U.S. Team Counts on Gold-Medal Fever to Bridge Generation Gap : Volleyball: Sturm’s mix of younger players and Olympic veterans debuts against Japan.

SAN DIEGO —  The grand experiment is under way. It’s part geriatrics, part physical education, part psychology.

Fred Sturm is the man wearing the lab coat, the one responsible for placing the ingredients in the petri dish. What he hopes to concoct is a gold-medal performance by a group of men who are candidates for a milk commercial.

And he acknowledges he was --is-- under the microscope.

The challenge: Combine gold medalists from the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games who went off to earn handsome salaries in the professional leagues of Europe with a group of virtual youngsters who have spent the past few years conditioning themselves to succeed them.

“In this particular situation,” Sturm said in his quiet, professorial tone, “it seemed like there were definitely some people who were questioning whether or not this would work, meshing the younger players with the veterans.”

Sturm’s laboratory is a gymnasium, but Saturday’s match against the Japanese at the Sports Arena (7 p.m.) is the first of a 12-match World League schedule that is a sort of an open house, a public display to see how things are developing on a weekly basis. It’s the U.S. Olympic team’s first report card.

So far, all parties say, so good. The veterans of Olympics past, Jeff Stork, 31; Craig Buck, 33); Steve Timmons, 33; and Bob Ctvrtlik, 28, joined the team April 27, meeting Sturm’s deadline for making a commitment to the program. Doug Partie (30) has been a regular in the gym since February. All had gone to sow their volleyball oats in Italy.

With Scott Fortune, 26, a holdover the past four years, the U.S. team had five of the six starters from the 1988 gold medal team trying out. The only starter absent was Karch Kiraly.

“Fred said this is a tryout situation, that we have to win a spot in the starting lineup,” Ctvrtlik said, “and I approached it that way. I think that’s how everyone has approached it, that nothing is given. . . . We’re definitely in a survival-of-the-fittest mode.”

Proof positive: Buck, the oldest player on the team, is pondering retirement and hasn’t been with the team since Tuesday.

With another holdover Olympian, Eric Sato, 26, the addition of all the proven talent gives the U.S. extraordinary depth. But it also presented an opportunity for friction to develop between the two groups.

“I was trying to prepare for the worst and never had a problem getting along with anyone, and if it was a big enough problem, I was prepared not to play.” Ctvrtlik said. “Instead, I’ve experienced the exact opposite. The players I’ve talked to have said the attitude of the younger players wasn’t that good--the people who were starting were maybe getting a little cocky or arrogant--and when the older players arrived, the intensity and level of play improved. I hope that’s true. That would be the optimal situation. But you never know what’s being said when you’re not around.

“I assume some people are very bitter, and I can’t blame them, but I know that the returning players are working their butts off.”

The team’s most competitive position is middle blocker, where Buck and Partie were being challenged by Bob Samuelson, 25, and two-time NCAA player of the year Bryan Ivie, 23.

“I think a lot of the press, the magazines, tried to make it seem like there would be a big conflict between the older players and younger players,” said Samuelson, who joined the program in 1989. “I think the U.S. people deserve to have the best players available on the team, and if you can’t beat your (countrymen), how can we expect to beat the best teams in the world?

“I mean, look at it from Fred’s standpoint: We’ve been here four years and they’ve been in Italy earning money after winning the Olympics, but if those guys want to come back, hell yeah, I’m going to take them.”

And so he did.

Sturm let his team know when he took over 17 months ago that the U.S. would face a unique situation: former players wanting to return after “retiring” from the U.S. program to play in Italy.

“But (Sturm) also made it clear there would be stipulations,” Samuelson said. “He did what he thought was best for the program, for the younger players and the older players. He thought about it, made the rules and he’s stuck to his guns.

“I think people have known for a long time (Stork, Buck, Timmons, Ctvrtlik) were coming back. Does that mean they’ll walk right into the starting lineup? Fred will say, ‘Yes, it does.’ It might upset you, but at least you knew right where you stood.”

Sturm said the whole point of the program, though, was to win, whether the players had put in their time in San Diego living off the Olympic Job Opportunity Program or whether they were playing for Il Messaggero in the Italian professional league and earning between $100,000 and $500,000 annually.

“It’s been my intention for a very long time to have the very best players in this country try out for the Olympic team,” said Sturm, who was on the national team in 1976-77. “I guess what follows is we’ve got the best group of players in the gym since I’ve been the coach, and it’s made everybody better. That’s been the most positive thing.”

“There were definitely some doubters who felt the two groups of players couldn’t coexist. That’s definitely been untrue.”

For those who doubted, consider the observation of Fortune, elected team captain by the younger players after he refused to join the exodus after the Olympic victory in Seoul: “The last three weeks have been our best practices for the last couple of years. The older guys are fighting to start and the younger guys are fighting for a spot on the Olympic team. Everyone’s raised their level of play, making us a better team.”

Partie said, “No matter how much experience we have, there’s no reason we shouldn’t be working just as hard (as the younger players). We have to lead by example and do at least what they do and maybe a bit more.”

Samuelson has gained valuable experience from Timmons and Stork, whom he said are eager to share their knowledge with the younger players, like himself.

“The old guys realize they can’t do it by themselves, and they have to rely on some of the young horses to win another gold medal, and the only way to do that is to elevate our level of play,” Samuelson said. “I think they’ve been helping us a lot and are eager to pass the torch on to the younger guys in the hopes that we’ll carry the torch for them and then pass it on to some younger players some day.”

But for Dan Hanan, and others, there’s a certain bittersweet edge to the return of the Olympic Four to the two-time defending Olympic champion.

“I’m glad they’re back because the program will be better and the better we do in the Olympics, the bigger the sponsorship and the better the money, which in turn will come back to us,” Hanan said “The negative side is that some of us will get bumped off and not go to the Olympics. I guess I would think (their return is) not as good because I want to go to the Olympics.”

Hanan, 24, a three-time college All-American from Stanford and starting middle blocker in last year’s World League, isn’t even suiting up for the match against the Japanese. He is not alone.

“There were never any promises,” Fortune said. “We always knew that the best guys were going to make the team. . . . There are no guarantees in life. Reality is starting to set in for guys who have to perform to be a part of the team.”

To be a part of the mix.