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BEYOND THE COURT


Erik and Kawika Shoji share the wisdom of their father, longtime Hawaii coach Dave Shoji


by Jennifer Armson-Dyer G


rowing up with a parent who is a legend in his sport isn’t always easy, but the Shoji boys – Kawika and Erik – have thrived. Not surpris-


ingly, their success has been helped in part by guidance from their dad, Dave Shoji, who has been the University of Hawaii women’s volleyball coach for 39 seasons and holds the NCAA Division I record for career wins in the women’s game.


The elder Shoji son, Kawika, was named the AVCA Player of the Year in 2010 as a setter after leading Stanford to the national title. Erik, who was a libero at Stanford from 2009-12, was the first men’s college player ever to be a four-time first-team AVCA All-American. Together, they became the first brothers to earn first-team honors in the same year (2009). Nowadays, both are making waves as members of the U.S. men’s indoor national team. VolleyballUSA asked Kawika and Erik to share 10 things they have learned from their dad that helped them in life and in their volleyball careers. Here’s what they came up with:


1. Family comes first


Despite having a busy schedule during the volleyball season, our dad always found time to be with his family. Whether it was coaching our different sports teams, taking us to the beach, or making dinner for us, he never let his volleyball schedule get in the way of family time. He once even missed a match on the mainland to watch us play in the state championship. From this we learned that family always comes first, no matter what the circumstances.


2. & 3. The importance of


decision-making and ball control I think both of us would admit that we are not the most athletic volleyball players out there. We definitely don’t hit the hardest or jump the highest on the national team. What we need to succeed and help the team is good decision- making and ball control, lessons we learned from our dad when we first started playing the sport. Our dad helped us develop a high volleyball IQ, and from that we have learned what to do in various situations on the court. We pride ourselves on being able to quickly decide how to play the ball correctly in many different types of plays. At young ages, we would spend hours doing drills to work on our ball control. Although they may have been boring and mentally taxing, those simple drills helped us get to the level we are playing now.


38 | VOLLEYBALLUSA • Digital Issue at usavolleyball.org/mag


ISLAND LEGEND: University of Hawaii’s Dave Shoji has been one of the most respected women’s collegiate coaches in the nation for more than 30 years.


4. Embrace the challenge


Dad always taught us to embrace the challenge and to compete. He knows that difficult circumstances build character, so he always taught us to not only accept challenges, but to welcome them. That’s the only way to get better and perform in difficult and important mo- ments. We both want the ball in pressure situations, and this has been passed down from Dad.


l0 things we learned from our dad


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