Stanhiser gives Basketball is his love but junior Josh Stanhiser is on loan to volleyball for the next two years.
volleyball a shot
The junior will start for
GameDay
the Warriors against Lewis,
but his true love is basketballBy Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.comThe California native was a redshirt on the Rainbow basketball team last year, but chose to hit and block balls this season instead of swishing them through the net.
It is one of many unexpected changes the well-traveled 22-year-old has experienced in the last three years.
"It's been interesting. I'm enjoying myself," Stanhiser said. "It's a little different than basketball. You're competing against yourself in volleyball.
"In basketball, I'm physically pushing on someone. Here, you're just pushing yourself. It's just different. I don't know whether I like it better or worse. It's just different."
From a physical standpoint, volleyball appears easier on the 6-foot-10, 200-pound middle blocker. The junior has been a vegetarian since birth and always had trouble putting weight on his frame.
His yardstick-like arms seem more appropriate for a sport that has a net to separate teams instead of the body-bumping action in basketball.
"If I could gain 30 pounds, I probably would be playing basketball," Stanhiser admits. "After college, I don't see myself playing volleyball."
Basketball was Stanhiser's true passion growing up. As a kid, he pretended he was Magic Johnson. At the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, Stanhiser watched the first edition of the Dream Team and took in volleyball action by default.
"I only got to see the semifinal game for the Dream Team," he said. "My brother got the finals tickets so I was watching the volleyball. I was a little unhappy about that."
But Stanhiser got sweet revenge when he shot past his older brother and became the tallest member of the family. He was a three-year letterman in basketball and volleyball at Loma Linda Academy in California.
Stanhiser was the league MVP in basketball his senior year and went coast to coast in pursuit of the sport in college.
As a starter with Colombia Union College in Maryland, Stanhiser was the NCAA Division II leader in blocks, but didn't enjoy basketball at that level.
He left the school and took a year off and considered transferring to a California school. During the year, he taught at Hawaii Mission Academy and settled on going to UH after talking to Rainbow basketball coach Riley Wallace and Warriors coach Mike Wilton.
Last year, the dual-sport athlete practiced with both teams in the fall before committing to basketball. Stanhiser came back to volleyball in the spring after Wilton enlisted his help. He played the opposing team's middle blocker while the Warriors prepped for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament.
He impressed Wilton enough that the Warriors' coach would jokingly attempt to bargain with Wallace to let Stanhiser go. Two months after Hawaii won the national championship, Stanhiser made the switch on his own.
"After talking to both coaches, the reason that I went with volleyball in the end was because they don't really need me in basketball," Stanhiser said. "They have big guys already. As far as minutes go, I'd probably get some minutes.
"Here, they could use me immediately and hopefully I'll be able to get a good number of minutes."
His playing time is coming sooner than expected. Stanhiser will start today against Lewis. He'll see plenty of time in the next couple of weeks while senior Brian Nordberg continues recovery from shoulder surgery.
Stanhiser's volleyball education has been a baptism by fire. He was Hawaii's only middle during the Warriors' trip to China, and his blocking was a little suspect. The Shanghai team ran a bunch of quick combination plays that had him fooled more than once.
"I think I'm doing better on the hitting side than the blocking side. The biggest difference is the speed that you're dealing with here," Stanhiser said. "All the sets here are a third faster. Instead of reacting to where the ball goes, you have to go one step early and react to what the setter is doing.
"That's been the hardest thing for me to deal with. I really enjoyed the trip to China. It was a good experience especially because they ran a lot of fast stuff."
Wilton said he likes Stanhiser's hitting and his progress in the fall.
"Stanhiser developed a lot in the fall. He's a different breed of cat," Wilton said. "There's going to be things that happen. There's going to be blips where it's like, 'Oh my gosh, where were you?' But he doesn't have so many of them anymore."
Stanhiser knows he has a lot to learn, but he isn't putting any pressure on himself to improve quickly.
"They all know what they're doing. I don't, really," Stanhiser said. "I just come along for the ride. If I can check in somewhere then I'll do what I can. They wouldn't have recruited me to play if they didn't think I could help."
For now Stanhiser's teammates see his height as his best trait. He instantly elevates the average height of a traditionally small team that knows Stanhiser's success is linked to their own.
"Josh is coming along well," senior Tony Ching said. "He's starting to develop more as a volleyball player than a basketball player. He's getting there. He's quicker now.
"If he can fill the void like how Delano (Thomas) filled the middle's void last year, then we can go all the way."
BACK TO TOP |
When: Today and Friday, 7 p.m. Hawaii vs. Lewis
Where: Stan Sheriff Center
TV: KFVE
Radio: 1420-AM
Tickets: Available at the UH box office or by calling 944-2697
Probable starters GameDay
Statistics from 2002 season
LEWIS (0-0)
Ht. KPG A DPG S, J.Martins (Jr.) 6-4 0.74 21 1.44 MB, K.Miller (Sr.) 6-8 2.04 12 0.30 MB, J.Elsea (Sr.) 6-6 2.37 23 0.39 OH, J.Soler (So.) 6-6 1.87 16 1.08 OH, V.Bird (So.) 6-5 3.13 15 1.01 Opp, F.Barreto (Jr.) 6-6 4.92 19 1.25 L, R.Stuntz (Jr.) 5-10 NA NA 2.49
HAWAII (0-0)
Ht. KPG A DPG S, K.Tuyay (Jr.) 6-2 .34 8 1.17 MB, D.Thomas (So.) 6-7 1.98 20 0.31 MB, J.Stanhiser (Jr.) 6-10 NA NA NA OH, C.Theocharidis (Sr.) 6-2 5.49 37 1.61 OH, T.Ching (Sr.) 6-2 2.75 4 1.77 Opp, E.Zimet (Sr.) 6-2 2.65 13 1.68 L, J.Muise (Jr.) 6-0 NA NA 0.87
Notes: The Warriors lead the series 7-1. Lewis defeated Hawaii at home in 2000. ... UH is 21-3 in season openers. Two of the losses were on the road. Last year's defeat against Loyola Chicago was the only time Hawaii dropped a home opener. ... Flyer reserves Matt Mueller and Greg Pochopien suffered injuries in a fight in Waikiki yesterday. Both were hurt and were taken to the hospital. ... Lewis outside hitter Gustavo Meyer will not play today. Meyer competed in international tournaments and must sit out the first six matches of the season. ... Flyers assistant coach Jorge Perez played with Hawaii for two years (1998-99) before transferring to Lewis.
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