Bouncing back into his game
- Steve Klosterman
- Oct 8, 2018
- 5 min read
DAILY BRUIN
BY ALLISON HO
April 26, 2006
There were already some big shoes for Steve Klosterman to fill when he first set foot on the UCLA campus three years ago. But they weren’t those left behind by any graduating senior. They were his own sneakers, waiting to be filled, to meet the expectations of coaches, fans and himself. He was the No. 1 recruit in the country coming of out of high school, a two-time Junior Olympics MVP and three-time all-league player at Marina High School. A similarly great collegiate career was immediately expected from Klosterman. Only after a hot-and-cold freshman year and an injury-plagued sophomore year has the highly touted Long Beach native started to live up to his potential. In his third year as a Bruin, instead of showing mere flashes of brilliance, Klosterman now shines all the time. His success could not have come at a more opportune time.
After starting the season 12-12, No. 7 seed UCLA (22-12) will play No. 2 seed Pepperdine (17-7) in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation semifinal tonight on the heels of a 10-game winning streak. Klosterman is the undoubted star of a team peaking at the right time. “He’s matured quite well; he’s blossomed,” said redshirt junior Beau Peters, who was Klosterman’s teammate at Marina High School, at the LBC Volleyball Club, and now at UCLA. “But especially from his freshman year when he didn’t have quite the year that everybody thought he was going to have, from then on out, I think he just shut up all of his critics,” Peters said. In his first year at UCLA, Klosterman had to adjust to the UCLA style of play, which required much more effort from the three-time Junior Olympics gold medalist. “Suddenly (he was) in this program that (he was) just dreaming about with the big names and all that,” assistant coach Brian Rofer said. “And it’s a different game here. In high school he was the guy that would hit, he didn’t really have to do anything else. But now he’s starting to turn the corner, realizing he has to pass, dig, get the tip shots. Someone else isn’t going to come in and get it; he has to step in and make the big plays.”
This year, Klosterman is beginning to make those big plays, leading the team with 4.12 kills per game and having a .318 hitting percentage that is the highest in his UCLA career. “As Steve’s numbers go up, so does everyone else’s because they actually respect our right-side attack now,” Rofer said. “Now it’s kind of a catch-22; you have to pick your poison.”
Shouldering the load Klosterman’s newfound success and
consistency did not come without a price. Beginning in his freshman
year during the Bruins’ April 14 match against Cal State
Northridge, Klosterman began to feel pain in his right hitting
shoulder for the first time in his athletic career. The pain never
left. Klosterman played through the pain throughout the entire 2005
season with what turned out to be a torn labrum. It’s an
injury that often ends baseball pitchers’ careers, but may
not be nearly as fatal for volleyball players. Still, Klosterman
was hindered by his shoulder in 2005, and his numbers reflected it.
Klosterman averaged 3.89 kills per game with a .293 hitting percentage in his freshman year, but he regressed in 2005 to a .220 hitting percentage because the shoulder injury limited his accuracy. “He had a great freshman year, and now he’s having a great junior year,” coach Al Scates said. “But he had to throw away one (sophomore) year because of his shoulder.” The eight-month rehabilitation period after the 2005 season ended in the May national-title game was worth much more to Klosterman than any amount of playing time could have been at that point in time. The doctors prevented him from making any type of forward arm movement, so he could do nothing but sit and watch.
Klosterman is sworn to be a “volleyball junkie” by teammates because he loves to watch international matches on TV to study the game. But even a student of the game would be frustrated to sit and watch from the sidelines, offering little more than support. “I’ve been playing volleyball year-round since I was in sixth grade,” Klosterman said. “It was tough to sit out, but I really needed the rest. I think that actually really helped me play better this year because I got to see the outside perspective, got to see how people react in certain situations. By not playing I think I learned a lot more; I had to use my head more.”
Recharged In his first games back this season, beginning in the January Outrigger Hotels Invitational in Hawai’i, Klosterman began to infuse this new insight into his play. But success did not come immediately. It was a slow climb back to the dominance he had during his high school career, but after a few weeks of ups and downs while his shoulder tired from the intense demands, Klosterman eventually regained his strength. “He’s come through a lot of adversity,” said Steve’s father Don Klosterman. “What’s really important is that all that rehab took place on the job. The first six to eight weeks was really a gut check for him to play well, to rehab and recharge the batteries. But after the first Stanford match, he got on track and played on a consistent basis every week. That was when we felt confident that his arm was going to stick.”
During that “recharging” period, Klosterman learned even more about himself as a player and made fine-tune adjustments to improve his all-around game. “I’m definitely playing a lot smarter this year,” said Klosterman, who is lauded by his father and Rofer for being an avid student of the game. “At the beginning of the year my arm wasn’t at full strength and I had to learn how to do different shots. But I think definitely this is my best year just because I’m more level-headed and I stick with it more. “In previous years, like when I was a freshman, I’d get too frustrated and take myself out of the game. But this year no matter how bad I play at the beginning, I can still pull myself out of it.” After the change in attitude and style of play, Klosterman is now beginning to resemble the volleyball greats he admires watching on TV. “You had to take a back seat while he was watching his tapes,” Don Klosterman said of his son’s countless hours spent in front of the television. “He loves the international game. Volleyball is a sport of nuances and techniques, and he watches the world’s greats to pick up those traits.” “Instead of trying to emulate a player, he’s that player that younger kids are going to start emulating,” Rofer said. “That’s the level that he’s at, and he still has another year. He’s the player that I expected him to be, starting now, this year.” If Klosterman’s time is now, then UCLA might be only a moment or two away from something bigger than just a win.
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Nine days after this story ran, UCLA won the NCAA National Championship. Steve Klosterman was named MVP of the Championships.
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