Taking baby steps

MANHATTAN BEACH — Rachel Wacholder looked so relaxed last weekend at the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals Tour Manhattan Beach Open.

Comfortable under a big umbrella with friends? Check.

Baby boy Koa, nearly 4 months old, in tow and garnering adoration from said friends? Check.

Prime seat on the sand to watch husband and fellow AVP player Sean Scott in action? Check.

Life is, well, cool.

“Having a baby has been like the coolest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” she said.

But that beach volleyball court has been beckoning. And Wacholder, a 1993 Laguna Beach High graduate, is almost ready to get back on the court after giving birth to Koa in April.

The target to get back on tour is the Hermosa Beach Open, which begins Aug. 6. The partner is good friend Kerri Walsh, who is half of the most successful women’s team in tour history and has won gold twice at the Olympics. Walsh also just had her first child, Joey, in May.

“Of course, if I’m going to come back, that’s my dream partner,” Wacholder said. “I couldn’t pick a better person to do it with. She just said, ‘Let’s come back and play and win a tournament after we have the babies.’ I was like, ‘I’m in!’ ”

A simple conversation that just may change the face of the tour for the rest of the season, but life isn’t always so easy to predict. As much as Wacholder and Scott love Koa, having a young child tends to be a time-drainer, particularly when beach volleyball tournaments around the nation await.

Then, there was the physical part of just having a baby.

“I didn’t know at the time I would have a C-section,” said Wacholder, 34, who now lives in Redondo Beach. “I didn’t know how it would be, but [the C-section] has only set me back a few weeks. We’re working hard, and it’s been fun and challenging trying to find baby sitters. It’s harder to work out when you’re exhausted, but it’s great, too, to come home to him all the time. He’s a good boy.”

So how is the tour landscape looking? Wacholder’s former partner Elaine Youngs is teamed with Nicole Branagh and they’ve won six of nine tournaments so far. It was Youngs with whom Wacholder won five of her six AVP Tour titles, all of those coming as the No. 2-seeded team behind May-Treanor and Walsh.

But now May-Treanor is still recovering from an Achilles injury, not expected to return this season. There is an excitement in the new pairing, because the new mommies Wacholder and Walsh are coming back to win. They did it twice on the international tour, when they were briefly partners in 2004.

“It’s the real deal,” Walsh said of playing at Hermosa Beach. “We’re going out there with high expectations and high hopes. That being said, it’s our first tournament back since having babies, so I guess there’s a little bit of stress, but we’re planning on doing well.”

Wacholder said she feels the same way. She’s been working hard to get back in the slender playing shape she’s used to — and make no mistake, it’s been hard work.

“It’s been rewarding, but it’s hard,” she said. “Your body goes through a lot when you have a baby, more than I expected. I just thought it would be losing a few pounds and I’d be fine. But, you know, your ligaments get stretched out, your body’s not as stable, you lose all your core strength.

She has also gotten to watch what may be shaping up as a career year for her husband, who has finished top three in seven of nine tournaments with partner John Hyden.

Wacholder would love to end the year with Walsh in a similar way. At 5 feet 9, Wacholder is the speedy defensive player and the 6-foot-3 Walsh puts up the big block.

Whatever happens, life is indeed cool for Wacholder. And, by the way, she may be 34 but she isn’t going anywhere.

“Age is just how you feel, and I still feel young,” Wacholder said.

“I don’t really feel like my body is falling apart. I do, I feel young. Sean is 36 and he’s winning. Really, it’s how you feel, and I feel good. I kind of feel like having a baby refreshed me, too.”