KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM
After starting her career as a defensive specialist, Leiau Meatoga has been asked to play everywhere on the floor except setter during her career. "She's 5-5, but she can fly," coach Wilfred Navalta said. "She is such a good athlete."
The strongest link Leiau Meatoga has been to the top of the mountain.
Brigham Young-Hawaii's
Leiau Meatoga stayed home
and became a championBy Jerry Campany
jcampany@starbulletin.comThe girl from Laie is the last remaining Brigham Young-Hawaii Seasider with national championship experience, winning her crown in 1999. The view from that lofty perch was so nice that it is impossible for her to explain, although as the last link to a title team and a senior leader on the Seasiders' latest contenders, she is asked by young teammates to do it quite often.
They ask her about everything, about all the road trips she has been on, all the things she has seen in her four years. She answers their questions the best she can, pumping up the experience while keeping a secret she figures they will learn on their own time. They will see many great things over their careers, but nothing will compare with the greatness that surrounds them in Laie.
"You don't get up here enough do you?" is Meatoga's response when asked what would make a girl who prepped at Kahuku stick around to attend the local college. "The atmosphere is so different with the church, the Polynesian Culture Center and the college. It is a family-oriented community and is very nice. There is no place I would rather be."
Meatoga's volleyball career is rapidly approaching its end, and the social work major feels it. She doesn't know what she will do without the game, only acknowledging that it will be difficult to sit in a seat and watch a volleyball game without participating, but she does know that whatever the future holds for her she hopes it will keep her near her childhood home. She plans on continuing her academic career at the University of Hawaii, where she will try for her master's degree in social work.
"She has traveled all over the place," said Seasiders coach Wilfred Navalta, who has watched her grow up since before she and Navalta's daughter Malia won the Oahu Interscholastic Association junior varsity championship together at Kahuku. "But she recognizes the specialness of Laie, the beauty of Hawaii. That kind of perspective for someone so young is rare."
As much as she loves her island home, Meatoga hopes to hit the road again at least once more. She would like to take her team to the national tournament one last time and may even go on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints one day. But for now, her No. 1 priority is enjoying the last days of her volleyball career and molding the young ladies around her into champions as people like Juliana Lima and Becky Laubach did for her. When Meatoga talks of national championships, she is always guaranteed an audience of young ladies wondering if they can match her accomplishments.
"I know what it's like, know what it takes," Meatoga said. "I can see it in their eyes when they ask me about those things. They have the desire and are working towards it. There is nothing these girls can't accomplish."
Meatoga has been known for her athleticism since her prep days, and although she has worked hard to refine it, she has always had a base to work with. Her transition from follower to leader did not come so easily.
"It has been a struggle for her to develop the qualities of a leader," Navalta said. "Things like what to do, the things to say that motivate people. But she has grown into it. Now she is like the mother hen, taking care of all of the girls, wondering why they can't take care of the basic things."
For all the changes in her role on the team -- rarely does a 5-foot-5 girl get a chance to be an outside hitter for a national championship contender -- Meatoga is the same wide-eyed 17-year-old girl who played in every game as a freshman on a team with names like Lima, Arlete Silva and Laubach. The only difference is that she has wisdom that comes with experience.
"They were much older women and so good," Meatoga said. "I was surprised at the intensity of the game, but I said, 'You know what, it's just a game,' and tried to learn all I could, but still have fun."
She believes Navalta's current group of Chinese players can grow to be every bit as good as his past crop of Brazilians, even believing that Silva's school record of 1,615 kills could be in jeopardy some day.
"Arlete Silva was one in a million," Meatoga said. "But these girls we have now, who knows ... . They could turn out to be even better, they are that good."
Meatoga concedes that they are young and have a lot to learn, but sees the same fire and dedication as her national championship squad. They may not win their final game this year, but Meatoga knows that they will come back even stronger without her.
"It is always the same reaction to losing, like we know we could do better," Meatoga said. "The thing about BYU is that we always come back stronger after a loss. That's why I think last year (when they didn't play in the postseason for the first time in her collegiate career) made the program even stronger."
And she hopes to be around to watch these girls gain strength and experience, then the crop after that. Simply put, she is satisfied with staying around the school that introduced her to the game in the first place. Her mother made her try all the required activities when she was a kid, but hula and piano never stuck. Volleyball, which her mother introduced to the youngster by signing her up for a camp at BYUH, did.
A decade later, Meatoga rewarded the school with a national championship and hopes to add another this year.
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