Sidelines
THE sound you hear is the grinding of teeth in the practice gyms and athletic offices in Manoa. Another day, another Lily update. Life goes on with or
without KahumokuIt's bad enough when your best player announces she's going to skip the season. It gets even worse when she says at the last second that she might show up after all.
Then, no, she's back to her original decision. But upon further review ...
This can't be good.
This can't be good for anybody.
Lily Kahumoku, the Wahine volleyball All-American, is running out of time to make up her mind. Maybe it's already too late. The players, the coaches thought all this stuff was behind them.
When Lily told her team that she wouldn't be able to join them this season, they believed her. They accepted the situation. They made their adjustments. They moved on.
Now we're being told that Lily is having second thoughts. Of course she's having second thoughts.
She's in Alabama.
Meanwhile, the team has gone through all the stages:
Shock: What?! (Actually, there has been talk for months that Lily wanted to redshirt, so it wasn't totally out of the blue.)
Anger: How could she?! How could she do this to us?
Accepting the challenge: We'll have to work harder. We'll have to do things differently. We'll all have to take responsibility. We'll have to band together.
Determination: We'll show her. We'll show everybody.
Anticipation: Hey, this is going to be fun!
Fun? Yes. Of course. Without an unstoppable hitter, everything changes, for everyone involved. They have to figure out new ways to win, find new people to contribute. Did you see Dave Shoji tell Channel 9's Dave Vinton that Vinton could have coached the team the past few years? This season will be a tribute to Shoji's brain. Nobody wanted Lily to leave, but when she did, the season suddenly became very, very interesting.
But with each new Lily update she plunges them back to step No. 1, Shock: What!
If Lily comes back now, she shakes things up all over again. Only Shoji knows if that's a good thing.
I'm guessing it isn't. We all saw Jen Carey on TV: If Lily doesn't want to be there, they don't want her. It might already be too late.
IT'S EASY to quit on your diet. It's easy to quit exercising. It's easy to quit quitting smoking. But it's hard, so, so hard to quit in the culture of sports. It's much easier to stay and suffer than to take this kind of stand. This kind of move takes guts. She has to have a good reason.
Maybe it's too much to carry the weight of the world at age 20. Maybe it's not as easy being the Wahine star as it looks. Maybe she just really, really needs a break, mentally and physically. Personal reasons. That's what Lily said, and that's all we know.
The door, it seems, is still open a crack. There's always room for a great player. Exceptions are made for stars, at every program, at every level.
But time is ticking for Lily. Other people are involved.
Kalani Simpson's column runs Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays.
He can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com