There was a time when the distinctive explosions dealt by Brook Billings were exclusively the property of San Marcos High. He demolished, antagonized and defeated opponents for four years, before being declared the nation’s No. 1 high school player in 1998, and graduating to a career at USC.

At only 6-foot-4, he is undersized by international standards, but he’s nonetheless a highly paid professional in Poland, and famous around the world for the unique firepower that has always been his signature skill.

Billings has been one of the USA National team regulars for eight years now, in World Championship, Olympic and other international competitions. He has supplemented those summer stints with more lucrative professional employment in Austria, Japan, Turkey, Puerto Rico, and now in Poland.

And everywhere he’s gone, the thunder has rolled, including these last three years in Czestochowa, a city of 250,000, where volleyball is the most popular sport.

“We average roughly 5,000 people a match,” Billings explained, “but Czeztochowa feels small, since I’m a ‘high-profile’ athlete. I often make the hour and a half drive on weekends to Warsaw or Krakow, bigger cities where I have good friends.”

Billings admits to feeling small at times.

“I’m usually playing against bigger players,” he said. “One team in our league has four 7-footers and a 6-foot-10 setter, but I still do just fine.”

In December, Billings’ team beat the top Russian club team in CEV (European Cup) competition.

“They had Pavel Ambramov, Kulechev, Giba, Schopps, Verbov, Ktay,” Billings recalled, ” huge names in the volleyball world, and we knocked them out of the CEV Cup … at home … fans went crazy and our club was super-stoked.”

The years of salaried foreign conquest have given Billings a good living. He’s invested wisely, and has bought a house in Huntington Beach — close to the national team training center in Anaheim — as well as Hawaii acreage for future development.

But he’s paid a price.

“I’ve been playing year round for the past eight years or so,” Billings said in a recent interview. “Right now I have pain in both knees, both elbows, and a minor stress fracture in my right fibula right above the ankle. It needs rest, but I don’t have the time.”

The twice-daily practices continue, and the grueling schedule of big Polish and other international stars keep on coming to town as Billings tries to take his team to the top, and improve on the fourth-place finish they earned last season.

When the pounding of the winter season ends, Billings returns home, where he is currently third opposite for the U.S. National Team, and he’ll continue battling for a spot on the 2008 Olympic team.

“I’m behind Clay Stanley and Gabe Gardner, two guys 6-foot-9 and 6-foot-10 who are seasoned vets in the prime of their lives. I have no qualms about playing behind them,” Billings said. “It still feels great to be in the gym with the best players in America and getting great training.”

Billings is also considering a shift to professional beach competition like fellow Royals Todd Rogers, Dax Holdren and Anthony Medel. But he is a polished professional now and says he “would want to make that a
full-time job, not just a summer hobby.”

He continues to play with the same fire that often ignited gyms in Santa Barbara during those four memorable high school years. And when asked how his artillery is holding up, he answered with the customary Billings bravado.

“I still hit the (expletive depleted) out of the ball,” he said emphatically.

How well we remember.