A Release From Trials of Everyday Life : Volleyball: Pro tour gives lawyer Robert Chavez a chance to have fun in the sun.

Robert Chavez has played pro beach volleyball for 13 seasons, but it has never been for the lure of the nearly $3 million a year in prize money.

Chavez, who earns in excess of $100,000 as a trial lawyer, plays pro beach volleyball because it provides a balance in his hectic life.

“There’s no pressure, because it’s not like I have to win or I can’t pay rent,” Chavez said. “After all these years, I’m out there for fun. I don’t have a lot of free time to practice.”

A typical day for the Playa del Rey native and former USC All-American begins at 6:30 a.m. when he gets up and rides a stationary bike. He is in court by 8:30, then goes to his office in the Long Beach firm of Ford, Walker, Haggerty-Behar for the remainder of the workday.

Then it’s back to the beach after changing from a three-piece suit to shorts and a tank top. He arrives in Manhattan Beach by 6 p.m. and trains with partner Doug Foust until 7:30.

Chavez also manages to find time to serve as executive vice president of the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals.

“It’s such a pleasure working with Robert because he’s so dedicated,” said David Denitz, who coaches Chavez twice a week. “He’s not satisfied with mediocrity. He has a great work ethic.”

Chavez, a setter and hitter on USC’s 1980 NCAA championship team, says his hectic lifestyle serves a purpose.

“It’s good because mentally I need a rest,” he said. “But a lot of days it’s tough to get motivated. I’d love to just go and have a drink and sit and relax after work rather than play volleyball.”

Chavez’s sister, Elizabeth, who competes on the Women’s Professional Volleyball Assn. tour, admires her brother’s discipline.

“He works out when he has to,” she said. “It’s hard for him because he wishes he could play all day on the beach like the rest of those guys. But mentally he overcomes it. He doesn’t allow that to interfere.”

The 6-foot-3, 200-pound Chavez was involved with beach volleyball before the AVP was formed and has teamed up with many of the game’s top players, including Tim Hovland, Steve Timmons and Steve Rottman.

Chavez’s highest AVP ranking was in 1986 (No. 12) when he teamed up with Rottman and finished third at Manhattan Beach, fourth at Zuma Beach, fourth in Chicago and fifth at the World Championships in Redondo Beach.

He was in law school at USC during some of those events and studying for the California Bar exam during others.

“Everyone else was so stressed out about exams, and I’m playing volleyball in Florida,” Chavez said. “It was great.”

Chavez was injured for most of 1987 and 1988 and lost his seeding. Battling back has been tough, but he is presently ranked 31st and has earned $10,875 through 13 events in 1992.

This has been his best year since 1986. Chavez, a solid defensive player, and Foust finished fifth in San Antonio May 17 and fifth in Chicago last week. In Chicago, they beat Sinjin Smith and Randy Stoklos, 14-10, on center court to earn $3,000 each.

Foust, 22, from Manhattan Beach, credits Chavez for guiding the team to the victory over Smith and Stoklos.

“He’s just a real steady all-around player,” Foust said. “And he loves to talk. He loves to argue with the ref, and he gets the crowd going. He also tries to talk the other team out of their game, and sometimes it works.”

Chavez says beating Smith-Stoklos for the first time was the highlight of his pro career.

“I can’t tell you how happy I was . . . there’s not a better feeling than when I win,” he said. “I was so high, so full of energy. That’s what keeps me going. I can’t get that energy anywhere else.”

Not even in the courtroom. He says winning a case, which sometimes involves millions of dollars, doesn’t compare to the feeling he gets after upsetting a top-notch team in front of thousands of rowdy fans.

Chavez has had his share of success in the courtroom, where he primarily works with the Inglewood and Montebello police departments. His father, Victor, was a trial lawyer before becoming a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge. Chavez’s oldest sister, Victoria, is also an L.A. County Superior Court judge, marking the first father-daughter tandem in state history to sit on a superior court bench simultaneously.

Victor, 61, is based in downtown L.A. and Victoria, 38, works in Compton. Although he won’t rule out possibly serving on the bench, Chavez said he prefers being an attorney because of the competition.

“I like to fight for a side,” he said. “I like to try to win. A judge is impartial.”

Chavez says there are similarities between playing volleyball and defending a client in a trial.

“They look different, but both take a lot of preparation,” he said. “And neither one has a script, because you have to react to the other team. You have to be competitive and not be afraid to be out there.”

Chavez decides at the end of each season if he will return to beach volleyball the following year. He says it looks as though he will return in 1993.

“Ideally I want to play forever,” he said laughing. “Where else am I going to get this feeling? Where else am I going to get the feeling I had on Saturday (after beating Smith-Stoklos) with 7,000 fans yelling, ‘Go Robert!’ I can’t replace it. I don’t want to quit because I know I’ll have an empty feeling.”

So he’ll continue juggling trials and hearings with morning workouts and afternoon practice matches.

“He and I have worked out together,” said Elizabeth. “He’ll call me at 7:30 in the morning and say, ‘I gotta go for a run.’ A lot of people could not do what he’s doing.”