Funaki Caps Volleyball Career In Laie
By Jack Danilewicz
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Seasider volleyball star Lesina Funaki
in action. Photo from Brigham Young
University-Hawaii.
It’s hardly a surprise that Lesina Funaki and the Brigham Young-Hawaii volleyball program have discovered that they’re a perfect fit for one another.
But the Seasider standout admits she had to get visions of college on the Mainland out of her system first.
“I actually never wanted to go to BYUH at first,” laughed Funaki, a Laie resident and Kahuku High School graduate. “It (the BYUH campus) is even closer to my house than my high school was. I had other offers for academics, but I really wanted to play volleyball, and that’s why I decided to stay.
“They (BYUH) had just won the national championship, so if I was going to play Division II, I was going to play for the best. They have an amazing history. I’ve learned to appreciate it here. I love it.”
A national title this fall would be a fitting end to Funaki’s college career. Under Mona Ah-Hoy in 2002, she was a key component in Kahuku’s state championship run, the first-ever state title for Red Raider volleyball.
“I don’t think anyone expected us to win the state,” said Funaki, an academic 2004 All-American at BYUH. “It was a great feeling. (Winning) a national championship is the “ideal” (scenario) every year here. If we can stick together, we can pull it off.”
Among all else Funaki has learned during her college years is that time goes by quickly. When BYUH opens fall camp this month, Funaki will be one of the team’s leaders, but it doesn’t seem that long ago that she was a wide-eyed freshman hoping for some playing time.
“I didn’t expect to play right away, but that first year made me really appreciate BYUH, and I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything. The older girls were so nice to me that first year. They didn’t kick me around because I was a freshman, and it’s been wonderful here ever since.”
There was no direct line for her to becoming a standout on the volleyball court. Although she grew up in a family that embraced sports, her own interest was not immediate. She had to sort through her activities.
“My mom (Malia) threw us in anything to keep us busy and out of trouble,” said Funaki, who has five siblings, “hula, tap-dancing, volleyball, basketball, you name it. I don’t think my parents thought any of us would receive scholarships. We played to keep busy.
“But I’ve always loved to play any sport. I’m kind of a competitive person. I love the intensity, the challenge, the drive, leaving it all on the court.”
Of the many activities she was exposed to, playing the piano remains a long-standing passion. Many a night has seen her return to the family home in Laie after a tough game or hard practice and seat herself before the piano. The same touch that is required to play the piano invariably serves her well as a setter on the volleyball court, but she finds the piano a stress reliever.
“I didn’t want to do that at first, either,” she said. “Taking lessons all of those years, I learned a lot of classical music. Now, I can read sheet music easily, and I like to play contemporary music, like Boyz-to-Men, Alicia Keys ...I like that I can now play whatever I want.”
Beneath Funaki’s ultra-competitive exterior lies a fun-loving college student. Indeed, a prerequisite for any activity she takes part in is that it be “fun.”
“We don’t win when we’re not having fun,” she said of her BYUH teammates and herself.“We like to have a lot of fun on the court, and my teammates will tell you that I’m competitive on and off the court, whether it’s bowling, tennis, ping pong, cards . . . But I always remember it’s just a game.”
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