Northridge’s Samuelson Serves His Time on Bench

SEATTLE â€”  There were 12 players on the U. S. men’s volleyball team competing at the Goodwill Games last week and Bob Samuelson played less than all but one.

For now, it appears that the former Pierce College and Cal State Northridge star must bide his time.

“It’s hard to sell Samuelson and guys like him that it takes years to be the greatest in the world,” said Bill Neville, the U. S. coach.

“He’s got great potential, but it’s going to take some time. These guys, as soon as they strap ‘USA’ on the back of their uniform, they just assume, ‘I must be good.’ It doesn’t work that way.”

Samuelson played in parts of only four of the 20 U.S. tournament games.

Neville pointed out that Craig Buck and Jon Root, the team’s top players, have been with the program for more than eight years.

“It takes a lot of work and it’s only for special guys who have the ability to focus that long,” Neville said.

Samuelson has been training with the national team for a year. Turbulent times probably are ahead.

With new U. S. Volleyball Assn. rules that enable professionals such as Karch Kiraly and Steve Timmons to regain their eligibility for the national team, Samuelson’s place on the team could be tenuous.

“We’ll try to juggle this flex policy--the ability to bring guys back--with the youngsters,” Neville said. “But they’ve got to be willing to spend a volume of training time in the gym and it’s not going to be fun. We’re not talking about an enjoyable experience.”

The U. S. team trains year-round in San Diego. Neville likes what he’s seen of Samuelson so far.

“He’s a powerful guy. He’s got a good jump, he’s agile and he has good hand-eye coordination,” Neville said.

If Samuelson has a fault, it would be his lack of consistency.

“He has to control his emotional focus. He’s very up and down,” Neville said. “He can come in and light it up--light up the floor, or light up the arena by blasting balls as (fans) scramble to get out of the way.”

The coach was playfully exaggerating. But only a little.

“He’ll be very good when he learns the ability to control and focus his game,” Neville said. “He has the raw material. We know we’ve got a good one.”