His Hits Are Spiked With Hawaiian Punch : Newport Harbor’s Hugh Foster Has a Big Crush on Sport of Volleyball

There’s a loft at the south end of the Newport Harbor High School gymnasium, its base about 15 feet above the gym floor, its purpose to accommodate overflow crowds.

Hugh Foster steps onto the loft and stands more than 20 feet tall, or just slightly shorter than the tales that have risen about him.

“We heard he was this 6-9 animal that had a 45-inch vertical leap,” said Drew Sheward, Newport Harbor setter. “Everyone had heard about him, but no one had ever seen him.”

The people attending the freshman volleyball match between Newport Harbor and Edison looked up to see Hugh Foster.

Chad Reed, a member of Edison’s junior varsity, told a friend, “I hear he crushes.”

Troy Hall, another member of the Edison junior varsity, replied, “Yeah, they say he shreds.”

Dan Glenn, Newport Harbor coach, said, “Not everyone has seen Hugh, but everyone in volleyball knows about him.”

Foster looks down at nothing in particular as the freshman match continues, causing one observer, splitting glances between Foster and the match in progress, to wonder:

Was Hugh Foster ever a freshman? Did he ever have knobby knees and shorts that hung baggy and awkward? Did he ever have trouble playing volleyball?

Foster, taken off his pedestal, stands 6-feet 5-inches and weighs 210 pounds, and if those pounds could be more impressively distributed over a body, that would be something to see.

His legs are massive, his neck thick, his chest and arms powerful. He is big. He is so big that all the Paul Bunyan stuff you hear about him becomes very believable. Here is what is on the record:

--As a freshman and sophomore, he helped Hawaii’s Punahou High School to state championships and was selected an all-state player.

--As a junior, he led Punahou to another state championship and was named the state’s player of the year.

--He has played in two National Sports Festivals and was named the most valuable player n 1985. Each time, he was the youngest volleyball player competing.

--He transferred to Newport Harbor last spring and is arguably the best high school volleyball player in Orange County.

“We’re talking about a man here,” said Charlie Brande, coach of the club team at Newport’s Balboa Bay Club. “He’s played so long, he understands the game so well, he can absolutely toy with a high school opponent. He probably could play in college right now, he’s that good.”

Foster’s introduction to volleyball came by way of his parents, who, instead of putting him in front of a television, decided that the best way for young Hugh to spend his days would be on the Honolulu beaches. Foster ran and swam and started to play beach volleyball.

“It really came pretty naturally to me,” Foster said. “Not my ability, but my willingness to play all the time, to work and improve my game.”

When he became serious, he ran and jumped in the sand with an eight-pound belt every day. After which came hours and hours of volleyball.

“You’ve heard of gym rats?” Foster said. “I was a beach volleyball rat. I played all the time, every day.”

Foster says he was no legend as he learned the game. He missed balls and was plunked in the nose. He ate plenty of sand diving for balls out of his reach. But what developed was the body and a well-rounded game.

Foster’s height and strength make him a natural hitter. He does crush, shred and destroy the ball when he hits.

“If somebody had never seen volleyball and they saw us play, they would think Hugh is the best player on the team, just because he can hit so hard,” Glenn said. “He hits so hard that it produces a kind of awe that people react to, but really he’s much more.”

Foster is an exceptional passer--Glenn said Foster and Jon Alstrom, both outside hitters, handle about 80% of the passing for Newport Harbor--and has an effective jump serve and a competitive temperament that can go from cruise to crush.

In a match against Huntington Beach in the Dos Pueblos tournament this season, Newport Harbor fell behind, 7-0. At which point, “Hugh went nuts,” Sheward said. “He was serving like crazy and yelling at me to set the ball to him and just to him.”

Foster served eight straight balls, Newport Harbor won the game, 15-11, and the match.

What might have triggered Foster is the fact he has never lost a high school match. When Punahou lost a match this season, it was the first Hawaiian high school match it had lost in 12 years. Newport Harbor is 4-0 this season.

“Every now and then I met get a little bored and cruise,” Foster said. “But when things are going badly I get angry, really angry. I hate losing. I know people talk about me and what I can do. That’s hard to live up to. I mean, the expectations. I think about the hours I spent running and jumping in the sand, all the work that’s gone into this. But people don’t think about that. . . . I’d like to be perfect, but I know that’s not possible.”

Possibilities seem unlimited for Newport Harbor this season. With the addition of Foster, and with players such as Sheward, Alstrom and middle blocker Mike Curci returning from a team that advanced to the Southern Section 4-A semifinals last season, the Sailors are the clear pick to win the 4-A championship.

Actually, Foster was around last season, but because he had transferred after competing a full season in Hawaii, he was not allowed to compete for Newport Harbor. He could work out, but not play.

“It was really hard to look over and see him sitting there,” Sheward said. “You’d work out with the guy and you knew he was great. But come the game, he’d be just sitting on the bench.”

Hugh Foster doesn’t have to stand up--or on--something to grab attention. He doesn’t have to do much at all.

As Foster sat in the loft, waiting for the games on the lower level to end, a teammate approached him and asked what size game shorts he wears--34, 36?

As Foster looked down at the tree trunk that is his right thigh, the teammate thought about the absurdity of the question.

“Forget about it, Hugh. I know. The biggest.”