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Always a step ahead Anela Gonzales has always been a step or two ahead of the crowd, whether in the area of fashion or on the soccer field.
Kalaheo sophomore
Anela Gonzales gets a kick
out of sewing and soccerBy Jack Danilewicz
Special to the Star-Bulletin"I was always into being creative," said Gonzales, a sophomore forward for the Kalaheo girls soccer team. "I like redesigning clothes. It's fun, it's almost like recycling. When I was little, my grandmother taught me to sew. And when I was in eighth grade, I took a sewing class. Most of it, I do by hand. I'm scared of that machine. I nipped the tip of my finger once. I don't know about that needle."
Said her older sister Rachael: "She's a little trend setter."
As an aspiring clothing designer, Anela's set her sights on redoing Kalaheo's road uniforms.
"I wouldn't have so much orange in them," she said. "It's a really ugly orange, too. I'd like to redesign them -- maybe when I'm a senior, he'll let me."
And what does Mustang coach Alan Heu make of these plans?
"Too bad," he said with a smile.
Those orange jerseys are here to stay -- not than anyone can pick up the speedy Gonzales on the soccer field anyway, no matter what color she's wearing. Most of the time she's a blur.
"I'm all speed and finesse, I have no foot skills," Anela said.
On a team that possesses senior standouts Brandi Benson, Rachel Cordery, Breton Fraser, Jennifer Junk and Amy Lusk, Gonzales' speed factor adds another dimension.
Heu's Kalaheo teams are traditionally cut from conservative cloth. The Mustangs move the ball around and move it around some more before taking their shots on goal.
"We try to control the ball," said Heu. "If we maintain possession, the other team can't score. And because of her ability and speed, it lends more to our being able to control the ball."
Kalaheo is 3-0-1 heading into Saturday's Oahu Interscholastic Association East Division 2 p.m. showdown against visiting Kahuku. Gonzales' seven goals this season tie her with teammate Tina Garcia and Kahuku's Krisha Kai for the conference lead.
Last year, the Mustangs won the East Division with an 8-1-1 record and followed the regular season with an appearance at the state tournament. But Gonzales was then a member of the Kailua girls team, having started high school across town in order to play alongside sister Rachael, who earned Player of the Year honors in the East for the Surfriders. Rachael is now a student at the University of Hawaii.
Last Saturday, Kalaheo and Kailua played to a scoreless tie with the entire Gonzales family in attendance. Any sibling rivalry that may have existed between the sisters has vanished.
"I remember being very competitive with her last year (as teammates at Kailua) during sprints," Anela said. "It always looked like she was trying to beat me, and I didn't like that. It would be like a tie -- we would come in together. Even when jogging together, it would be like a sprint. But it was a friendly competition between us."
Anela has no greater supporter than Rachael these days, and yet both remember the moment when little sister's speed reached another level.
While waiting for younger brother Alapai to finish football practice one day a few years back, the two squared off in a foot race.
"She would always rag on me for not being as fast as her, so I said, 'Let's race,' " recalled Anela. "It was like a 100-yard dash, and I beat her. She was all salty. But she's fast, too. She had good foot skills and was fast enough to get by people."
Said Rachael: "That was the day I knew she was really going to be good. I was faster than her until then. She's blazing fast now, and she's driven because she loves the game."
Athletics have always kept the Gonzales family busy. The sisters' father, Alfred, was a quarterback for Kamehameha in the 1960s. Their mother, Jeanne, played tennis and was a cheerleader for Campbell. The couple attend every sporting event their children participate in.
"My dad tapes every game, and afterward we go home and watch it together," Rachael said.
Added Alfred: "I had them running a lot at a young age -- when running is fun. I used to take them down to the beach, and they used to run track with Duncan Macdonald (of the Kailua Athletic Association) in the summer as well. But I think a lot of Anela's gift for the game came from her older sister. Anela plays a lot like Rachael. They both give 110 percent and leave it all on the field."
Many a morning has begun with Alfred standing over the blender in the family kitchen, mixing a smoothie.
"It's the mental edge ... orange juice, strawberries, bananas, Gatorade, sometimes I throw some poi in there and yogurt," Alfred said.
"He was giving those smoothies to our son (Alapai) when he was just a baby," added Jeanne.
Said Anela: "In eighth or ninth grade, he started making them every day. Sometimes they're really good and other times, they make me want to throw up. When he puts in stuff that's gross, I don't like them as much, but I drink them anyway."
After consuming her father's morning concoction, Anela would often go out running at Kawainui Park.
In fact, Anela's parents always assumed track would be her area of focus, "but at age 12 soccer became her first love," Alfred said.
As a 6-year-old (she began playing soccer at 5), Anela was too young to compete for medals in Macdonald's summer program, but ran in events anyway. From the age of 7 through 12, she won the 400 meters every year. She ran track at Kailua (she was named freshman female athlete of the year as well as the Surfriders' female track athlete of the year) and played volleyball this fall at Kalaheo, although soccer remains her best sport.
Not surprisingly, Anela remains in perpetual motion off the field as well.
"I don't relax," she said. "All I do is run."
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