1st Place Volleyball July 2010 : Page 5
P: How did it feel to be named an AVCA First-Team All-American as a sopho-more? KD: It was pretty awesome! I couldn’t have done it without my teammates, my coaches and my family supporting me, and it just makes me more motivated to do better next year. It is a nice goal that I was trying to accomplish, and now I want to try to do it again and maybe even get a championship for my team and keep try-ing to excel on my standards. P: What is it like playing in front of 6,000-plus fans on your home court on a regular basis? KD: When you fi rst start the season, the very fi rst game everyone is nervous and has butter-fl ies, and we have to get that out of our system. Just knowing that the fans are cheering for you and not the other team, it gives you that extra motivation to win. You know, you don’t want to let the fans down because they are there to support you, and it’s not just our families, the fans are other people we don’t know. They are here from the state and also from out of state. A lot of them come down just to watch us play on our home court. It’s a great atmosphere, and I look forward to it for my last two years. P: What is it like, as a native Hawaiian, to grow up watching Rainbow Wahine vol-leyball, and realize that now you are a part of that storied program? KD: It’s pretty cool! I was one of those that didn’t really sit up that close when my family went to Hawai’i volleyball matches and was kind of in the distance. I couldn’t really see everybody’s faces at the time, but just being there and feel-ing the atmosphere, as a fan and not being on the team yet, year. It makes you realize that you can be a part of the experience again, you just have to work hard and hopefully keep racking up those wins, and you’ll get there once again. P: What was it like to start for the Rain-bow Wahine and Coach Shoji as a fresh-man? I was like, “Okay, you know, I can see myself here.” Now that I am a part of that and I am two years in the program, it’s a nice transition knowing that you were once a little kid watching from afar and now you are actu-ally on the court representing the program and trying to do good for the state. P: What has been your most memorable experience as a collegiate volleyball player? KD: I think the greatest one was to make it to the NCAA Championships because you play against some great teams. During the process of getting there, we had to go up against some awesome teams. Once we knew we made it to Tampa and going to the different banquets there, it was something to look forward to next KD: I would say it’s defi nitely an accomplish-ment. It took a long time to even get to that po-sition. I didn’t even expect it of myself to start, I just came to the program to learn everything that I could from everybody, and if I played, that would be awesome. Once I found out that I got that starting position, it just made me want to make sure that I proved to everyone that I be-longed there, and I didn’t just get that spot. P: Who or what infl uenced you to begin playing the sport of volleyball? KD: I would say my grandpa. He’s no longer here at this time, but his name was Henry Pang. He just kept putting me in different little associa-tions, and I played various sports like basketball and softball. Then volleyball came around, and I just fell in love with it. By the time I got to high school, I had to pick one sport between bas-ketball and volleyball, and I just had a greater July 2010 | Phenom 5
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