Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.
Keeping Score
THE internet is truly amazing. The Web has made the world even smaller in just the past few years. Hawaii volleyball
has global reachWhat once took forever to research is available at an instantaneous click. How I wish search engines had been around during my college term paper-writing days.
I've particularly grown fond of e-mail. Sorry, Hallmark, but when I want to send the very best, I'm now turning to e-card sites, where creativity is free and fast.
It is a little scary, though, to realize that one's written words can reach household computers around the globe. Thanks to the Star-Bulletin being online since March of 1996, I've received story feedback from Saudi Arabia to Singapore, and seemingly everywhere in between.
Stefan Krejci, the new Rainbow men's setter, said the coverage of University of Hawaii volleyball he read online helped convince him to come here from Austria to play.
The Texas ohana of Wahine freshman Lily Kahumoku was able to keep up with her exploits on the court this season, both through online stories and RealAudio radio.
THE latest e-mail isn't from some exotic place but it is from the heart. The parents of Ted Groves, the outstanding volleyball player from Loyola of Chicago, wanted to say thanks ... not just for the Star-Bulletin's coverage of their son's team but for the aloha they experienced when traveling with the Ramblers here some 10 days ago.
Writes Groves' mother, Susan: "Coming from the Chicago area, where we've had two pretty decent teams in Loyola and Lewis but get virtually no coverage by any of the Chicago media, we thought we had died and gone to volleyball heaven when we got to Hawaii and saw the Rainbows special section in the papers.
"And any TV coverage, let alone LIVE TV coverage, is absolutely unheard of! Then we could go back to our hotel and watch the match again on the replay later in the evening!''
What made the Groves' visit complete was a generous gesture by a Rainbow fan who was sitting near the Loyola booster section. He taped the Jan. 13 match, brought it to the arena the next night, then taped that match and sent it to one of the Loyola team members.
Even though the Ramblers lost twice in the Stan Sheriff Center, the Groves have become virtual Rainbow fans and will be following the progress of the team online.
THERE simply isn't enough time to do all the things you want to do. Yesterday, I missed out on the Kamalii Volleyball Club's 25th anniversary event at McKinley High.
The club, one of the most popular and successful junior programs in Hawaii, has been a pipeline for college players and high school coaches. The 1995 Wahine team alone had six former Kamalii players on its roster.
The late Richard "Longy'' Okimoto would be proud of his legacy. The Kamalii alumni and alumnae continue to share Mr. O's love of the game.
Former Wahine Toni Nishida Chock, now coaching girls' volleyball at Maryknoll, couldn't make the function. Not surprisingly, however, her parents Art and Abby did, as did many parents of former players.
As they say, old boosters never die, they just come back to fill the plate lunch orders and bag hulihuli chicken.
"I was very fortunate to play for Kamalii when Mr. O was still alive,'' said Chock. "I learned a lot of skills and a lot about the game. But what I learned the most was to have fun. That's what I'm trying to do at Maryknoll.''
Mr. O would be happy.
Cindy Luis is a Star-Bulletin sportswriter.
Her column appears weekly.
