View from the Toppel

At 6’9′, Pacific Palisades native Curt Toppel stands out as a foreign volleyball player on the floor of Doha’s Al Arabi stadium. His team, also named ‘Al Arabi’ is owned by the king’s family and has finished the first round of the six-team Qatar Premier League undefeated. It is cruising confidently into the second round… anything else would be a serious embarrassment to the king. Last weekend was a change of pace. Team Tunisia needed a high-octane beach player to win the four-man Dukhan Water Works volleyball championship 80 miles from Doha. Toppel never says “No” to anything volleyball and became a bona fide Tunisian for the day. Veni, vidi, vici! He came, he saw and he conquered. Each player received a victory check for 1,000 Qatar Real (about $300). The check was appreciated, the golden cup was heavy, and the honor was great. On the way back to Doha, a herd of camels crossed the road single file. “Who owns the camels?” Toppel asked. “Nobody” his neighbor answered, “Who needs camels nowadays?” Next week, “Al Arabi” will travel to Saudi Arabia, with Curt as the only permitted foreign player on the team, to compete in the Pan-Arabia cup. Such has been the life of Toppel since he graduated from Stanford in 2004. After extensive travels with the U.S. national team he signed season-long contracts with professional teams in Spain, Italy, Greece, S. Korea, Germany, Puerto Rico, and now Qatar. Along the way the 28-year-old learned to speak five languages and is working on Arabic. Life has proven to be difficult in this liberal Islamic country, where temperatures in the summer often exceed 120 degrees and swimming pools need refrigeration. In Qatar it is improper to be seen in public with a female other than your wife. Toppel’s contract is therefore very specific about not embarrassing his team or the sport. So the “California Kid” cannot don his swimming trunks at a sunny beach and take a dip in the cool water without being charged with indecency. He’ll have to save that for his return to Will Rogers State Beach. Still, he wouldn’t trade his life experiences for the world. Life looks good from above. For more on Qatar volleyball, go to www.qatarvolleyball.com.