Post by bigfan on Nov 15, 2006 15:56:04 GMT -5
Presence and skill bring success for Miyashiro
By James Schleicher
From her position on the back row of the court, red-shirt freshman Tamari Miyashiro chases down balls and focuses on solid passes in a way similar to a cat on the hunt. She hones in on the mouse of a ball and dives in for the kill, or in this case the dig. Whether it’s a floating serve or a hard-hit kill, Miyashiro seems to dig almost any ball on the court and send it arching up into an easily settable pass for senior Courtney Thompson.
Jarrod Olson With an average of 5.94 digs per game, redshirt freshman Tamari Miyashiro currently ranks third in the Pac-10 for digs.
From serve to pass to set, Miyashiro pays close attention to the ball’s direction on both sides of the court before reacting to an incoming hit with lightning speed, keeping another kill from scoring against the Husky volleyball squad.
“She’s a special player,” said coach Jim McLaughlin. “Pound for pound, she is one of the best volleyball players I have ever coached, and she is the best all-around player on our team. You look at her and she can do a lot of things, and she plays the game at a very high level.”
After spending last season learning the ins and outs of McLaughlin’s methods, Miyashiro entered the starting lineup with some big shoes to fill. They were left by two-time All-American Candace Lee, who graduated last spring. Originally recruited as a setter, Tamari had to make the transition from feeding hitters to making passes.
With the overall goal of just improving her game, Miyashiro has made it look like she did not even know the challenges existed.
Since the early season Miyashiro has anchored the team defensively, digging any ball within reach and helping out wherever needed, including setting when Thompson gets first hit.
With an average of 5.94 digs per game, she currently ranks third in the Pac-10 for digs. With those numbers she could be awarded Pac-10 freshman of the year, McLaughlin said
While on the court, Tama - as she is known by her teammates - shows a constant intensity and hunger to play at the highest level. Once she steps out of the zone, she becomes a laid-back Hawaiian girl looking for a couch to relax on and some chicken pad thai. Off the court, she does not take anything too seriously and has a good perspective on things, Thompson said.
“I have never her seen her in a bad mood, ever,” Thompson said. “She puts other people first, no matter what, and she’s always got a smile on her face supporting you as a friend.”
On a team that has a family-like feel, Tamari lives with three of her Husky sisters: sophomore Jessica Swarbrick, junior Christal Morrison and Thompson. Remembering some funny moments about her teammates’ foibles after practice, Miyashiro let out a few of her contagious laughs before trying to stay serious for a moment or two.
“Living with them is fun — sometimes too much fun, but you know it’s better than being boring,” Miyashiro said. “We tease each other about anything and everything. . . . Jessie, Christal and Courtney are such different people from each other and they are just so unique, and everything about them is just really funny to me.”
Growing up on the island of Oahu, Miyashiro played many other sports, including soccer and basketball, and her mom “shoved” her into baseball as well. In fourth grade she started playing volleyball, though she barely understood the game at first, she said. But one day her mom forced her onto a team and she just had to figure it out.
“After she did that I had so much fun, and ever since then I’ve just fallen in love with it,” she said.
The sport of volleyball almost serves as a facet of Hawaiian culture. Without any pro sports teams to root for, locals obsess over the Hawaii football and volleyball teams. “Pretty much if you play on the University of Hawaii volleyball team everyone knows you,” Miyashiro said. “Even if they don’t come to games, they know you because they watch you on TV every weekend, twice.”
Volleyball is in Miyashiro’s genes, since both her mom and her older sister played for Hawaii, and now her younger brother Ainoa plays in Iowa.
After her early start, she said, she did not really get into volleyball until junior high, when her older sister played for Hawaii.
During that time, Miyashiro served as a ball girl for the team and got to see the team play up close.
“It was kind of cool being a ball girl because my sister and my cousin played at the same time,” she said. “It was fun watching college volleyball when you’re only in junior high, just getting the opportunity to see what they do and learn from them.”
After junior high, the amount of sports on Miyashiro’s plate dwindled to just basketball and volleyball in high school, and eventually only volleyball her senior year. During her senior season, she earned the honor of Gatorade Player of the Year for the state of Hawaii, an honor awarded to the best player in the state.
After a recruiting process that started a little late — December — into her senior year, Miyashiro decided she wanted to come to Washington and play for McLaughlin.
“When I came and visited here I knew that this was the type of atmosphere I needed to be in to become a better player,” she said, “and that Jim could help me with that, and the staff could help me, and the players could help me, but it took awhile for me to make that decision. By the time I did it was April or May of my senior year.”
Despite the late decision, McLaughlin and her teammates are all happy to have Miyashiro on the team.
“She loves to play the game,” McLaughlin said. “Her presence is as strong as any player I’ve ever coached. She’s a leader. She says smart things. Everybody respects her and everybody likes her. . . . She goes hard mentally, emotionally, physically; she just goes hard every play and every day.”
Although she still has three more years to play for Washington, after she graduates she hopes to continue a volleyball career in the coaching field. During her time at the UW she has realized the advantage of McLaughlin’s coaching methods and hopes to pass those methods on to other teams.
One day she might even take those methods and strategies back to Hawaii, where she feels the volleyball styles are a little behind the times.
“In high school they emphasized quantity over quality,” Miyashiro said. “The coaches thought that digging hundreds of balls would correlate to the game, but it really doesn’t that much. Here at UW everything is related to game situations. The more you can have practice like game situations the better. We approach it a lot more from the mechanical side here, with a big focus on fundamentals.”
With her love of the game and her fun-loving spirit at heart, Miyashiro serves as a valuable player for the Huskies as they head into the NCAA tournament in just two weeks.
By James Schleicher
From her position on the back row of the court, red-shirt freshman Tamari Miyashiro chases down balls and focuses on solid passes in a way similar to a cat on the hunt. She hones in on the mouse of a ball and dives in for the kill, or in this case the dig. Whether it’s a floating serve or a hard-hit kill, Miyashiro seems to dig almost any ball on the court and send it arching up into an easily settable pass for senior Courtney Thompson.
Jarrod Olson With an average of 5.94 digs per game, redshirt freshman Tamari Miyashiro currently ranks third in the Pac-10 for digs.
From serve to pass to set, Miyashiro pays close attention to the ball’s direction on both sides of the court before reacting to an incoming hit with lightning speed, keeping another kill from scoring against the Husky volleyball squad.
“She’s a special player,” said coach Jim McLaughlin. “Pound for pound, she is one of the best volleyball players I have ever coached, and she is the best all-around player on our team. You look at her and she can do a lot of things, and she plays the game at a very high level.”
After spending last season learning the ins and outs of McLaughlin’s methods, Miyashiro entered the starting lineup with some big shoes to fill. They were left by two-time All-American Candace Lee, who graduated last spring. Originally recruited as a setter, Tamari had to make the transition from feeding hitters to making passes.
With the overall goal of just improving her game, Miyashiro has made it look like she did not even know the challenges existed.
Since the early season Miyashiro has anchored the team defensively, digging any ball within reach and helping out wherever needed, including setting when Thompson gets first hit.
With an average of 5.94 digs per game, she currently ranks third in the Pac-10 for digs. With those numbers she could be awarded Pac-10 freshman of the year, McLaughlin said
While on the court, Tama - as she is known by her teammates - shows a constant intensity and hunger to play at the highest level. Once she steps out of the zone, she becomes a laid-back Hawaiian girl looking for a couch to relax on and some chicken pad thai. Off the court, she does not take anything too seriously and has a good perspective on things, Thompson said.
“I have never her seen her in a bad mood, ever,” Thompson said. “She puts other people first, no matter what, and she’s always got a smile on her face supporting you as a friend.”
On a team that has a family-like feel, Tamari lives with three of her Husky sisters: sophomore Jessica Swarbrick, junior Christal Morrison and Thompson. Remembering some funny moments about her teammates’ foibles after practice, Miyashiro let out a few of her contagious laughs before trying to stay serious for a moment or two.
“Living with them is fun — sometimes too much fun, but you know it’s better than being boring,” Miyashiro said. “We tease each other about anything and everything. . . . Jessie, Christal and Courtney are such different people from each other and they are just so unique, and everything about them is just really funny to me.”
Growing up on the island of Oahu, Miyashiro played many other sports, including soccer and basketball, and her mom “shoved” her into baseball as well. In fourth grade she started playing volleyball, though she barely understood the game at first, she said. But one day her mom forced her onto a team and she just had to figure it out.
“After she did that I had so much fun, and ever since then I’ve just fallen in love with it,” she said.
The sport of volleyball almost serves as a facet of Hawaiian culture. Without any pro sports teams to root for, locals obsess over the Hawaii football and volleyball teams. “Pretty much if you play on the University of Hawaii volleyball team everyone knows you,” Miyashiro said. “Even if they don’t come to games, they know you because they watch you on TV every weekend, twice.”
Volleyball is in Miyashiro’s genes, since both her mom and her older sister played for Hawaii, and now her younger brother Ainoa plays in Iowa.
After her early start, she said, she did not really get into volleyball until junior high, when her older sister played for Hawaii.
During that time, Miyashiro served as a ball girl for the team and got to see the team play up close.
“It was kind of cool being a ball girl because my sister and my cousin played at the same time,” she said. “It was fun watching college volleyball when you’re only in junior high, just getting the opportunity to see what they do and learn from them.”
After junior high, the amount of sports on Miyashiro’s plate dwindled to just basketball and volleyball in high school, and eventually only volleyball her senior year. During her senior season, she earned the honor of Gatorade Player of the Year for the state of Hawaii, an honor awarded to the best player in the state.
After a recruiting process that started a little late — December — into her senior year, Miyashiro decided she wanted to come to Washington and play for McLaughlin.
“When I came and visited here I knew that this was the type of atmosphere I needed to be in to become a better player,” she said, “and that Jim could help me with that, and the staff could help me, and the players could help me, but it took awhile for me to make that decision. By the time I did it was April or May of my senior year.”
Despite the late decision, McLaughlin and her teammates are all happy to have Miyashiro on the team.
“She loves to play the game,” McLaughlin said. “Her presence is as strong as any player I’ve ever coached. She’s a leader. She says smart things. Everybody respects her and everybody likes her. . . . She goes hard mentally, emotionally, physically; she just goes hard every play and every day.”
Although she still has three more years to play for Washington, after she graduates she hopes to continue a volleyball career in the coaching field. During her time at the UW she has realized the advantage of McLaughlin’s coaching methods and hopes to pass those methods on to other teams.
One day she might even take those methods and strategies back to Hawaii, where she feels the volleyball styles are a little behind the times.
“In high school they emphasized quantity over quality,” Miyashiro said. “The coaches thought that digging hundreds of balls would correlate to the game, but it really doesn’t that much. Here at UW everything is related to game situations. The more you can have practice like game situations the better. We approach it a lot more from the mechanical side here, with a big focus on fundamentals.”
With her love of the game and her fun-loving spirit at heart, Miyashiro serves as a valuable player for the Huskies as they head into the NCAA tournament in just two weeks.
You know I have plenty aloha for my Hawaiian peeps...(except IB)