Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.
Monday
Evening QB
WIN or lose, Dave Shoji is guaranteed to accept at least one trophy this week at the NCAA volleyball championships in Richmond, Va. WAHINE EXTRA
Tita’s trophy links
Wahine to last title"Good timing," says Reydan "Tita" Ahuna, coach of the NCAA Division II national champion Hawaii Pacific University Sea Warriors -- and national coach of the year.
Ahuna would love to accept the award herself, but it would be too difficult to break away from her teaching job at Kalakaua Intermediate and studies for a master's degree.
It is fitting and ironic that Shoji, Ahuna's coach on the University of Hawaii's last national championship team, back in 1987, is picking up the hardware for her.
Though cordial with each other now, Shoji and Ahuna endured a sometimes stormy coach-player relationship. It ended with ultimate success: a four-game victory over Stanford in Indianapolis for UH's fourth national title in nine years.
Both strong-willed individuals, Ahuna, the captain and heart of that team, didn't always agree with Shoji, its head.
It's just a rumor that she quit the team half-a-dozen times, Ahuna says now.
"Only once," she says with a laugh. "Maybe I was thinking about it four or five times."
Still bubbly but blunt, Ahuna warns not to buy into the we-all-love-each-other routine successful teams often try to sell fans.
Not that the Wahine -- then or now -- claw each other at every turn. It's just that Ahuna understands that while liking your teammates helps, it's mutual respect that really gets you through the tough matches.
"We all might not have been best friends off the court, but on the court it was magic. We played as one unit, it didn't matter what happened during the day," she recalls.
Ahuna said she thinks this year's Wahine team has the same quality of the '87 group to focus on the task at hand.
"I can only make generalizations, but they most definitely have desire and heart," she says. "The way they came back against Long Beach State. They seem to have that something inside to push forward.
"They've got size, strength, talent, athletic ability," Ahuna says of the current Wahine.
"But I'm not going to compare them with us."
THE fans remember how much fun Ahuna, Suzanne Eagye, Mahina Eleneki, Diana Jessie and Teee Williams seemed to have.
Remember? Eagye's killer smile was as much a team trademark as Williams' killer spikes.
"I just remember lots and lots of hard work," Ahuna says.
As a coach, Ahuna instills a team-first work ethic.
"I ask my players if they'd rather be an All-American or a national champion. Some prefer individual awards. I tell them they should go play tennis or golf."
The same goes for the coach.
"I don't particularly like to be called coach of the year. But I like 'coach of national champions.' "
Ahuna says she never uses her playing history to motivate.
"They know. I don't like to tell them I've been there," she says. "I want them to create their own past."
As for the future, some feel Ahuna, who has now coached HPU to two national titles, would be a nice fit for Shoji's position when he retires some day.
"Oh, no, I don't want to touch that. Everyone's asking me that, and it's quite an honor.
"But you know what? I'm happy with what I'm doing. If I have the chance someday I would, but if not I'm happy doing what I'm doing now."
For now, she just hopes she has reason to congratulate Shoji when he delivers her trophy.
Dave Reardon, who covered sports in Hawaii from 1977 to 1998,
moved to the the Gainesville Sun, then returned to
the Star-Bulletin in Jan. 2000.
E-mail Dave: dreardon@starbulletin.com
