Beach Volleyball: Tramblie model of determination

It’s no longer the chip on Ty Tramblie’s shoulder that is his utmost concern. Scar tissue, lingering remnants of a bone spur and various byproducts of complex surgical reconstruction, however, provide a constant, often painful reminder that the challenges of a perpetual and frequently maniacal beach volleyball underdog are hardly limited to the scoreboard.

“Some days, I feel really good,” said Tramblie, less than a month away from his 34th birthday and long removed from indoor glory days at the Balboa Bay Volleyball Club, Newport Harbor High and Cal State Northridge. “And then some days I feel terrible, like I have a torn shoulder again. I’m constantly having to try to find the right routine for me and find the right balance between training, playing and resting my shoulder.”

Playing trumps the alternatives this weekend, when Tramblie will seize a rare opportunity to compete with partner Sean Rosenthal, who has 23 domestic and international career pro beach titles. Rosenthal’s usual teammate, Phil Dalhausser, is sidelined with an abdominal injury.

Tramblie and Rosenthal, a former Corona del Mar resident who in four Assn. of Volleyball Professionals events with Dalhausser this season has won once, finished second once and third twice, will challenge the field in the AVP Huntington Beach Open, Friday through Sunday near the Huntington Beach Pier.

Tramblie, who along with Andrei Belov finished a season-best fifth in the AVP event in Atlantic City earlier this month, is looking for his first professional beach victory in 11 seasons. His career highlight is a final appearance in the 2012 Jose Cuervo event in Chicago.

Tramblie, a former indoor setter who needs shoes and socks to hit the 6-foot plateau, said he is anxious for the chance to play with a talent like Rosenthal.

“I feel like I’m bringing a gun to the knife fight,” said Tramblie, the 1999 CIF Southern Section Division I Player of the Year as a senior setter for a Newport Harbor team that won the school’s last CIF boys’ volleyball championship. “I look at beach volleyball as a fight and each tournament is a test of whether you are up for the fight, physically and mentally. But, depending on the partner you have, you are either at a deficit or at an advantage. This time, I’m definitely at an advantage. [Rosenthal] is like a video game, because he’s a 10 at everything.”

On-court advantages have almost never been handed to Tramblie, whose wavy blond hair, sculpted physique and matinee-idol features have fostered a modeling career that both supports and embarrasses him.

His images, most on behalf of sponsors, dot the pages of volleyball magazines and he was featured on a Paul Mitchell television commercial in 2013. The advertising gigs and Internet exposure have made him something of a heartthrob, particularly among teenage girls.

“[Modeling income] is a blessing, but, to be honest, that’s not the kind of attention I enjoy,” said Tramblie, who grew up in Newport Beach and now lives in Huntington Beach. “It allows me to travel and participate in the tournaments. As far as being in front of the camera, I don’t enjoy it. If I could, I would avoid all that.”

Tramblie has never been one to avoid hard work and his on-court persona is built upon hustle and determination. Such relentlessness helped him overcome the modest expectations others held for him after high school.

“I was CIF Player of the Year and I went to Northridge, because I wanted to play in Division I,” Tramblie said. “Then the coach [at Northridge] said I would never set for him and that I would have to play libero. I was a freshman and I ran out of his office crying. That gave me endless fuel.”

After redshirting between his freshman and sophomore seasons, Tramblie started at setter his final three years at Northridge. He was a second-team All-American as a senior.

He played two years professionally indoors in Switzerland, but his passion, and well-rounded skills, had always pointed him toward the sand.

“It can be frustrating and it can shake your belief in yourself, depending on where you finish,” Tramblie said. “But for me, I just love the game. I love being at the beach in the off-season around 9 a.m. and no one else is there. It’s the most beautiful place I could think of.”

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Huntington Beach Open

Thursday: Men’s and women’s qualifying, south side of pier, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.; AVPNext Championship Cup, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., north side of pier.

Friday: Men’s and women’s main draw, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Saturday: Men’s and women’s main draw, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Sunday: Men’s and women’s main draw, 8:15 a.m. to 3 p.m.; women’s final, 1 p.m.; men’s final, 2 p.m.