THE GABLE TWINS

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THE GABLE TWINS

Volleyball Magazine

HEADLINERS - August 1998 page 24

Darren & Steve Gable

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IF YOU'RE TRYING TO FIGURE out which Gable twin to serve, Darren or Steve, here's a bit of advice: Forget about it. You might think you're serving Darren when you're really serving Steve. If you're not serving Steve you may soon be serving Steve and still think you're serving Darren.

Confused ? Imagine being on the other side of the net. The Gables are twins of the identical variety and they comb their hair the same and wear the same clothes. If one is passing poorly during a match, they huddle, switch sides and all of a sudden the one who's passing well is getting the serves because who the heck can figure out what happened ?

And the thing is, Darren is right-handed, Steve left-handed. So when you don't figure it out, blocking and playing defense against them can be just a little bit strange. This is a story about two guys on the FIVE tour who are very good at what they do best, but what they do best isn't play volleyball. They had a brief indoor career at Loyola Marymount, and they're decent on the sand. But their real game is marketing. And being Xerox copies of each other, they have a ready-made angle.

"We've grown up with entrepreneurial minds," says Darren. "We never thought we'd work a nine-to-five job. We're always coming up with new concepts and new ideas in order to stay away from the office environment."

Maybe that's the mindset you develop when your father makes a living as a toy maker. Imagine growing up in the same house as the guy who invented Masters of the Universe? He had more toys than they did. Could there be a better dad ?

If not toys, though, why not beach volleyball ? In the first place, they could avoid punching a time clock. And if they could play up the twin angle, they figured it would be the perfect vehicle to launch a business.

Since they didn't want to be just another American team among the masses, they decided to play for England, which was possible because it was the birth home of both of their parents. Once a few details were worked out with the British federation, they became England's No. 1 beach team.

Last season, their first on the international tour, was a bit of an adjustment. Suffice it to say that beach volleyball isn't taken quite as seriously in England as soccer, rugby and cricket. Just about every time the newspaper writes an article about them, they're referred to as the Baywatch Twins, and they have spent many hours trying to convince skeptical reporters that this game is indeed legitimate.

"We're pretty much the pioneers of beach volleyball over there," Darren says. "We kind of determine what path the sport is going to take." It took time before they won over the locals, too. "We'd be playing in an all-English tournament, and the fans would yell: 'Go England,"' Steve says. "There was a lot of resentment, and it took them awhile to adjust."

In the short term, they hope to become volleyball's version of the Jensen brothers, who, despite a low ranking, are making a big splash in tennis on the strength of their personalities.

An immediate goal for the Gables is to qualify for the 2000 Olympics, but don't expect to see them around for too long after that. Their plan isn't to become the next Karch Kiraly or Sinjin Smith. They might open a restauant or start a line of twin clothing, hut they won't turn 40 on the FIVB tour.

"We're more business-minded than sports-minded," Darren says. "We want to live a good lifestyle, hut we don't think thatjust bumming around the beach is going to satisfy.

Don Patterson

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