Honolulu Magazine
Dave Shoji
He led the UH women's volleyball team for 42 years, and spent a few years coaching the men's team too!
Back when Shoji started, UH women's volleyball team only existed for a few years. It was only a few years after Title IX became law. That law banned gender discrimination from all schools receiving federal funds. This greatly expanded women's athletics at schools across the country.
(Hawaii connection to Title IX: the law was co-written by Hawaii's representative Patsy Mink)
At the time, women's volleyball (and women's sports in general) was seen as a fringe activity that very few care about, an afterthought for fans more concerned about tackle football and men's basketball!
But with Dave Shoji coaching the team, the team was very successful. With a mix of local & imported talent, the team was winning championships. When that started happening, even former sexist skeptics started joining the bandwagon! Everybody loves a winner.
The team started off playing in Klum Gym, an old gym on campus with wooden seats and no air condition. (it's still like that, but now just used for intramurals and visiting high school teams).
But Klum Gym was small and crowded. Meanwhile, the men's basketball played off campus at Neil Blaisdell Center.
The success of the women's volleyball team led to demands for a new on-campus arena. That arena became the Stan Sheriff Center (named after the athletic director who supported the arena but died before its completion).
And in that new arena, with more seats and air condition, the UH women's volleyball team started breaking national records for attendance.
They also make front page of the sports section after every game, as well as the highlights shown on the local news.
The players are local celebrities, with fans greeting them in public.
Of course, maintaining that success is not easy. There's always local players who want a change of scenery for their college years. Getting outside players to move thousands of miles from home and experiencing culture shock can be a challenge. Also, the other universities have more money to impress recruits with grand facilities, whereas the UH Athletics Department is struggling with travel costs that other universities don't have.
But with a great coaching mind and an enthusiastic fanbase, Dave Shoji has been able to recruit quality players who can bring the team to the NCAA tournament. Some even become Olympic talent, like Kim Willoughby, Heather Bown and Robyn Ah Mow-Santos (she'll be the new coach, she'll be mentioned in greater detail later in this blog post).
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Dave Shoji was not only a great coaching mind and a great recruiter of talent, he was also a role model when it came to promoting gender equality in Hawaii.
Local opinion writer Lee Cataluna had this great article on that topic!
Lee Cataluna, “Women, girls knew pride and respect with Shoji,” Honolulu Star Advertiser, February 22, 2017,
http://www.staradvertiser.com/2017/02/22/hawaii-news/lee-cataluna/women-girls-knew-pride-and-respect-with-shoji/?HSA=a5b8b20f84fe7910a4943fffec86266849b0155b
Shoji provided an example to men of how to work with women, how to talk about women, how to balance the power of authority with the wisdom of respect. He was not threatened by powerful women, and though he was strict, he did not seem threatening. His players over the years were such strong individuals — there was no one perfect Shoji Wahine — he worked with all kinds of female athletes, let them be their best selves, didn’t force anybody into a mold that didn’t fit.
He coached a women’s team that had legions of male fans — not because of how the girls looked, but because of how they played and how they won. Monday morning discussions about the Wahine were about toughness and skill and strategy, not about their outfits or their hairstyles. Think about how amazing that is, how revolutionary. And we lived through that without really noticing and without anybody having to push hard to make it so.
Being in Hawaii, I can tell you that is NOT an exaggeration. Yes, male fans had crushes on a few players, the few lucky ones dated them. But they were in the arena to watch a team that can win! When listening to the male fans who were at the game (or saw it on TV), they compared the talents of each players, about who can hit and block, who can win under pressure and also who didn't live up to the hype. And also complaining about the coaching and the referees if things don't go their way. Just like talking about any other sports team.
Patsy Mink fought to enact Title IX. Dave Shoji was like the field general making it happen.
Shoji ran a program that was without scandal for 42 seasons. When the Rainbow Wahine volleyball team made headlines, it was because they won a game, not because there was trouble.
(that last paragraph had some sugar coating: Kim Willoughby and Lily Kahumoku had trouble with the law for beating people up; Jane Croson was notoriously difficult to deal with. But other than that, the players have been generally well-behaved and were great role models).
continuing on
Dave Shoji would not like this column. He would say it was only about the game and the players all those years and that he wasn’t thinking about the status of women or such lofty political, social things. But that’s what makes his example so beautiful, isn’t it? He wasn’t trying. He was doing.
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And now for Shoji's replacement!
There was talk of bringing someone with head coaching experience.
There was talk of whether the new coach have Hawaii experience that goes beyond just visiting!
There was talk of whether the team will have another male coach, or will it have a female coach.
Wait no longer, the decision has been made!
The new coach is Robyn Ah Mow-Santos, who was a former member of the team, and also a former assistant coach for the team.
Star Advertiser
Robyn Ah Mow-Santos
She is a local girl, and a graduate of McKinley High School - Go Tigers!
She was one of the legendary UH volleyball players of the 1990s, and a US Olympic team captain!
She spent time as an assistant coach for both the men's team and the women's team.
She is now the ultimate role model for local girls, someone who grew up like they did, become a great player and now the head coach for their team.
She can recruit local players by telling them about the greatness of playing for their state's flagship university!
Being that she had Olympic experience, she can also recruit imported players by helping them adjust to culture shock as well as the greatness of the university and state where she come from!
Now the big question is: Can she continue the winning tradition?
Fall 2017 is the time to find out!
Hawaii Athletics
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PS: learn more from the following news articles
from the UH Athletics website
http://hawaiiathletics.com/news/2017/2/20/shoji-announces-retirement-ah-mow-santos-named-new-womens-volleyball-coach.aspx
http://hawaiiathletics.com/news/2017/2/20/womens-volleyball-coach-shoji-through-the-years.aspx
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from the Honolulu Star Advertiser (note: some article might require a subscription to access)
http://www.staradvertiser.com/2017/02/21/sports/shojis-retirement-marks-an-end-of-an-era/
http://www.staradvertiser.com/2017/02/21/sports/ah-mow-santos-to-take-the-reins-as-shoji-retires/
http://www.staradvertiser.com/2017/02/21/sports/ferds-words/ah-mow-santos-character-sealed-the-head-coach-deal/
