Seim spikes his age

Chris Yemma

Fifty-five-year-old Steve Seim has been playing beach volleyball

since he was a teenager. Through growing up in Huntington Beach,

attending San Diego State and going on to become a Surf City

lifeguard, the beach volleyball culture has always been a part of his

lifestyle.

It wasn’t until he turned 40 that he started playing organized

indoor volleyball. That was when playing volleyball transformed from

an exercise, recreational deal, to full-blown competition.

Now, 15 years later, his indoor team, named Roof 55 after the age

group it plays in, has earned back-to-back world championships.

The titles were won in the World Senior Games, most recently held

in St. George, Utah, Oct. 8 through 12. Out of four days of

competition and 26 games in the latest championship, the team didn’t

lose a single game, let alone a match.

“We did everything better than anybody,� Seim said. “We were

thinking this couldn’t be this easy, we knew all the teams were

really good, but whatever they did, we stopped.�

The Roof 55 team defeated Germany in the quarterfinals and went on

to beat a Northern California team in the final.

Seim went to SDSU on a water polo scholarship and majored in

physical therapy, while also working as a lifeguard on weekends and

during the summer. He wanted to pursue a career in physical therapy,

but the lifeguard business proved too great a pull.

A few years after graduating from college, he became a full-time

lifeguard with the city of Huntington Beach. He worked his way up

through the ranks, made chief in 1996 and just recently retired.

During his career, he encountered various incidents that most

people only see on television. One really sticks out in his mind.

The waves were 8- to 10-feet high at Huntington Beach and the

riptide was tremendously strong, he said.

Four people had gone out earlier in the day on an inner tube --

before the swell had really picked up -- and ended up getting stuck

in the current by the pier. Seim and his crew had to bring in a

rescue boat.

Meanwhile, the waves started rolling in, one after another, and,

finally, one big one washed them off the tube.

“This was one of those things I’ll never forget because, at the

time, I was thinking I’m going to lose someone that day,� Seim said.

After numerous attempts, he was eventually able to get the people

out of the water and onto the rescue boat.

Lifeguarding allowed Seim to pursue other things, one of which was

volleyball. His career allowed him to play beach ball every weekend,

which he still does at the Huntington Beach Pier or Newport Beach.

However, he now prefers indoor volleyball to the beach game, but

still uses sand ball as a good way to train for indoor.

Playing beach volleyball is extremely different than indoor ball.

The sand, for starters, makes it exponentially harder to move about.

Plus, there is more area to cover since only two people play on each

team. Each player is responsible for every task -- hitting, serving,

setting and passing. In six-man indoor, each player has a specific

task.

“I like both, but I really enjoy indoor because there are so many

opportunities to travel and play,� Seim said.

Seim aspires to winning more championships and getting more

accolades, but there is one goal that is most important to him.

When he first started playing indoor, he was designated the

uniform caretaker, meaning he had to wash the uniforms. The first

time he went to the Laundromat he encountered someone else doing the

same thing -- it was the wife of a 75-year-old volleyball player, who

was still playing competitively.

“I was like ‘Wow, that’s really cool,’ � he said. “And I decided

I’m going to play as long as I can. Hopefully, I can make it to 75

and still be able to play.�