Mark Paaluhi - Everything Starts with a Dream
Mark Paaluhi is one of the most recognizable and decorated volleyball players on the EVP tour. He hails from Hermosa Beach, the area widely considered the Mecca of beach volleyball. When he is not saving lives as a paramedic/firefighter in The City of Garden Grove, California he is often found at the beach playing the sport he loves. Many people have wondered how he got his start playing the game of Beach volleyball. Well, the EVP web team is here to tell you, straight from the man himself:
"It was the spring of 1987, I came home from school to a very upset mom who just received another absent notice from my first period class teacher. See...I was one of those unfortunate kids in life that grew up on the beach, traveled the world and on top of that had zero period surf class!!!!! Which met every morning at 7am. The beach break was right in front of my house!! Needless to say I was never tardy for this class. In fact, my buddies and I would be out in the water before the sun was up if the waves were good. And sometimes the waves were so good that we wouldn't get out of the water early enough to make our first period class. This particular day my mom was tired of this so she sold my surfboard that weekend at a garage sale.
Bummed out and nothing to do, I started playing the beach volleyball game with my friends down at Second Street in Hermosa Beach. I had so much fun playing the game of volleyball that I tried out for the high school team my junior year. During my senior year(at Redondo Union High School) I made 2nd team all CIF, which was pretty cool because most of the 1st team was mostly Mira Costa players. Mira Costa has been a national powerhouse for decades. Even 'til this day, Costa produces some of the top boys and girls high school players. After graduating high school I went on to play at El Camino College for two years. Indoor volleyball was fun for me, but my heart was on the beach. Every day i would play game after game from the morning ‘til late in the evening. Eventually, I was playing in local events that are now called the CBVA. I earned my AAA rating at the age of 20 in the Marine Street AA in Manhattan Beach. At the time, the AAA rating was one step lower then the pro beach level known as the AVP. A few days later I went down to Marine Street to practice with one of my buddies. While sitting their waiting, I was watching, at the time, some of the top beach players. Jon Stevenson, Tim "The Kid" Walmer and the great Mike Dodd. 'Til this day I'm not sure what sparked it but these guys were talking smack to each other and some how Tim Walmer had a bet against Jon and Mike. Before I knew it Walmer yells at me and tells me to come over to them and says I'll play with him!!! (Looking at me!) I said who??... Me???? He says don't worry about it just play like you did in that AA and we'll be fine. I said are you sure you want to play with me? For the past couple of years I've been watching these guys play on the pro circuit with the hopes to play at that level one day. So, when I was given the chance to play at that level I was ecstatic - and very nervous. The game was very intense and very close. (Remember, these were the old school rules, when you had to be in real volleyball shape) We were about 45 minutes into the game and the score was 10 -9 in our favor when I made a transition set with my hands that Walmer put away for a point. Jon Stevenson was pissed and started yelling at me cuz he thought my set was bad. I was like "hey no problem you can have it". I was just happy playing. But Walmer jumped in and said "no way, there was nothing wrong with it". Eventually Jon quit playing and we never finished the game. This to me is where the seed was planted, that if I work hard enough I could create a shot at playing on the pro beach tour.
Lucky me, I was fortunate to play for 9 years! Every thing starts with a dream.................."
Keep checking back for more stories from Mark Paaluhi and other EVP Tour players as the year goes on!!