CIF SOUTHERN SECTION BOYS’ VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFFS:

The cheers from the crowd at Bren Events Center had reached service ace proportions, and yet no volleyball had crossed over the net yet.

A curly-haired boy in a No. 27 Newport Harbor High jersey stood behind the line at the 2008 Battle of the Bay.

Up went the ball, over the net, and after Corona del Mar sided out, John Puppo dutifully went back to his spot on the Sailors’ bench a hero.

He didn’t think it was all that spectacular. It was something he’d done at least a hundred times before his sophomore year at Newport Harbor, until he was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Puppo, now a senior, went to a doctor for a routine physical during his sophomore basketball season only to find that he couldn’t gain clearance to play because of what seemed like a heart murmur. A trip to a specialist later revealed that the walls of his heart were too thick. The thickened walls made it more difficult for his heart to pump blood, and Puppo was told to avoid strenuous activity.

That meant giving up not only playing basketball, but volleyball as well. At first, it was painful.

“I’ve gotten used to it,” said Puppo, a senior for Newport Harbor, the top-seeded team which plays host to Santa Margarita in a CIF Southern Section Division I semifinal tonight at 7. “At first, it was kind of bad, having to come to practice in the mornings and not being able to play, but you get used to it, just like with anything else, you know?”

The timing of his diagnosis, though, helped soften the blow.

“We had just played a [basketball] tournament before, and we played terribly,” Puppo said. “The next morning we were running these things called ‘sunrise services,’ which is on the track. You would do serpentines, or laps around the stadium. That was the morning I got diagnosed, so I didn’t have to run.”

About one out of every 500 people have the condition that affects Puppo, according to the Mayo Clinic. Many of them don’t know it because they show few, if any, symptoms. But it’s still a serious condition. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is the most common cause of heart-related sudden death in people under 30.

Puppo didn’t want to abandon his teammates, or his favorite sports, altogether. So he still roused himself at 4:30 every morning to go to frosh-soph basketball practices and eventually became a de facto assistant coach.

“If they had such a thing in high school, I would call him a grad assistant,” said Larry Hirst, the longtime Newport Harbor boys’ basketball coach who is on a one-year sabbatical. “Manager is not very cool to kids. I really don’t know if anyone uses that term anymore. He’s our quasi grad assistant.”

Puppo took a similar position for Coach Dan Glenn when the volleyball season started, and he’s been doing it ever since.

“He was a good player,” Glenn said. “He’s still a good player. He just unfortunately, can’t do something where it’s physically challenging on him. I definitely look at him as part of the team. Just basically because if he was healthy, he’d be a senior on the team completely.”

Now, Puppo is winding down his time with the volleyball team before he becomes a physics major at Loyola Marymount next year. He’s got at least one, possibly two matches, left as the Sailors, winners of 20 straight, try to advance to Saturday’s championship.

Glenn wanted to give Puppo something to remember May 2, and the biggest rivalry match of the season, played on the same floor as the NCAA championship, seemed like a good time to do it.

“I got the OK from his mom and dad,” Glenn said. “I just thought it was a good time to show my appreciation to him.”

So there was Puppo, on that funny-colored blue and red volleyball floor, the receiver of a welcome fit for a gladiator who’d just slain a lion.

Puppo popped the ball over the net.

“I think it was a lot more important to everybody else than it was to me,” Puppo said. “People congratulate me for it and I just went in and served the ball. I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. But it’s a big deal to a lot of other people, I guess.

“It was fun to get back on the court in front of all those people, but I’ve been playing volleyball since I was in seventh grade. Serving the ball’s not that big of a deal.”

Puppo continues to make a strong impact on his team.

“I don’t think the kids feel sorry for him or I feel sorry for him,” Glenn said. “It’s just the way it is. He’s just one of my players is the way I look at it. It’s not about playing in all the games or being a star, it’s about being part of the team. And he is definitely a major part of our team.”

SORAYA NADIA McDONALD may be reached at (714) 966-4613 or at soraya.mcdonald@latimes.com.