Injured Sailor fills bench-mark role

Bryce Alderton

When he jumps at full strength, 6-foot-8 Newport Harbor High senior

middle blocker Jamie Diefenbach many times towers over the net,

meticulously placing shots with power and precision at the

opposition.

An injury to the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee,

suffered during the basketball season, has temporarily grounded

Diefenbach, but that has hardly stopped him from still filling a big

role in the Sailors’ volleyball program.

Diefenbach, who signed a letter of intent to play volleyball at

UCLA next season, and Emily Turner, a senior outside hitter on the

Newport girls volleyball team that reached the quarterfinals of the

CIF Division II state championships in the fall, had guided Harbor’s

freshmen boys team to victories in its first six Sea View League

matches.

Before the season began, Newport girls and boys varsity coach Dan

Glenn asked the two if they would take on the task of coaching at the

high school level for the first time.

“Initially, I sensed that [Diefenbach] thought I was kidding, but

he quickly figured out I wasn’t and everything went from there,” said

Glenn, in his 18th year coaching at the school. “It has been a

win-win situation.”

Diefenbach, a first-team All-Sea View League selection last season

and a Newport-Mesa Dream Team honoree in 2002 and 2003, tore the ACL

in his left knee during a slam dunk contest in December’s Capital

City Classic, a basketball tournament in Juneau, Alaska. Newport

reached the tournament final. He missed his junior basketball season,

and some of his junior volleyball campaign, after tearing his right

ACL in preseason workouts.

The four-year varsity performer is expected to miss the entire

season.

After returning from his initial injury last season, Diefenbach

helped lead the Sailors to the second round of the CIF Southern

Section Division I playoffs.

“Of course we miss him,” Glenn said. “It is hard when you counted

on having a guy like that in the lineup.

“But he and [Turner] are doing a great job. It is fun for me to

watch.”

“I was excited to [coach],” said Diefenbach when Glenn approached

him about the job. “It’s better than sitting through varsity

practice. It allows me to teach the game and try to point out what

Coach Glenn was yelling at me for the last few years.”

Like the freshmen team, the varsity squad is unbeaten in league

and ranked No. 6 in CIF Division I.

Coaching the freshmen has helped Diefenbach cope with the injury,

but it pains him to watch from the sideline.

“I’m excited for the guys,” Diefenbach said. “[Junior opposite

Greg Perrine, who, coincidentally missed last volleyball season with

a torn ACL] has stepped up his game and I’m glad the varsity team is

doing as well as it is.

“Knowing I have a bigger part in something has eased a little of

the pain, but it is still tough. I’ve been lucky, though. I have a

good group of kids.”

Diefenbach visits a physical therapist daily and rides the

stationary bicycle to keep in shape.

He said the knee is getting stronger each day, but added “there is

still a ways to go.”

Should Newport, as expected, makes the playoffs and go fairly deep

in the draw, Glenn said he might use Diefenbach in the back row.

When asked about that possibility, Diefenbach remained skeptical.

“It is a long shot, but it is a goal of mine,” Diefenbach said.

“Maybe I’ll serve. I will unlikely be in a risky position where I

could hurt myself. But I want to do anything to help the team. Most

of them are good friends.”

Diefenbach said the UCLA coaches have remained understanding.

“They said, ‘There is plenty of time to get ready, don’t rush

anything and don’t start playing until school starts [in September],’

” Diefenbach said.

Diefenbach keeps statistics during varsity matches and is one of

the team’s captains. He stands shoulder-to-shoulder alongside

teammates during pre-match introductions.

He also stands alongside Turner during matches, barking out

instructions while clapping and praising players for a job well done.

Turner, a first-team all-league and Dream Team selection following

the fall season who will continue her volleyball career at Princeton

next season, can see even more clearly, as a coach, the emotional

effects during a match.

“You see how much emotion really affects players,” said Turner,

who, like Diefenbach, is also recovering from knee surgery. Turner

had tendinitis in the right patella.

“I can’t do much walking without pain,” Turner said. “I can’t run

or jump, but I’m doing physical therapy and should be good to go next

year.”

But there are still a few more matches this year, with Turner and

Diefenbach standing tall.

“It’s a challenge being a girl and coaching boys who are not that

much younger than I,” Turner said. “They are respectful to a certain

point.”

That’s when Diefenbach comes in.

“Sometimes, I have Jamie tell them to do something,” Turner said.

“He is a 6-8 guy with a loud voice.”

A loud voice and a big heart.