Above the bridge
Above the bridge
Episode 118 KEA DAVID (Strive Hi Athletics Club Director & Coach)
Master the art of coaching and club management with insights from the club director and coach of Strive High Athletics. Discover the inclusive and thoughtful branding that attracts players from all over Hawaii, and hear about our guest's personal volleyball journey from her competitive years with Jammers Volleyball Club, Kamehameha HS, & Pepperdine . Learn how influential mentors like Coach Deb shaped her development and how early competitive experiences transitioned her to higher levels of play.
Get an inside look at the intricacies of starting and growing a volleyball club from scratch, featuring a narrative rich with personal anecdotes and coaching philosophies. Learn from our guest's first head coaching role at 22, the mentorship under Donovan Martinez, and how a partnership with her husband, Coach Elias, brings a balance of intensity and calmness to their coaching style. Understand the family-centric culture they’ve built at Strive High Athletics and the strategic choices behind team colors and the club’s name, reflecting their commitment to fostering young athletes' development.
Understand the critical elements of effective coaching and the importance of commitment and integrity in nurturing young volleyball players. Hear Aria's inspiring transformation from a novice to a dedicated player, showcasing the blend of innovative coaching and old-school discipline. Explore the challenges of running a competitive club in Hawaii, the significant role of parents, and the vision for Strive High Athletics' future, including expanding into other sports and acquiring a dedicated gym space. Stay connected with updates and future episodes through our social media handles and website, and be part of this incredible journey of developing not just skilled athletes, but well-rounded individuals.
Welcome to another edition of the Above the Bridge podcast. I'm your host, thaddeus. This time I want to shout out our sponsors. First we have Defend Hawaii. They have a store in Windward Mall called no One, but if you go on their website, defendhawaiicom, go check out what they have. They have some new summer drops. They're also coming out with a new UH football drop. Go check them out, defendhawaiicom. Use promo code ATBpodUpon, check out, you'll receive 15% off your entire purchase order.
Speaker 2:Next, we have IREP Detail Supply. They're a one-stop shop superstore for whatever you need to detail your car, truck, van, whatever. Go check them out. They have a store in Temple Valley Shopping Center and shout out to Kaika, the owner they're just opening a brand new store in Las Vegas. But go check them out. Irepdetailsupplycom. Promo code ATBPODUPON, check out, you'll receive 15% off your entire purchase order. Next, we have Hawaii Candy Factory and they have a bunch of local snacks and treats Lihimoi gummies. My favorite is the peach rings with the lemon peel. But go check them out hawaiicandyfactorycom. Promo code atbpodapon, check out, you'll receive 10% off your entire purchase order.
Speaker 2:Last but not least, we have our haw Medicinal Mushroom Company, medmushroomhighcom. They have four tinctures of extracted mushroom. They have lion's mane, chaga, red reishi and turkey tail. If you don't know the benefits of what these four mushrooms do, go check their website out, medmushroomhighcom, if you like what you see. I use this stuff every day, all in the morning. The red ratio I use at night. It helps me sleep, but I also use the Lion's Mane now, right before I record a new episode. So go check them out, medmushroomhighcom. Use promo code ATBPODUPON, check out all capitals. You'll receive 45% off your first tincture of mushrooms. Go check them out. It's changed my life. I really, really love the red ratio. It helps me sleep. Good, but go check them out. Aloha. Okay, welcome to another edition of the Above the Bridge podcast. This week I have um. I've been wanting to have on my show for a long time. She is the head coach, I guess the president ceo. I know you don't like titles but for strive high, um, club volleyball, but I think strive high is good.
Speaker 1:It's going to be more than just volleyball eventually, yeah yeah, we uh, the official name is strive high athletics, so, um, I mean the original title, strive high. Um, you know, we had asked, when we were thinking about opening our own club, um, just family and friends, to have like their input. You know, because sometimes I would come up with names or, you know, people come up then he's like, oh, that's a good one and we'll kind of see, but sci-fi really stuck um because there's like multiple purposes behind it.
Speaker 2:You know yeah, we always. What was what? Sorry to interrupt, but what's kind of the memes that didn't make it?
Speaker 1:Oh, I don't know. I know some of the concept art we had really like Waimanalo based, I used like Rabban Island in the beginning. But we had to try and think more forward than that and not just so why, manolo? Right, we wanted to like kind of make it um, diversified. You know, we didn't want to just kind of pigeonhole ourself, so to speak. So, um, I actually don't remember honestly, because it was kind of just like no, we don't like that. Or you know, I remember some of the design concepts, though I remember like we were trying to, you know, try and represent wamanalo and things like that. But when we had talked to a few people, you know they were like don't just kind of make it into like one thing, you know, because you're not going to have people only from wamanalo, you want to have people from all over the island and if you have this, then it kind of excludes them. So I remember that really specifically.
Speaker 2:That makes sense and I like the concept. Everybody's always trying to strive high and incorporate Hawaii as well. I do like the fact that you guys are out of Waimanalo and based at least on the east side for us, because it makes it easier for us to get to your club. But um, let's start from the beginning. So volleyball is your life. From how old and how did you even get into volleyball?
Speaker 1:um, well, from the beginning, I actually started volleyball probably in the third grade, so, um, at Waikiki Elementary, that was where I started. And then, you know, just playing at the YMCA and for my school, and then I got into competitive club, probably around 11 and then 12 years old so I went to Jammers Volleyball Club. So that's where I was my entire life. Coach Deb was my coach just throughout my entire young adult club's life and we were a really talented team. I played with a lot of good and talented players that I still see to today and some of them are actually still coaching.
Speaker 1:So it's really nice to see, you know how we grew up and being able to give back but, yeah, probably like 12. And we competed at a pretty high level just from at a young age, like we were 12 year olds running ones. You know we were always at top. But then, you know, once we started getting a little older and then kind of, you know, um, we were always at top. But then you know, once we started getting a little older and then kind of, you know the mainland people started growing, uh, and sometimes the size difference you know, kind of caught up to us. So, uh, hawaii kids are kind of like the puerto ricans, I would say. Working teams are really good at the younger age, but once you know the mainland teams start catching up 14s, 15s, 16s.
Speaker 1:You know the height, you know you can't teach height. So that's where the heart of Hawaii and Hawaii players comes in and that's where a lot of the colleges, you know they, they look for that. The heart of you know a lot of the Hawaii kids and what we represent, um, because you know we don't all have height. There are some kids that are pretty tall, um, but a lot of the Hawaii kids if they go on and they go into like d1, high, high level d1s. You know we tend to be liberals. So, um, and then I went to high school at Kumamena and I played JB my freshman and my sophomore year, and then I was able to play varsity in my junior and senior year and I beat out the starting setter my junior year and that was the start of the state championship run that they did. So it was, I believe, 2005 and 2006. We won back-to-back state champions.
Speaker 2:So so you got a, you got a ring, then you got two rings well, we don't get rings we get.
Speaker 1:We have a big trophy, but our trophy has it on there. Yeah, unfortunately you know, we don't get it and that anymore.
Speaker 1:And we were really good is that we got to play back in the Stan Sheriff Center so for states that was a really good feeling as a high schooler being able to play, you know where the UH Wahine play, and have that sort of like feeling. When we had, I think we had like about 5,000 people in attendance, so just for like a high school team. So I thought that was always really cool. And then I went on and I played at Pepperdine. I got a full ride scholarship there. I got about five full ride offers my junior year. So when you're D1, you kind of back in the day I think this it's changed, you know, throughout the years since I've been out of high school but back in the day they pressured you a lot to make the decision really early, at least the verbal commitment. So I had to commit.
Speaker 1:My October of my junior year is when I made my verbal commitment to Pepperdine. Yeah, and then I went and I played for two years and you know a part of my story is is that I didn't finish. You know a part of my story is is that I didn't finish, you know. So that's something that I always kind of uh tell the girls of. You know you have to. I got burnt out and so, like you have to either decide and, you know, make decisions and you can pivot. You know it's a lot easier for athletes now where they can transfer so easily, you know, through the transfer portals, um, so that's something that we didn't have back in the day. But yeah, that's basically my volleyball journey. When I came home after college.
Speaker 1:I didn't want anything to do with volleyball. Honestly, I was so burnt out yeah, I didn't want anything to do with it. I was so burnt out from playing at such a high competitive level throughout my entire life where volleyball was life. I sacrificed birthdays, I sacrificed hanging out with my friends. I sacrificed I almost sacrificed prom, you know, because trips and stuff like that are. My biggest thing was to get a four white scholarship, because my parents invested so much money and they worked so hard to have to provide for me and my sister. You know, I went to Kamehameha, my sister went to Punahou and we both played club volleyball and it's not cheap, you know. Club volleyball is expensive, I'm sure you know. So, yeah, that's basically my journey. I mean, just volleyball equaled life, you know, and and I eat, breathe, anything every day. If I did, if I had a weekend off, I didn't know what to do with my life. Honestly, I don't know.
Speaker 2:I feel like aria is having that right now, but she's like oh, I have all this free time. Yeah, what do I do is like, oh, you're going clinic, I think, um watching club volleyball. I had no zero clue growing up in hawaii that it was a thing like I had no idea for me personally. I don't know girls that played it, I don't know anybody that played club volleyball and I had no idea, upon my daughter starting, what we were getting into or what it entailed, especially in Hawaii. And then when we went to the Nationals it was weird. I had no idea it existed in hawaii at that level and that um much people were involved. And I I wanted to ask you, when you were playing club volleyball, is it like how it? What? Um? Was it like how was it back then? Like how it is now? Like that many clubs, those big tournaments like Transpac and going to national tournaments, and has it been that big of a thing for these, these girls and boys at that age groups?
Speaker 1:I think when we grew up, there wasn't that many clubs. You know. Uh, there was a handful of, you know, I guess, well-known clubs, um, but there wasn't such a diversified you know amount, and I think there's even more girls now, you know. Um, so I think, like the need is there to start more clubs, but there was no convention center tournaments. You know, when I was growing up, my, like, you know, my highlight reel or what I had to send to colleges was a DVD. So I had a DVD and I would have to my parents or my coach would pass it out while we're, you know, up in in Vegas or we go to, you know the national girls national championships, um, it used to be called a girl junior Olympics back in the day, so they changed it to girls. Uh, what is that? Juniors, national championships, so, um, that, you know, kids nowadays have it a lot more easier, are way more accessible. You know they can post things on youtube. Uh, they have. You know, college clinics where coaches can just, you know, zoom or, or, you know, video in in live college clinics, um, yeah, way more easier access. You know they have instagram. They have tiktok um, they have.
Speaker 1:I mean, I have my kids watching youtube videos right now from college level students how to pass the ball or you know, things like that, where we didn't have that resource. You know, growing up, everything was hands on, everything was uh. You had to go to clinics. A lot of things were in person because we didn't have, you know, social media growing up. So it's a good and bad thing, right, social media can also be used as as a distraction. Now, you know, I always sometimes tell my parents, like you know, know all that time it took you to learn that tiktok dance. You could have been applying that to do a workout or you could have been doing something. So I mean, if it's used in the right way, then it's good, but sometimes it can be just too much of a distraction, you know, yep, I catch myself scrolling sometimes too.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I go down the rabbit hole all the time. I think with accessibility it does bring out more talent and girls that probably might have gotten overlooked will get a few more looks. And that's good for Hawaii girls, because we're not on the mainland circuit and I talked to some of the parents in the mainland at this tournament last month and they travel. They said they go to a tournament out of state every other month and it's like oh, we go to uh, 808 holly for like a friendship tournament, like we can't travel yeah, exactly and they're going to different states to compete in and I and that's always good looks.
Speaker 2:But I think for hawaii, like you said, the girls have heart and watching not just our club play and watching other girls play that that hawaii spirit is definitely in volleyball and like some of these games and matches is like so intense. It could be like for a national championship, but it's it's just for a friendship game or something and it it's cool to see. I think, um, because you guys grew up in the club scene, it kind of helps transition to what you got going on. But how did you even start coaching? You said you took a break and then, when it was it like okay, I'm gonna start coaching or like get back into it um, I got back into it just playing like grass volleyball.
Speaker 1:Um, I saw some people playing at kaimana beach. So I, my parents, used to live right by uh, so you know walls or you know kaimana, that was kind of like my stomping ground area, um, so I saw someone playing. So they had, uh, asked me I knew somebody. So they're like, oh, come play. And I'm like, okay, fine.
Speaker 1:Um, so I started slow using back into it and then, uh, coaching, uh, coach Seb actually got me back into it. She's like you know, you need to do something with your life. So, um, I was going to school I was going back to school at that time, um, and then I took like an assistant job. So the first team that I took I was actually with one of my friends, donovan Martinez. He was the head coach for the 17s and then I came in as his assistant. So I wanted to be able to like kind of learn under him. He had a few years coaching and now he actually runs the national development training program for the girls on the boy side. Yeah, so they come down here once a year and so I'm able to go and still connect with them and still help them out with that. So that's a really good opportunity for me. But that's kind of how we connected, is we? Actually, he was my first coach that I was under besides coach Deb, and then the following season I was able to take my own team as head coach. I think I was maybe like 22, 22. And I took like a 13th team. But the style of my coaching was similar to you know, obviously, coach Deb. You know jammers, because that's kind of what I grew up very disciplined in movements and very technique oriented. You know fundamentals wise. So I was able to, you know, take what I've learned from different coaching. You know even I, I think some of my difference between me and coach that comes from, you know, chris blake, or he was my varsity head coach um, so learning how to instill, like you know, the confidence in players, um, where you can still be intense, and then you know you can have like a side private chat like like you know you can do this, you know we believe in you and just really trying to having those kind of conversations individually is really important. So I think for me, like he taught me that and just kind of merging it, and then we actually had our daughter. So my husband is Coach Elias. He is the yin to my yang, he calms me down, so I'm the intense one when we coach. And then he is, you know, the nice cop.
Speaker 1:We had our, our first daughter, and we had Kyle Lenny, and so we took a year off and then after that, when she was about two, we got back into the coaching game, um, and then we decided, you know, I couldn't be driving from Y Manalo all the way to like Halab, or all the way, you know, with a, with a young child. So, um, we found a club, um, we, we went to, we went to lanikai um at the time, you know, we were, he was really good friends with the club director there, um, and so, you know, we were able to kind of move into our own team after a season, um, and then we had that team from their 13 years all the way till they graduated at 18. So that was graduated at 18. So that was like our first, yeah, that was like our first team um that we had. And as they got older, you know, um, skill level, wise they were.
Speaker 1:They weren't, you know, from the top dog schools, they weren't from no ilanis but holes, but they were able to compete with them, you know, and so, like I think that's where, as you said earlier, when you said, like the respect came, as you know, we, you know meaning lies, like I think that's where, as you said earlier, when you said like, the respect came. You know we you know me and elias don't always get the you know top dogs, but we train them, you know, to be able to compete, and we always say, you know, you have nothing to lose, so you earn people's respect by the way you, by the way you play and you ball out every single time when you're on the court. It's business, you know. So, um, yeah, that's basically kind of how we we got to to this point right now.
Speaker 1:We were with Lonnie Kai for, I think, like six or seven years and then it was basically like, what's the next journey for us? You know it was either me going to college or us basically starting our own club. So we decided to start our own club and here we are. This is going to be our third season, so we're excited well, this is where my family comes in.
Speaker 2:We got to come in on your first season and yeah this.
Speaker 2:We just finished our second season, um. So the basic roots of your club um starts off with you and your husband and your family, so that's already embedded a good family um culture. How did you even like, how does one even start to formulate a club, come up with the name, design the idea. How do you even start this thing off? And I'm sure you're still learning as you're going. This is going to be your third season. What would they say, your junior season? But how did you even get the ball rolling and what were the steps?
Speaker 1:uh, well, a lot of the things that we did when we were um at lanikai, you know we pretty much took care of our own team, uh, so, uh, a lot of the rules that were in place were specifically for my teams. Um, a lot of the uh, you know, we would have to sometimes make our own hotel arrangement, so like a lot of the back office sides on certain things was already in place, um, because we'd done it before um. And then, you know, getting into the name, as I said, we had a lot of help from from our friends around us and kind of shooting us ideas, because, you know, I rather kind of not, I'm not good at that type of stuff. So I know where my strengths and my weaknesses lie, um, and so you know, we were able to come, you know, have someone bring the Shrive High name, um, and then just from there, understanding, like the colors that we have, it's like a navy blue and like a orange and it comes from we wanted things to have meaning behind it. So you know, elias, he went to Call of Hale, so those colors are blue and orange. I went to Pepperdine, so that's blue, blue and orange, um, so you know, we, we wanted to not just come up with the normal okay, let's, everyone has green, everyone has red, everyone has black, you know. So we wanted to also try and stand out. You know, nobody at the time had orange jerseys, um, and then you know that kind of pops, you know, um, when you wear that and you have like a sea of multiple tones.
Speaker 1:We wanted people to be able to recognize and be like oh, what team is that? And then, you know, having the design, it changed from our first year to our second year. It changed from our first year to our second year. But we have like, if you see, there's five triangles in the HI, that represents the five of us as a family, so me and my husband and then our three kids. So, as I said, like everything has like a meaning behind it. Nothing's done just to be done, if that makes sense. Everything's done with some type of intention and some type of like thought process behind it.
Speaker 1:Um, and then the volleyball side was easy. I think the hardest thing to get started was wondering if people were going to actually follow us. Uh, because the initial thought was just, we were going to take our team from lanikai. They we had told them that, hey, you know, this is what we're thinking, and they were okay with coming over, um.
Speaker 1:And then we wanted to just make a team for our kids. You know, we knew that uh, sport, youth, like athletics is getting started younger and younger and younger, um. So we wanted to have them have a place to at least start touching and start having some type of like competitiveness and get all the life skills that you learn in team sports, um, at an earlier age. So those are that's really what we wanted. We only thought, okay, let's just go, we'll start small, have two teams, like that was our goal and and we'll be okay and we can kind of grow from there, you know. But that didn't happen and it was like it was a good problem. It was a good problem. We had five, we had five teams our first season.
Speaker 2:So oh, that was yes, I guess. So yeah, you guys did have that many teams up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, which is a lot. You know, normally when people start off, they start off with one or two teams, and that was our intention. Our like, quality is always really important to me, um, and I know that, as you have told me many times, I can't duplicate myself, so that was that was another thing that I was kind of worried about is, you know, making sure that the quality that people are getting is what they pay for. You know we live in hawaii, I understand. You know we, our family, lives in our, our wamanalo apartments. You know so, um, everyone struggles, so you know we, our family, lives in our, our wamanalo apartments. You know so, um, everyone struggles, so you know.
Speaker 2:We wanted to make sure that, when you're spending the money like, you're getting your money's worth, so to speak yeah, well, as a parent, my first impression when we came over just a little background my daughter, who's the tiniest little thing just out of the blue, wanted to play for her school, uh, intermediate volleyball, and she's never voiced uh opinion about volleyball. She told me she played in pe once and, um, she wanted to try out. I don't know if because her friends was there or what, but I'm like, okay, try out, low-key, thinking she's probably going to get cut. She never touched the ball before and I remember I went the last day of their tryouts. I kind of looked in and she wasn't on the court. So I'm already prepping my speech like, okay, uh, next year maybe we can figure something out. And the reason why she was on, wasn't on the court was because the coach told her she made the team and she she could go. So she was all stoked and, um, she really liked it. She didn't play much, she just was kind of learning and, um, it was cool because whenever, um, they sub someone and she was the first to go in and she was green and didn't know much and I'm just thinking like, why does she even want to play volleyball? She, she never said anything about volleyball her whole life.
Speaker 2:And at the end of her season, um, one of my friends, who's one of your coaches, jordan, shout out to coach jordan. Uh, was like, oh, my friend's starting a club if you would want to bring aria. And I'm like okay, well, um, I'll ask her. And she was like, yeah, I want to still play, I want to play volleyball. And I was like okay, and he set up with you. You guys had already started some, some um practices already so was like, okay, we'll bring her.
Speaker 2:So I was like okay, and we went to Waimanalo gym and I remember it because she, she was nervous and I'm just like, just go, just whatever, just try. You cannot like you're never going to find out if you don't try. And I remember it was either. I think it was oh, what was her teammate? It was JD. Jd came up to her and was like come warm up, warm up, and like just grabbed her and started stretching and and that was her first experience, and then coach elias was helping her with her bumps and you guys were kind of just um, feeling her out. It was kind of like a trout or whatever.
Speaker 2:And then yeah at the end of the um practice I remember, which kind of struck me as something cool was you guys held hands and prayed and I'm like, oh, I, I like this. The spirituality of a team sport, implementing god in it was kind of a big deal and I was like, oh, I like that a lot and it seemed like it was important to you guys to have that in your club and it kind of resonated with me and Aria was like kind of still nervous but I could tell something sparked in her, like she kind of was interested. And then on our way home, I like, so what you think? Because you guys offer her a spot on the 14s and she's only 13. So I told her you're gonna be playing with girls older than you and like, yeah, it's up to you, like if you can do this. But I would tell you right now, if you commit to this, like you committing to this to the whole year, like there's no, there's no halfway.
Speaker 2:And then I know like, do this if you can, if you want to commit to it, we're, we're going to, uh, june or july or whenever it was supposed to be done, and it was like november, october, and she's like sitting in my truck. She goes I want to do it. I say, okay, I'm gonna have you shake my hand and that's the commitment in my truck. She goes I want to do it. I said, okay, I'm gonna have you shake my hand and that's the commitment. You don't have to shake my hand right now, but if you do, that's the commitment till June. And she's like, I'll shake your hand, daddy. And she shook my hand and that was it, like she was locked in and um, the biggest thing for me as a parent was watching her be as green as she was to the end of the season, how much she improved.
Speaker 2:But the way you guys coach was a good feel for me as, uh, when I was younger as an athlete, I had that same kind of coaching. It was accountability, it was immediate problem solving and I like the discipline, I like the not yelling but not getting scoldings, but being taught the right way to do things. And I noticed how you guys teach and I kind of said it before, it's like an innovative way to do volleyball with the drills you're doing, the equipment you guys had and all that. But it was the old school accountability and, um, discipline and it was a perfect kind of blend and I was like, oh, I can't, I, I can get behind this. It seems like the way you guys coach is how I would want my daughter to be involved in a athletic situation. How did you even develop your coaching skills?
Speaker 1:um, separate from what your mentors taught you, because I'm sure you don't coach exactly the same no, um, I think a lot of people see the similarities, um, and then I think, like when people ask me, oh, um, because everyone wants to see, you know, not one individual likes the type of coaching style that's kind of intense. You know, some, some people like to be I don't want to say pampered, but you know, good job, you know that's not me, yeah.
Speaker 2:That is not me.
Speaker 1:But they'll get a good job when you know they've done something correct. You know they've done something correct, you know. So there has to be uh, you know positive reinforcement when they do what. You know what you need them to do as an athlete, um, and then there needs to be corrective action, as you said, like.
Speaker 1:I think one thing I really appreciate with you, you know, within these last two years is you know, you. You told me that story about you know shaking the hands and and the and the commitment. You know and the follow through. You know, um, when you make a commitment you're teaching your kid. You know you taught Aria. You're going to see it through to the end, no matter what, and then you can re like, rediscuss, you know, know, at the end of the so-called, you know you basically made a contract with her. You know handshake contract and and that's something at least for me as a coach, that's appreciative, because you know you're teaching your kids to never give up, you're gonna. If you say you're gonna do something, you're gonna do it. You know, and to me that's always been really good. But I think just coaching style, I don't know, I think I just kind of feel it out.
Speaker 1:My coaching style is old school meets new school, if that makes sense. I understand that it can't be completely old school. You know the way that I was, I wasn't treated. I didn't feel like I was. I didn't feel like I was treated bad, um, but it was intense. You know, as I said, I was 12 years old, I had three times a day practice, um, but it made me really good, you know Um, so, um, I had balls thrown at me, you know like, but that's old school Um me, you know like, but that's old school. Um, you know, my husband's mom played for kailua high school and she was told, like she had the guys hitting on them, you know because, and they were just bouncing the balls at them, you know so that it teaches them no fear and that you know, um, when you face against girls, you're not going to be scared of a girl because you have guys, you know.
Speaker 1:I think that level of thinking as well, no matter the age, I always want them to get challenged so that when they do face their appropriate level, then it's going to be kind of nothing, you know, if that makes sense. So, yeah, I guess that's kind of like my coaching. So I try and adapt and I understand that there are. You know, the times have changed. I don't want to say the kids are softer, but they are, oh yeah, um. So you have to adapt to that, but at the same time, my values won't change.
Speaker 1:You know, and that's something that we, it's either you're okay with that or not. You know the value, as you said, accountability. You know we hold, like, if we say touch the line, and you don't touch the line, you're going to do it again. You know you're, that's that's teaching you as an individual to have some integrity. You know, because I may or may not catch it, you know, and you might be like, okay, she, she didn't see it, I got away with it this time, but you know, one time I might catch it and you're going to make your entire team run, you know. So it teaches the kids integrity. It teaches, you know, um, having them the disciplinary stuff, you know, and there are some rules that we have in place that aren't like other clubs.
Speaker 1:You know, like, when we, as you know, like we take the kids cell phones away during the tournaments, um, especially the national ones, and that's really just to get them to focus.
Speaker 1:You know we're here, we're traveling for a purpose. We're not here on vacation, which you know we can turn it into, um but once it's it's go time, we really want them to really focus and then it helps them bond. I've noticed in a lot of car rides where they do have their phone, they're all on their phone, you know, they're all on their phone, they're doing their own thing, but when we take it away, then they're able to actually interact with each other. They laugh, they start singing karaoke in the van you know what I mean and that won't happen if their focus is on their individual phone, you know. So, um, there's reasons to like why we have certain things in place and thought processes behind it, and not everyone's going to agree with it, and that's fine. But, um, you know, we were trying to develop not only a volleyball player but just like a good person, and I know like we've had a lot of conversations about that, you know, even with Aria. So that's basically like what it is.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I agree. And to throw it back, I do feel like the way coaches were back then, especially my coaches. They guarantee be in prison now for what they did to us, especially my coaches. They guarantee be in prison now for what they did to us. Guarantee. But I do like I guess that's the word that you described was intensity. You're an intense coach and I think that intensity is brought out in your kids because of how you coach it. It resonates with them and then they become the same intense player.
Speaker 2:For my daughter, there's something I tell her every before every practice I said, um, since she was going to leisure don for her first intermediate, I say everything's earned, nothing's given, and if you earn it, it can be taken away. And I think for my daughter, uh, through the last season with you and coach elias, it was a trip because she couldn't throw the ball over the net, let alone serve it, and she would practice like I would take her kapuna hala and she would just hit and I'm running around because we only had one ball and I'm just like every time she messes up, I gotta run for it. And then, but she was like one more daddy, one more, and like, okay, I'm just gonna just be there for you to try. And she was dead set on wanting to be able to serve and the whole season she never served one serve during the game, and which was fine. I keep telling her you're gonna have to earn it. That means you gotta not only be able to serve over the net, you gotta do it consistently. And, um, she couldn't.
Speaker 2:And by the end of the season we went to where was it? Chicago, and the first game in the national tournament, chicago. And I had no idea you guys are going to do it, you guys made her serve and I'm thinking like, oh, now she's going to serve this whole time. I'm thinking, oh, great, like this is going to be bad. And I think she, she did it good. And then the um, you guys made her serve the next game and the next game and she served the whole tournament and I think two serves or three serves in the whole tournament. She didn't hit over the net and I was thinking like, oh, like in one year's time she went from not even be, have the strength to throw it over to serving in a national tournament and doing good.
Speaker 2:And I told her I was like you know what? That's exactly what I explained to you. Everything's earned. There's no way Coach Kea and Elias would have let you serve in a national tournament. If like for fun or for oh, just let her try. That's not how it works. You earned it, but on the same aspect, you can have it taken away. So I like the fact that your guys' club everything's earned and you got to earn your spot on the court.
Speaker 2:And I tell her, like the best person is going to be on the court and I do know you guys have to let everybody play, which is, which is good, but if you're the best player, you're the best person for the job will be on the court and if it's not you, it's your job to be that person. Like how you were in high school, you said you beat the starting center as a junior and you what you guys want to state championships. So that's exactly what, um, you did. You earned that spot and, yeah, that's exactly the kind of coaching I want my daughter to be around, and last year it was just a whirlwind for not just her but for me, because I had no idea, like I said earlier, that volleyball existed like this in hawaii when we went to our first it was like a friendship tournament. We went to um, I forget where it was, like I think it was somewhere.
Speaker 2:Oh, it was 808 in halal, not halawa, but kapolei yeah yeah, and it was like, oh, this is cool, I think, and this is how it's gonna be. And then, um, for some reason, the first day of transpac was at palama settlement and it was like, okay, they had three courts. And I was like, oh, this is intense, like wow, this is nuts. And then we went the next day to the convention center and then that just shook me up, because they had what? 60 courts and like I'm like 20, 20 20 courts okay, yeah well, it's over 60.
Speaker 1:I don't think we could fit that much. Okay, it was 24. I don't know.
Speaker 2:I was like what is going on? Like there it was like a sea of volleyball courts and I'm thinking like I didn't even know they had this many girls playing volleyball. And then, as we went throughout the season, I started understanding the how volleyball is in Hawaii and all these clubs and who's good and what clubs been around longer and then I started meeting people and finding out people. I know that been doing it, like one of you, one of the people that works in my building, coach Bernie, knows you. And oh, yeah, she played with my daughter and all this kind. And then, um, I just realized how big volleyball is in Hawaii and it was kind of cool for one that my daughter found her passion. She was taking dance prior and she never really she would go to her classes and that's it With volleyball. She was, oh, dad, can you grab me? I want this net thing or I want to train outside or I want to. Um, she watches, uh, things on youtube and it's all self-motivated. I wasn't telling her oh no, you got to do this and it was just something that she just found passion for and I was like, okay, I'm just thinking like volleyball I never seen, like I didn't think it was going to be that and she's been this her second season.
Speaker 2:This season we had coach boy and coach Jordan and coach Shireen and it was an amazing season. Shout out to coach boy that he had a lot of of love for the girls and he definitely believed in them and we won a lot of games and they competed in the Nationals. They did good. Honestly, the things that I noticed about strive was the discipline our girls had like even in between games during these big tournaments.
Speaker 2:Some of aria's friends from her school would come and watch her play during their uh breaks. But you guys, when you guys had breaks, they're together, talking, eating lunch together. There's no wandering off there. It's always a team aspect on and off the court and it developed relationships like my. My daughter's teammates are in my living room right now and we just took seven of them to the state fair yesterday and it's crazy because a year ago she didn't even know these people and now it's like they're super close and it's been a blessing for not only Aria but for us as parents and we got to meet some of the other parents and shoot, we text and talk and shoot, we vacation with them travel, yeah, a little bit too much on these, these vacations or these tournaments, yeah you guys stay up way past us, that's for sure, yeah it's been fun.
Speaker 2:It was. Yeah, that hotel was a very accommodating to the to the Hawaii squad.
Speaker 1:But very loud. Hawaii squad, do you guys have your own room to shut the door? Make sure it's quiet for the rest of our guests yeah, it was fun though.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I think what you guys are developing with these girls and families is a strive high culture, and you can tell the difference between not just um our team but our club when you guys walk into the, to the arena or the um convention center. You know that's a unit. You don't see the girls wandering off and doing their own thing is strive is here, this is their spot, and then they're gonna be there until it's time to go, and I really like that and that discipline about your guys. Club has been awesome. Um, so you're done with your second season and I feel like like you just got done. We just got back from florida and, yeah, you're already starting clinics and what tryouts is this week for the new season and yeah, it's coming this saturday.
Speaker 1:so I'm stressing, I'm making sure like everything is set up and and, um, you know, the flow is as easy as possible.
Speaker 1:Um, you know there's a lot of behind the scenes work that goes into every you know, everyone's one and a half hours, so, um just making sure that it's like really seamless and there's a lot of things that you know we've improved from the first year into the second year and then even from this year, from the second year into our third year. You know, um having like problems and and challenges come in and as a club and even just for myself, uh, looking at that and saying like how how can we be better? You know, how can we address these issues and how can we make it one uniformed across the board? Right, because it's at the, at the end of the day, things are. It's still a business model, so making sure from head down, things are very uniformed in throughout the different age groups, which was really important for me. You know I didn't want people having um completely different experiences, like where this coach does their own thing and this coach does their own thing.
Speaker 1:So that if we were to able, as you said, like I had, you know, you guys, our first year and then, coming into your second year, we had a different coach, I didn't want it to be such a drastic change in you know things that we did. You know the tournament styles and what we do during tournaments. I want it to be pretty uniformed all the way through. So if we are able to, you know, hand off, it's just more coaching styles and you know that will be the difference. And you know learning from different coaches is always a good thing. You can take in, pick, you know, pick up things and then you know, not pick up things that you don't like but everyone offers. You know different things and you know. So I think going into this season we're going to have some changes. You know, just making sure things are a little bit more, have even more clarity. I thought it was pretty clear the first time but I think just having reminders to parents especially because you know this isn't their only kid they have like other kids, and so having a little bit frequent reminders, I think would really help a lot. But we're really blessed, you know, in the practice spaces that we have. Our first year was it was, you know, olamana and Waimanalo, and this year, you know, being able to get beyond ball was huge, you know, because we grew, you know, even just from the five teams. Second year we grew more.
Speaker 1:I'm not sure. I never know how many teams you're going to get, and that's not really a focus for me. As I said, I personally don't want to expand too big. I really want quality to be there and I can't have quality control if there's so many teams that I'm not going to be able to touch. And that was a big thing also for us. To start a club is to be able to, like, as a club director, like I want to know, you know everyone's name, I want to know the parents name, you know, I want to make sure that there's some sort of relationship there, like you're not just a number, you know, like that's why I try and attend the practices. You know, like on my off days, when I don't have my personal teams, I try and go to other teams that I see, like okay, this team needs help, or okay, this team's doing good, so I don't have to, not yet, you know.
Speaker 1:Or if they're traveling, you know, then I'm really involved to make sure that you know we represent ourselves well nationally. That's always a big thing because you know we want to prepare our girls at a young age to get exposure to the national travel. Because, as you touched, like you know, we have the convention center tournaments here and I think TransPAC is probably the biggest one. So you know we're, we're definitely going to be in that this coming season. Um, but having us kind of prep our mindset for national travel because you have 20 courts here but in national, you know we just came back from Florida. We had 150 courts at that convention center. So like the scale is like what? Six, seven times the amount you, and like that's where we want them to get comfortable in those type of settings. So, unfortunately, because we live in an island, you know we have to travel to be able to get that exposure, base exposure with for the kids.
Speaker 1:You know we can kind of help them out, so to speak, here. But there's only so much here can do. You know we have to go and and and kind of see where we rank up against the national level teams and get them used to all the different styles. And for the older groups, you know if, if they want to go into college, and some, some, some kids they don't, you know um, they're, they enjoyed volleyball for what it was and what it gave them and they're going to take the life skills that they've learned through, you know, through the team sport, and they're going to be able to apply it.
Speaker 1:You know, as young adults, you know, and you know getting better. You know um having the drive through college. You know, and you know getting better. You know um having the drive through college. You know they don't have to play volleyball. Um, I would like them to, but you know, but not not everyone does it and that's the reality of it, you know.
Speaker 1:But for those that do want it, they've they've gotten scholarships.
Speaker 1:You know we've gotten scholarships from our first group that are actually going to be graduating college either this year or I think some of them took their COVID year because they graduated 2020 for their COVID Um, so some of them have already graduated and they played volleyball, um, and then we just, you know, graduated our, our seniors, this year, so some of them have gotten full ride scholarships, you know, um, and they were able to to go off and they're going to play volleyball. But I think it's just like really important to make sure that we just keep the important things, you know, in the forefront of our mind, as you said, like the discipline and, as I said, everything there's a rhyme and reason. And when we have more time for, like, people to sit down I'm very portuguese, so I have no problem talking, you know when I do have time to be able to sit down and have chats, if people do have questions, you know, I I try to make myself available for people, um, sometimes I feel like too much available because I turn my phone.
Speaker 1:I do turn my phone off after nine because some people like to call me after nine o'clock and you know I can't be available. I have to be available for my family too. Exactly, yeah, so that was. That was year one. I learned that year one. This past year. I put it on. Do not disturb, so if you really need me, you know what to do that's, that's smart.
Speaker 2:So, after your second season, what were some of the trials and tribulations that you learn and would want to do differently from what you experience? And it's like, okay, what, what do I need to work on to change it up so certain things won't happen? And what were some of the things like oh shoot, I gotta do that again and bring that back. And what were some of the both aspects, good and bad?
Speaker 1:um, I think a lot of coaches can agree with me in. You know, parents are not always the easiest uh to please. Um, you definitely are an exception. So, because you know, you have that, that, that athlete like, that athlete mindset, you know, and some of the parents have that too. Um, this year, parents were probably my biggest um headache, so to speak. Um, I think it's just a lot of wanting to like really over communicate or, you know, saying things where things don't need to be said, um, having just to kind of deal with some drama you know, I think, like everyone needs to understand, like what their role is and specifically like to support not just your child but the team.
Speaker 1:You know, I think when we have like your guys, your guys' team was pretty good, I felt like all the parents supported the team as a whole versus what's really best for their individual child. You know, and a lot of things, I feel like I'm pretty straight up and, as you said, like you know things are. I say that always from the get go and anytime that somebody joins, it's playing times never earned, I mean never given. You know, even if you're, if you're, talented, you know we have rules that if you miss a practice during, right before a tournament, you know you have to set a given, even if you're talented, we have rules that if you miss a practice right before a tournament, you know, and making sure that these kids understand the gravity of working hard, you know, and, um, things cannot just be always given to them or things are not always instantaneous. Um, and then, on the backside, you know, having parents understand that too, where, you know, we invite not all clubs, clubs, but some, like our club. I do invite the parents to come and watch practice, because practice is where you're going to see the results for the tournament. You know, um, it's, if parents just show up for the tournament and they're like, oh, why is my kid not playing, you know, then it's like we'll come to practice and then you'll see why your kid's not playing. You know, like, so, like, you know, just easy things like that, and then a lot of it was.
Speaker 1:You know, some people are not prepared of what, how intense club volleyball is. You know, like your first year, a lot of it is kind of like a culture shock. Know, yes, um, volleyball here in hawaii is really big, you know. You look at, uh, women's, you look at, uh, men's and the amount of crowd that you know they get at every. You know, especially the big games. The big games are really hard to get tickets for or you're up in the nosebleed sections, you know, somewhere. Um, so you know, if you look at just um, I personally feel that hawaii, like volleyball, is hawaii sport. You know, yeah, um, so at a junior level, uh, it's really big. So, kind of understanding, you know, the time commitment that it takes, the financial commitment, that that's a really big one.
Speaker 1:Um, and even the traveling and understanding the importance of traveling because, um, you know, this coming season we're going to be taking multiple trips throughout the club. You know I didn't want to do it my first season, as my team was already veteran to traveling twice since they were young. But you know, I knew that coming into creating a new club would be new people being introduced. I didn't want to have that the first year and then this year we introduced maybe one or two more teams that were traveling twice. In our third year we're going to be introducing majority of our teams are going to be traveling twice. Probably just the really baby babies are not going to travel twice.
Speaker 1:Um, but, as I said, like there's reasons behind it, if you're 12s, 13s, 14s, you're preparing right. We don't want to be 15 years old and just starting to travel twice and not understanding what that is. You're really trying to prepare. So by the time you reach your freshman year, you can start showing colleges what you're made out of. Because, you know, in this game, colleges start looking very young. They start looking around, even sometimes 14s, and it's just, you know for, and it's some 14 year olds even shooting out emails to colleges Hi, I'm 14 years old, and so just to get on their radar, so to speak. Yeah, you know.
Speaker 1:So those are the kind of challenges that we had. A lot of it had to do with some of the dealing with parents and and understanding, you know, because a lot of them it was their first time, and so I try and be as clear as possible. But I think I'm trying to be even more clear, moving forward, but at some point there's only so much clarity I can give to people where it's like. I told you this already, I said this I'm not sure what the disconnect's happening, but we'll we'll figure it out, you know. So I think I think some of the good things that happened this past year is the growth of the club, you know, steadily growing. We had about one every age group, one team per age group. We weren't able to make, I think, a 12 and under team this year. We had some girls but we just couldn't fill in those spots, so we had to move some kids around Um, but we had a solid, solid seven. So, you know, being able to grow an additional two teams from our first year.
Speaker 1:As I said, it's it's good problems to have um. Gym space is always a hard thing to um beyond ball is is not cheap. You know Kapaa, aquarius, is not cheap, um, so that was a challenge and um, I think seeing me being able to touch more people's lives, um, that's always been a really big thing. At least for me is um understanding that in my job position I'm looked at to these girls as a role model, right, um, and taking that, you know, to heart and to account. You know, and they're having the girls know the difference between coach kaya and then, like coach kaya, that's like off duty, so to speak.
Speaker 1:You know, um, like if we go to team bonding and stuff like that, so them getting to know me as a person rather than them only getting to know me as, uh, just you know, a coach. Because you know when you go to work you have a work personality, you have to be more professional than when you are as a person. So I'm glad to be able to touch kids lives and it's really nice to see either people that's currently in the club or people that have graduated. And you know, elias and I, when we do get the text messages of the things like you know, coach, we really appreciate all the time and you've taught us this and it's because of you, like that's kind of the reason that keeps us going.
Speaker 1:You know just the appreciation factor of you know, sometimes, just as a coach, it's almost like a, like a being a parent. It's kind of like a thankless job sometimes. You know, when you have the kids and even the parents show that appreciation and show it with a meaning it. It, I feel like, fuels us to continuously grow, because you know there's always going to be people that's going to disagree with you, or there's going to be people that you know there's always going to be people that's going to disagree with you or there's going to be people that you know don't want you to succeed. You know, and you have to kind of block people out of that, you know, just in your circle.
Speaker 1:And you also have to believe in yourself. And you know I, I have a vision, you know, and I and I have goals and, um, and I want to make sure that I achieve my goals. So, making sure that I stay on track, and you know that's something that I know that these kids are watching. You know I might not be, um, you know their parent, but I know that the kids watch what I do and and things like that, and so I know that I have to just be mindful of certain things, especially, you know, as I said, at the position that I am in, and I do try and connect with people and do have relationships with people. I want to make sure that I take that seriously, if that makes sense.
Speaker 2:Yep, definitely. And I think, um, like I told you before, in the future, like you're gonna change a lot of girls stars and you're gonna develop champions, uh, athletes that do big things. And, um, because your clubs on the east side it's not a predominant side of volleyball I I don't know of many clubs on on this side and because of that, you're giving opportunities for girls on the east side especially why manalo? To have opportunity to take advantage of changing their stars and getting opportunities to being a better person, getting an education and learning values that have that old school tradition, and I think you should be proud of it. I think you should be proud of your first two years.
Speaker 2:First two years, you become a business owner, a ceo, coach of multiple teams, a parent, a team parent, like a travel agent, like it's not easy and um, at the end of the day, it is a business and that means you have to run it as a business and any business is hard to run. I've run multiple business, some that failed, some that are succeeding but every little detail is a blow to your aura or your energy, good or bad. Something goes wrong it's gonna change your whole day. Something goes right, it's gonna change your whole day and to keep going when it's bad and to um respect when it's good. I think is gonna be your biggest um attribute. It ain't easy to run a business and I know you have a good support system. Coach elias um, and your family believes in you, and a lot of the parents that I know believe in you and believe in Strive, and everybody around you wants to see you succeed. So all you got to do is pretty much prove people right instead of prove people wrong, and I think you're on your way. You're on your third season and it's hard to believe because when we came in, it was hard to believe that was your first season of Strive. It seemed like you guys were there for a while and seemed like Strive was a thing prior to our first season. But I can honestly say Aria started your first season and, as far as she takes her volleyball career, it'll always be a part of her and I think, um, it's gonna be exciting to see how far you take this club, um, even when aria's off to college or whatever she decides to do. Just to see where strife is going to be in the next 10 years is going to be kind of crazy.
Speaker 2:I, I do like the um beyond ball, where we, where their practice is at, it's it's high tech, but also, like olamana, they have that old school feel and the dirty grimyness and it just feels like a east side gym and like if you can play there, you can play anywhere. You know, I mean, I like that. Yeah, they have both um diversity and and knowing that they gotta play in a grimy gym and then they get the high tech innovative beyond ball, so it's it. It beyond ball, so it's it. It shows them both sides of the spectrum. So I think they gonna it's only gonna benefit them. Um, yeah, so you kind of mentioned, like um, you have vision for for the future of the club.
Speaker 1:What are like some of your short-term goals and what are kind of like your bigger goals in the future where you see strive becoming um, I think short term, uh, I know, like I was telling one of my coaches, um, that I want the girl side to probably be as like, established and, you know, not so much changes to, like, the back end and just really focusing on, uh, uh, growing the competitive side of the coaching and stuff like that by year five, so in about two years, um, and then you know, beyond that, obviously, you know we the full name is strive high athletics and uh, we added the athletics because we did want to go and venture out into different you know, uh, sports, uh, basketball, baseball, football, you know things like that, starting small and then being able to grow and then put people into those divisions that are expert, because I have no clue, I would not be able to tell you football I am not good at that, basketball, anything but putting people into the position, you know, where they could eventually run their own program, if they don't already, and then be able to grow it from there. And, you know, having all the back office side already done for them, you know, just tweaking it to their specific sport, I think would be really good. And then, obviously, like I know a lot of people have asked for, like a boy's side. But you know, for me, as I said, like I wouldn't be able to and I'm not gonna girls volleyball and boys volleyball are similar but different. You know. So, like I, I personally wouldn't be giving a lot of expertise in boys volleyball, you know, because I have never coached boys volleyball.
Speaker 1:Um, my husband, elias, has, um, so we would probably try and get someone to run that program, you know so, um, and then getting my own gym, that's, that's my end goal. And here in Hawaii it's, it's hard, you know, um, there's one space there's, I mean, only so much. Um, you know, real estate, uh, here in Hawaii, um, so that's always, I think, always always going to be a big thing. But if I was able to get my own gym, you know, I think that would be really good. And then, you know, trying to either have it volleyball basketball, kind of like a beyond ball, but if it's for the club specifically, then obviously, you know, having that having a workout area, I think is really important. I know that you have Aria, you know having that having a workout area, I think is really important. I know that you have Aria, you know, doing her all her workouts at home, and we started off with Portuguese horseshoes and now we finally were able to level it off to the box you know.
Speaker 1:So you know that's that's a supplement to getting the kids better is, you know, getting their their speed, agility, you know, flexibility to um strength all up so that they can perform at the highest level.
Speaker 1:So, hopefully, having a gym that has like a weight room, you know turf area is really important but I mean that's the dream. I it's hard, really hard here in Hawaii, um, you know, but if, if I can do it, I want to do it that's going to be a long-term goal and you know you have a lot of these clubs that's been around for almost 20 years, I think. Some of them, um, and they just got it within the past three years, four years, you know they just got their gym. So I mean me starting off in having this be my third year. You know I have the goals set in place and I know that the timelines might not be, you know, a right now thing, but I know that I have to work towards it, just like anybody else. You know, and it's, it's a, it's a, it's a waiting game in life. You know things don't come that are worth it instantly all the time, you know.
Speaker 2:So dreams vanish without work. That's the reality, yeah yeah seriously, I think um going into your third season is going to be exciting. Um tryouts is this weekend what? I don't want to run an advertisement, but what um would you say if someone was looking to join strive or or kind of check it out and how would they go about it and what is going to be happening this weekend for tryouts?
Speaker 1:uh, so this week, july 20th, uh, we are having tryouts from 10 and under all the way through 18 and under. There's lots of different ways. We're pretty active on our social media. So Instagram, strive, underscore, high, underscore, athletics, and then every strive high team has their own page. So you know, if you're looking at specific teams, we do have every age group had their own Instagram page so that parents could watch live games and then you can go on our website, wwwstrivehighathleticscom, and then you can go ahead and you have the tryout link and registration there. So so you know, it's about an hour and a half Um, and this year we're going to actually be doing something new.
Speaker 1:I'm going to be having a parent meeting um during tryouts. So the kids are going to go inside the gym and then the parents, including returners as I said, there's going to be some things that you know have changed. Uh, they're going to go into, like a meeting room area and I'm going to be there talking with the parents and basically trying to be really upfront on the expectations of what club is, because you know, as I said, some of the problems that we had was, you know, it being really overwhelming. So you know, from the get go. We want to make sure that people are committed, you know, all the way through the end and understanding what that commitment means. And so just really being upfront about our travels, where we're possibly traveling, to payments. You know you'll get all the information in that parent meeting meeting and then you'll be able to like at least kind of have information up front that instead of okay, here's the commitment packet, but I'm not really sure, and then you have a welcome. You need to be able to explain everything. So, yeah, um, I think providing like a lot of upfrontness uh, might help alleviate a lot of things. Um, so that's why this year is going to be our first year to have a parent meeting and we'll see if we get good feedback from that. Then that might be a thing that we just continue throughout the years and then, as I said, hopefully maybe the returning parents don't have to come, as it's going to be really regurgitated after you hear it the same time four years through.
Speaker 1:But changes, it's always just about little changes here and there, but I'm excited because you know, I'm not going to be able to see the kids until actually probably like their playing area, so all the little skills that they're going to be doing, you know, just the skills of passing, setting, hitting in, hitting lines. I won't be there because I'll be with the parents, but I'll be able to, uh, we'll end about half an hour before the trial is done so that I can at least go and watch them play during six on six play, and that's going to be, you know, learning. Uh, okay, does this girl communicate well? Does this girl, you know, hustle to the ball, give the? You know, for us it's uh, we always say it's about your attitude, your effort and your communication. Like those threes requires, like no skill, no volleyball skills. All that all has to do with you as an individual. So, like, making sure that you're talking on the court, you know, making sure that you give the effort of, if the ball hits the ground, you hit the ground, um, you know, making sure that you're having a good attitude, you know, um, that was making like that's, that's sometimes a rough one too is, you know, either they get mad at themselves, you know, because there's a lot of pressure them to do well and not learning how to kind of shake things off or, um, their attitude towards somebody else if somebody else makes a mistake, then making sure that they're being a good teammate and like encouraging that person, right, because my job as a coach is to correct the kids. You know, your job as a teammate is to uplift and to encourage and to, you know, put your teammates on your back sometimes and be like I got you, like let's go. So, you, you know those are the things that it's a lot harder to teach if someone doesn't have it naturally.
Speaker 1:Um, but skills, you know a lot of the coaches here in hawaii can teach the skills it really just comes down to. You know, just, we feel like those three big things. And then making sure that everyone understands that. You know we work together and and you know this, but at child's, you know, really explaining to the parents that here at drive high, like the triangle is really important to us. Um, the triangle between the coaches have their role, the players have their role, you know, and the parents have their role too into making sure that if all of us do our roles and our jobs and we execute that well, then it becomes a successful season, you know, not just on the court but off the court as well. So you know those are things that we're going to be doing at trials. So I'm excited, I'm excited. I'm stressing right now, but I'm excited.
Speaker 2:I know we just got back from Florida, was it two weeks ago? I had COVID from that trip. I was shut down for a week yeah.
Speaker 1:I got pneumonia and I broke my hand, so that's why I have this, and I was playing volleyball, so yeah, I can't play in a big tournament this coming. It's the week after tryouts, so oh pretty, I'm pretty bummed about that. It's a it's a big adult tournament that that's here.
Speaker 2:So okay, does um? Is elias gonna play?
Speaker 1:um, I don't think so. I think he has to work. That's why he took too much leave to go on our trip, because our trip was about two weeks. So, oh yeah, it was you know, I think, yeah, he has to work. It's a it's a three-day tournament, so he can't take off of work that long.
Speaker 2:But if he could he would for sure guarantee does um, do you have a break in after tryouts until the season starts, like you've been running it since. Oh, since when? Since September, no the babies?
Speaker 1:no, not really I. Usually I do the clinics in July, so right after when we come home, uh, we have clinics that happen, um, and then so that's what we're doing right now we have the July clinics and then, while the July clinics are going, we have tryouts, um, and then in August is when the younger girls start. So all of the younger girls that are depending on you know what teams we do have, but 10 and under, all the way through 14 and under they are their season starts already because they don't have, uh, you know, school volleyball. So you know, aria had it last year because private school has intermediate but, you know, public school is intermediate, there's, there's nothing there.
Speaker 1:So, um, everyone that's able to that doesn't have, you know, school volleyball. They, they come so that we can start already bonding the girls, the team you know, and then catching people up. Uh, fundamentally, especially the little ones, you know they need the actual fundamental work. Um, just so that by the time that we do get into competition in January, it's not such a shock to them, or you?
Speaker 1:know, they feel bad or you know they look bad. So we want to make sure that we prepare them ahead of time to give them the best possible chance. So is there a break? No, not really. That's crazy. It's like any other job, you guys, don't you know?
Speaker 2:I guess, so right. Yeah, that's true, sasha does frick. She's like last night we were at the um the fair and like she's like we're there till like 10 30. We get home and the girls are running around. I'm thinking like, yeah, you're good, you're on summer break because you're a teacher. I gotta work this morning and I end up schooling the girls because it's three in the morning.
Speaker 1:They're over there laughing and giggling and I was like shut up already that is your team is your guys team well, I think that just goes into the testament of like all the, I guess, rules that are in place is really for them to bond, you know, yeah, so it. I mean it sucks that you have to suffer through it, but yeah they're not coming to my house, that's yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, no, I need my rest for sure well, I I definitely think that, um, you're doing a great thing. I think coach elias, like you said, is your yin yang and it it works and I I'm hoping that this um season it goes smoothly. I can't wait to see how all these girls do and see who's coming back. And, yeah, start creating more memories and bonds and and watching Strive, be competitive.
Speaker 2:And yeah, I think you should be proud like sometimes as business owners, you don't take time and look back because you're always focused on where you're going, but sometimes it's good to look back and smell the flowers. It's like, oh, I've accomplished this in this in two years, I've accomplished this and that's something you should be proud of. I think a lot of your family and friends and parents should are proud of where you've taken this and I think, um, in the future it's only going to get bigger, better and yeah, there's no cap, you just got to keep going keep going, hopefully, you know, we're to a point where I don't have to do all the work day to day.
Speaker 1:That's.
Speaker 1:That's the ultimate goal you have someone to do a business for you right, god, gotta have that like holly mindset sometimes, you know where yeah you have everyone else do it, but I, if I could, I do want to take this time just to thank everyone that you know has believed in me. You know, as I said, like we appreciate appreciation, so I feel like it's only right to I want to be able to say thank you to everyone that has believed in myself specifically and me and Elias just throughout our entire coaching career. Corey and Miki Arume they hold a really special place in our heart because they were the first people and that was like you know, you guys should get your guys own club. You know, and I think um, without their push um from like early on in our coaching career, um, and then kind of like just planting seeds in our, in our mind, I don't think that we would have really made that push um. So we coached their daughter as I. You know that was our first official. Me and Eli is coaching together. That was our first official team and, you know, making sure that credit is given where credit is due.
Speaker 1:And then you know, always, just so that our family and friends and even to, like you know, people that really believe in us and see the vision and, as you said earlier, the culture that we're trying to create right it's, it's. It's different than I feel like anywhere else. You know, uh, in the volleyball community cause I know a lot of it is show up and you know you have the best of the best and you compete, which is great. I love competition. I don't like losing, but you know it comes with the game.
Speaker 1:But really understanding that we want to make sure that we're creating good human beings too and that we're sending them out into the world to be like, really, you know, thoughtful and respectful, and understand that things are not always given to them, so I mean thank you to everyone that's really believed in me and, you know, special thank you, thank you to like our kids, you know, because, as we were starting in our career, you know we had to leave them a lot of the times, you know, for tournaments and our parents are having to watch them for our practices before they were old enough to actually play. Um, his parents, you know his mom would watch them during the week. My parents would take them on the weekends. You know, every single time that we have coaching and, as you know, it's almost every weekend that you have, you know, coaching and it's not just for like an hour or two, like tournaments are like eight hours long and then convention center tournaments.
Speaker 1:You know we would have day all the way through, like morning, all the way through night, you know. So we're working like 12 hour, 13 hour days, you know, a couple of days in a row. So I mean, like, without their support and their help, you know a lot of this wouldn't be possible. And then the biggest one is, you know, obviously my husband. Um, I know I tend to be the face of everything, um, but you know he supports me and you know he sacrifices a lot on his end. You know, he, he works as a federal firefighter and then when he comes home he helps me. So like he doesn't really get a break either. And um, you know, he's always trying to push me to be better and you know, as yin to my yang, he corrects me when he thinks that, okay, let's, let's think about this. And, um, you know, really just pushes me to be like think outside the box. You know, cause sometimes I can get really tunnel vision and and really focused on certain things. That you know, having him kind of brought in it Sometimes, you know it's not the easiest to work with your spouse all the time, but it's allowed us to go on trips and to explore. You know that's my favorite part about volleyball is that you get to travel, and then being able to travel with my husband you know who I know in the end has my, my best interest at heart. You know, um, to the end, so that's a really big thing and um, so, hon, thank you. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Um, because you know people don't see the behind the things, stuff that he does. Or you know, if I come home crying because I'm disappointed in something, you know stuff that he does. Or you know, if I come home crying because I'm disappointed in something, you know it's not just the kids, you know it's it's the coaches too, and I, I am very emotional and I, if I fail because the kids have failed, then I take that like I did something wrong, you know, and how can I improve so that these kids can get better? So you know, there are days where I come home and I cry and, um, you know he listens to a lot of like motivational stuff, so he'll send me things to keep me motivated and keep me pushing and keep me focused on, you know, bigger and better things and you know, as you said, like really um, understanding that not a lot of times when you're going through the process, you see the changes, you know.
Speaker 1:But having me kind of take that breath, as you said, and be like okay, like you know, we're good, we're okay, you know, sometimes I can get caught up in work a lot, you know I was like, oh no, I got to get this and I got to know, gotta, no, like this is family time, you know, let's focus on the family. Okay, I, I guess this can wait, you know. So, like I mean that yin to you know, you're yang and he, he really is that for me, I wouldn't, I wouldn't be coaching and I wouldn't know my life without him being my other coach, you know, because we work really well together, um, for the most part, I mean, there are some times where, you know, I give them like the eyes, like don't knock it down, you know but for the most part.
Speaker 1:I mean, as I said, it's always a blessing to be able to work with your other half, and in any form you know, I'm sure I wonder if you and Sasha would be able to work together.
Speaker 2:Nope, no, definitely not. There's no yin yang.
Speaker 1:It's yang yang I remember when we were in Florida and you guys were going on your Disney World trip and you know she was asking other questions. She's like hitting you. She's like, are you like like this is a really good tips that we need to know? And you're like it's like no, we but we both have, because I might not remember everything and I was like, yeah, that's a very me thing to be like you're helping me right, like you're listening, because yeah, I, I.
Speaker 2:That's why she goes to all the parent meetings she'll ask me what happened.
Speaker 2:I I'm like, oh, I don't know, but yeah, I guess. So she's my yin and yang in that aspect. Yeah, she honestly, she's a big part of Aria's volleyball life and she does a lot for her and it's been a blessing for me because she's very thorough in certain things and I am not and like I'm more like, okay, what do I have to do? What I gotta pay for is let me know, and that's I could do that. And she'll have a spreadsheet, like she had a spreadsheet for the florida trip that I didn't even know existed. And and then she's like you didn't look at the spreadsheet, it's right there. And then I opened it up while we're flying there. I'm like, oh shit, it's all this. This is great. I didn't even know you did that. But I do understand the aspect with you and Elias and it helps that you guys are both passionate about volleyball and you guys both are athletes, so you know the culture, you know, um, how it's supposed to be and he, um, he's competitive also and I think that works well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, he played d1 volleyball too. So, yeah, he went to Cal State, northridge and got like recruited there and then he came home and played a season on the uh men's team and then you know, uh, what is that? I think it was like 2008 when the economy crashed, um, and so they actually took away his scholarship, so he wasn't able to pay for school and things like that, because, as I said, men's is a lot harder to get scholarships for um. Yeah, if I'm, if I'm, if I'm correct, they only have like four full ride scholarship for men's, so they tend to break it up. So men's I mean I'm hoping now that it's becoming more and more popular back in our day um, but women's, for a d1, you get 12 full ride scholarships you know, so, yeah, it's a it's, it's a lot1, you get 12 full ride scholarships, you know.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, it's a it's, it's a lot. So, if you think about it, every D1 school, 12 individuals, you know, have full ride scholarships. That doesn't mean everyone on the team has it, because sometimes you have teams that are 16 deep, you know, um, but women volleyball has a lot of scholarship opportunities, and it's not just D1, d2 gives scholarships, um, jucos, they give, you know, they're a feeding program and they give full ride scholarships. So if you, you know you want to be there but you're not there just yet, or if you didn't get to have the grades, you could go to a junior college, get a full ride. You know, everything paid for play volleyball and then they tend to be feeder programs into the D1, you know. So there's so many different options when it comes to the girls volleyball side that a lot of people, you know, they only think, oh, if I don't make d1, then it's d1 or nothing. You know.
Speaker 1:And yeah that's not the reality of it. You know. The reality is you have to know where you would fit in and you have to know you know what you want to do afterwards, because volleyball is only going to be for a short amount of time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's why we try our best to develop that, like the person aspect as well, because all those skills and values that they get into is going to go on for the rest of their life, not just for volleyball yeah, well, I think you're developing a great culture and I think a lot of your athletes are gonna go on to do big things in volleyball and as individual people and, yeah, it'll be cool to see how some of these girls and some areas teammates um change their stars and see how they become stuff. And I already see a couple of your athletes getting offers and, yeah, seen them on oc16 winning like player, the game and all this kind of stuff and it's, it's cool and it's as a parent, it shows uh, pride it. Oh yeah, that girl plays on my in my daughter's club and it's like we're a part of something bigger than just our team and I think it's going to, like I said, it's only there's no cap.
Speaker 1:Yeah yeah, sky's the limit, you know, if you can just keep focused and keep working hard and feel like you can achieve a lot of your goals.
Speaker 2:so, uh, there's always going to be setbacks, but you know just keep, keep going basically, yeah, or you just gotta duck, dive the bomb waves and go to it and get out in the lineup. That's how I always think it's like uh, yeah, always gonna get problems, just gotta swerve or adapt and figure it out. And main thing is, you don't give up and stay consistent, and that's that's the key to anything. Well, we've been going for almost hour half and I probably could talk to you for another hour, but I know we talked like almost an hour this morning.
Speaker 2:Yeah but I think that, um, yeah, I'm I'm excited to see where this thing goes and, yeah, I will see you on saturday for the tryouts and I guess the parent thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:We've we've talked about this a lot.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, I appreciate it's my first podcast, so yeah, well gotta break you in, because it's not gonna be your last like when you um, you're gonna get big and popular and everybody's gonna want you on there.
Speaker 1:You just gotta remember to come back on mine yeah I will I will well, well, even after aria graduates, you know so you're gonna be one of the ones that we still kids. I'm gonna have to make some more kids right after you guys get married, get started already I know it well.
Speaker 2:One more time where can people find you?
Speaker 1:on instagram and your website uh, so our instagram handle is strive underscore high underscore athletics, and then our website is wwwstrivehighathleticscom.
Speaker 2:Right on. And for us, our Instagram is above the bridge podcast YouTube, above the bridge podcast website, atbpodcom, and my personal Instagram is daddy, daddy, hi, all right. Well, I'll see you Saturday. Shaka's for the cameras, all right, we're out. Shout out to the Artist Group Network Aloha, thank you.
