier to Pier, two-mile swim that starts at 10 a.m. at the Balboa Pier and ends at the Newport Beach Pier. Swimmers can register on Saturday. Event coordinator Jim Turner expects up to 200 swimmers.

For information on both events, call (714) 640-5350.

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Pro Volleyball

* Event: Assn. of Volleyball Professionals Open at Seal Beach. Forty two-man teams competing in a double-elimination tournament for a $50,000 purse.

* Where: 820 Ocean, Seal Beach

* When: 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday. 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. Championship match is 2 p.m. Sunday.

* Admission: Free, but reserved center-court seating available, $10 Friday, $20 Saturday, $25 Sunday. Reserved-seating two-day passes $40 and three-day passes $45.

* Parking: Free at Boeing International Lots 6 and 7, 2201 Seal Beach Blvd., Seal Beach, at the corner of Westminster and Seal Beach Boulevards. Free shuttle service will run from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday through Sunday.

* Noteworthy: The AVP returns to Seal Beach after a two-year absence. Mike Dodd and Mike Whitmarsh won the last Seal Beach Open in 1995. . . . Most of the tour’s best players are scheduled to play, including Jose Loiola and Kent Steffes.