John F. Kennedy High School-Granada Hills, CA-- The nicknames "Helmet"
and "Crash Dummy" are affixed to him like a true-to-life Speed Racer.    
When he competes, he anticipates the perfect moment, revs into sixth gear
and floors it.     Then he picks himself up off the floor and admires his
work or glares at me on the stand for calling a down ball:    Sean
Beattie, senior back row specialist/outside hitter for the Kennedy High
boys' volleyball team.   In a sport where height and leaping ability are
prerequisites, the 5-foot-11 Beattie, whose Golden Cougars face San Pedro
in the City Section 4-A quarterfinals, has established his own niche at
ground level.    Quite simply, the ball doesn't hit the deck. Beattie
does.     His efforts earned him the "Helmet" nickname when Beattie was a
sophomore.    His technique wasn't so good back then and he would dive
for these balls and it was like, oh God, he's going to kill himself--He
was crazy--He was going to go full at it, head first, and didn't care
what part of his body he was going to destroy.   Beattie, who stood 5
feet 8 at the time, saw it a different way.     "I didn't think I was
going to make the team so I hustled as hard as I could and tried to keep
everybody going," he said. "Anything to catch Coach's eye."     It worked.
    He made the team and kept the attitude, which led to a new nickname
his junior year: "Crash Dummy."    There's no new moniker this season,
but the traits still remain.    Beattie does little wrong in the back row,
 where he sometimes shows--could it be?--finesse.    He has a soft touch
receiving serves and is the top passer on the Golden Cougars.    He also
shows ingenuity when he's playing the outside hitter spot, often fooling
defenses with off-speed kills.    But it is Beattie's skills off the
court that make him an integral part of the Kennedy team.    A few months
ago, Beattie took offense to a parting shot from an opponent who termed
the Golden Cougars overrated in a newspaper article.    Beattie made
several copies of the article, showed it to his teammates and openly
questioned team attitude.    Since then, the Golden Cougars (13-1) have
won 10 matches in a row.

Other  So Cal News
In Pacific Coast League boys' volleyball:
    Laguna Beach vs Laguna Hills -Top-ranked Laguna Beach clinched its
eighth consecutive league title with a 15-2, 15-7, 15-1 victory. Dan
Styles had 15 kills for the Artists (14-1, 8-1).

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  THOMAS FAKEHANY  JNWS...@prodigy.com