COURTESY MATA'AFA FAMILY Lalelei Mata'afa blocked out all the advice and did it her way.

Punt, pass, kick ... and win for Lahaina girl

It was only fitting that Lalelei Mata'afa represented the San Diego Chargers in the NFL's Punt, Pass, and Kick national final for youths in Indiana.

Mata'afa shocked her competition in the four-person, 8-9 age girls division on Jan. 12 in Indianapolis, a day before the Chargers rolled into the RCA Dome to stun the Colts and advance to the AFC championship.

Mata'afa, 9, of Lahaina, posted a cumulative score of 240 feet, 9 inches in the three events, more than 50 feet longer than the runner-up. She's believed to be the first winner of the event from Hawaii, going back to 1961.

"Once I did it, I looked out and it was at least 30 yards on each one," said Lalelei, who returned home early this week. "When I usually practice, I get nervous sometimes because we're at the park and people are watching me. When I got to the field I just did what I do."

Her score was even better than the winner of the 10-11 girls bracket, and 25 feet greater than the 8-9 boys winner.

But. as Lalelei's family back home knew, that was just about normal for her.

"She blew away the competition," said her father, Sama. "That's my baby. She's good in every sport she plays."

Having the contest in the empty dome the day before the Colts-Chargers game as opposed to halftime on gameday -- when the results and awards were shown on national TV instead -- turned out to be a blessing for Mata'afa, a fourth-grader at King Kamehameha School.

"I was kind of feeling nervous," she said. "We're on the Colts' field and in some way I know that people are like ... there's a lot of people there. I get nervous sometimes, and my throwing's off."

There turned out to be nothing wrong with that -- her throw turned out to be nearly 86 feet, her best of the three categories (73 feet, 11 inches in the punt; 81 feet, 2 inches in the kick). Those distances were about the norm as she worked her way through competitions on Maui, on the Big Island (the state P.P.K.) and in San Diego (the regional) for the second straight year.

Athletic success runs in the Mata'afa family. Lalelei's 13-year-old sister, Ginabella, also advanced to the regional, though she did not qualify for the national final. Lalelei had an "off-day" in San Diego, but was good enough to be handpicked as the fourth and final person in her division invited to the national.

During the winter before New Year's Day, her parents and some of her six siblings worked with her on kicking and throwing dead ahead several times a week -- the contest rewards distance along a straight line. But Lalelei's actual "practice" started many years earlier.

"She started at maybe 3 or 4 years old with the soccer kicking," said her mother, Sophie. "Just always being involved with sports, basketball and wrestling since 4. It's something she enjoys."

As the days wound down before the day of the contest, though, she tried not to listen to the advice of onlookers and well-wishers. Mata'afa's technique was being critiqued, and a change in her style in the final days before her round could have been uncomfortable and disastrous. Thankfully, her family told her to go with what felt natural from her countless, year-round sessions at Lahaina Park.

"Yeah I was just blocking out everybody's advice and I just did what I felt like was right," Lalelei said.

Part of her practice involved using heavier NFL-regulation footballs, which made it easier to use the smaller, lighter P.P.K. balls in competition.

The AFC game was full of nervous moments at the Mata'afa residence, but unfortunately no actual clips of Lalelei's competition were actually shown -- just the awards. Still, her parents were proud.

Besides her dominating win in the competition, the best part of the NFL-sponsored trip was seeing snow for the first time with siblings Hercules, 12, and Samalia, 28, as she flew in on the plane.

"The way I look back on it is I had confidence in myself that I could do it, then I came through with it," Lalelei said.