Talent Pool Runs Deep In Aiea Girls Volleyball Program

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While the Aiea girls volleyball program may be in transition with a change of coaches, intense interest among prospective players has never wavered.

New head coach Erin Okamoto-Coker was greeted by 35 girls at Aiea’s first conditioning session last month.

“The girls at Aiea play all year long, while only some of the boys do - that’s why there’s so much talent (among the Aiea girls) here,” said Okamoto-Coker. “Girls varsity volleyball doesn’t have to compete with anything else. Boys volleyball competes with baseball and track and field.”

With a number of kids off the island also expected to return, she anticipates as many as 50 vying for spots on both the JV and varsity - not a somber count for a coach who had only six players on her boys roster in 2008, a season when she had to recruit players to keep the operation going.

“I told them one day, ‘Tomorrow we’re having bring-a-friend-to-practice day,’” she recalled. “I didn’t have to do that this year.”

Okamoto-Coker already is a familiar figure in the volleyball community, having been head girls volleyball coach at both McKinley and her alma mater, Hawaii Baptist Academy. She has been the head boys coach at Aiea for the past five seasons and will continue to coach them in the spring. She replaces Blythe Yamamoto, who moved on after 16 seasons to be an assistant to Nahaku Brown at Chaminade University. Yamamoto departed with work well done, having led Aiea to eight OIA Red West titles in her time there, including back-to-back titles in ‘08 and ‘09.

“We have to keep up the good record,” she said of the Yamamoto era.

As is most always the case with a coaching change, Okamoto-Coker is looking to minimize transition issues in her first season. Her primary mentor was her father, the late Longy Okamoto, who also coached Yamamoto with the Kamali’i Manaloa ‘O Hawaii Volleyball Club.

“Blythe played for my dad, so there are some similarities, but we all have a way we want them to play, and we’re trying to get them to that point.

“They have to get used to new coaches, and we have to get used to them. Will it happen fast, or will it be a year? That’s the scary part.”

Like her father, she always has coached with a defense-first mind-set, in part because Kamali’i players usually were at a height disadvantage.

“All the drills we do are the same (as Longy Okamoto) - lots of passing and setting. That’s how I learned it, and that’s how they’re learning it,” said Okamoto-Coker, whose staff includes coaches Sarah Watanabe, Natasha Fong and Meghan Tan.

Aiea must replace one of its better graduating classes, having seen its 2009 class go 24-0 over the past two years in the Red West and 27-4 overall versus OIA schools. Red West Player of the Year Danielle Grace as well as fellow First Team selections Mele Samisoni and Kelly Leopoldo are among those who completed their eligibility.

Na Ali’i will begin their 2010 season Aug. 18 when the Longy Okamoto Classic gets under way. The three-day event is hosted by Waipahu and Pearl City High in addition to Aiea. Those schools also will compete along with Kahuku, Kaimuki and McKinley, among others. Aiea begins its OIA season the following week.