There’s a new sheriff in town. But there would be no Sheriff for the first practice on her watch.
There’s a new sheriff in town. But there would be no Sheriff for the first practice on her watch.
On a sweltering August afternoon, the new head coach chose a hot gym — not the air-conditioned Stan Sheriff Center — for the opening workout of her first preseason camp at the helm.
“I’m cool with Gym 1. They gotta see what hard work is,” said Robyn Ah Mow-Santos, the new head coach of the state’s most consistently successful high-profile sports program, the University of Hawaii women’s volleyball team.
And there’s no easing your way in. The first practice isn’t orientation. It’s not hand out the syllabus and get acquainted day.
“I’m taking the three hours,” she said.
And it would be all fundamentals, especially defense.
Describe Ah Mow-Santos in one word? The players keep saying “intense.”
“I think she has a lot of fire,” senior outside hitter Kalei Greeley said. “I think that will be good. Knowing she cares so much makes everybody else care.”
That’s something you get almost without exception from a coach returning to her alma mater. If Ah Mow-Santos doesn’t succeed as the legendary Dave Shoji’s replacement it won’t be for a lack of effort.
Ah Mow-Santos was Shoji’s assistant from 2011 to 2015. She said the man she coached with was more mellow than the one for whom she played from 1993 to 1996.
“He did get patient over the years,” she said.
Like all high-level volleyball setters, Norene Iosia at least appears to be calm and in control at all times.
But there’s a person who makes her jittery.
“Is she here? She’s here,” Iosia answers her own question after looking around and spotting Ah Mow-Santos. “She makes me very nervous.”
She’ll have to get over it, but it’s easy to see why that’s the case now.
Iosia plays the same position for the same team that Ah Mow-Santos did, and Ah Mow-Santos did it with such excellence that she led UH to the final four and then went on to play on three U.S. Olympic teams.
If you play setter you are an extension of the coach even when she wasn’t an all-time great at the position on the court requiring the most leadership.
“I wouldn’t say pressure, but yes, high expectations,” Iosia said. “Obviously she played at the highest level and that’s where I want to be. So I’m really going to reflect a lot on her feedback.”
At this point, that means working on her footwork.
“Just the way she moves to the ball,” Ah Mow-Santos said when asked what Iosia can do to improve after starting 52 of 53 sets in Big West play as a freshman last year. “She has great hands and a setter’s mind. Just moving to the ball.”
That’s what Ah Mow-Santos is prioritizing for the entire team. Her mantra Tuesday was “ball control, better passing.” She said it almost as often as the players repeated “intense” in describing her.
The first touch is always key, but it will be especially so with Nikki Taylor having completed her eligibility. In addition to keeping the ball off the floor, the connections from the passers to Iosia need to be sharp to give the setter options on how to attack.
“We’re pretty much starting from scratch,” Iosia said.
But this is a program that has never had a losing season in its 43 years of existence. And this edition is expected to add on to the 42 consecutive winning seasons that Shoji posted beginning in 1975, the year Ah Mow-Santos was born.
The Wahine return five starters, 12 letter winners and two redshirts from the 2016 roster that went 23-6 last year. The league’s coaches picked Hawaii to win the Big West championship — again.
“(Preparing for camp) was hectic,” Ah Mow-Santos told assembled reporters Tuesday, her excitement obvious. “But the whole staff, we couldn’t wait.”
The season starts with the Texaco Rainbow Wahine Invitational in less than three weeks. We’ll get an early measure of how Ah Mow-Santos’ style transfers to the players as the Rainbow Wahine meet rival UCLA on Aug. 27 after UH opens with Marquette on Friday and then plays San Diego on Saturday.
“Definitely with Robyn it’s more intense. Everyone has that vibe that you don’t want to disappoint her,” Iosia said of life after Shoji. “It’s very different. I was coached (last year) by Lindsey (Berg, another Olympic setter) as well.
“But Robyn is hard core.”