By PONO CHUNG, Highlands Voice, Highlands Intermediate School
What sport season lasted from October 4 – December 16? The volleyball season just ended. Is it a good thing or a bad thing? Kanoe Kahana, eighth grader on Hui’Manao, said, “I am sad because I am going to miss all the happy moments with my team, and I am happy because I don't have to go to practice anymore. I get to start over and do the things I needed to work on this season and use that for next season, so I am an even better volleyball player.” The team have been to many different schools to compete against like Waianae, Ilima, Kapolei. It was a long, incredible journey for these athletic students.
What was the highlight of the season? Peggy Karwiel, coach of the volleyball team said, “It would be one of our matches against Kapolei that we played at Ilima. The team really put together everything we worked on all season. They were communicating with each other, trusting each other, encouraging each other, and putting in a lot of effort. Both the players on and off the court were working together to accomplish a win.”
In all sports, the players all face different challenges. Errol said, “This season I had a problem with my jump serve because most of the time when I am serving, I always throw the ball too high or start to approach the ball too early or too late.” Kanoe said, “When there is a tough serve, it is really difficult to know where the ball is going.”
Errol said, “This season, I think I did great because I tried my best and I never gave up on trying to fix my mistakes.” As a team, Errol said, “My team did great. They are the best team I could ever have because they tried there best and never gave up.” Our toughest game was the Nanakuli and the Waianae volleyball team are always challenging to beat. But when we finally beat Nanakuli, we were so happy.”
Some athletes use mistakes from different seasons, learn from it, and improve on it then save it for the next season. Kanoe said that she wants to take volleyball more seriously other than treating it like a school activity. Errol said he wishes he was more patient. Many of the the kids are excited and look forward to high school volleyball. I look forward in high school volleyball to meet new teammates and learn harder and more challenging volleyball techniques.’’
Noelani Tugaoen, eighth grader on Hui Manao said, “Being on a team is just like having a second family in this sport and they trust each other with their lives. They are good at what they do and represent our school well. GO COLTS!”
Photo provided by Highlands Voice
HIS Volleyball huddles up to encourage each other for the win.