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Polster Hits Stride After Finding His Niche
by Angela Busch, Star-Tribune
July 29, 2006
Everyone in the California men's club volleyball circuit hated him.
They hated his habit of trash talking through the net almost as much
as they hated the ease with which he slammed the ball over it. Who was
this kid, anyway? He had come out of nowhere - or close to nowhere
when it comes to men's volleyball. He was from Minnesota.
Ten years ago, that notorious kid was Jim Polster, now 27, an Apple
Valley native who moved to California during his senior year of high
school and went on to star in volleyball at Long Beach State. He is
now a member of the U.S. men's volleyball team, which has brought
Polster back home for the weekend.
Team USA will play Japan tonight and Sunday night at Target Center
as
part of the World League tour. For Polster, it is a chance to show his
family what men's volleyball is all about.
"They've kind of been wondering what I've been doing for the past
few
years," said Polster, who has played with the team for six years.
Most
of his family members have never seen him play, but he said more than
20 of them will be attending tonight's match.
Polster is a unique team member: Most of the players hail from
California or other states with temperate climates.
When Polster, an outside hitter, started playing club volleyball in
Minnesota, his team was the only boys' volleyball club in the state.
They made regular trips to Iowa and Wisconsin. Tonight will be
Polster's first chance to play at Target Center.
His first experience with volleyball was at age 13, when he joined
a
coed league with the Apple Valley Veterans Affairs group. He was
looking for a way to stay in shape during the offseason from baseball.
"Yeah, it was kind of a joke," Polster said. "But at least
there were
girls there."
Volleyball always came second to baseball in those years. Polster was
a talented young pitcher. Then, he was the only one of his friends not
to make the varsity baseball team as a sophomore.
A year on JV was tough.
"Baseball wasn't fun anymore," he said. He started
putting more effort
into volleyball but still wasn't a star.
"I was never anything special," he said.
His friends didn't understand his new sport. When he told them he was
headed out of town for a volleyball tournament, they said, "What?"
"They were playing real sports, like hockey," Polster said,
somewhat
sarcastically.
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Move was turning point
When Polster was 17, his dad got a job promotion and the family
moved
to Laguna Niguel, Calif. Suddenly, men's volleyball was big-time,
played during the spring high school season. Polster chose volleyball
over baseball.
The level of play there was high, Polster said, and there were better
players than he'd ever seen in the Midwest. But instead of backing
down, Polster rose to the challenge and improved his skills. He became
well-known on the club circuit. Teammate Dave McKienzie played against
Polster during those days.
"Yeah, I used to hate him," McKienzie said, remembering Polster's
cockiness on the court.
But both McKienzie and Polster ended up with scholarships to Long
Beach State. They went to a Final Four there together, and now both
play on the U.S. team. This weekend is McKienzie's first trip to
Minnesota, but he's already heard a lot about it from Polster.
"Yeah, he can't stop talking about it. He's been talking about it
for
weeks," McKienzie said.
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