Kryssie Okinaka doesn’t have to worry about being alone at Iowa Central College, where she’ll play volleyball and basketball.
The recent Waiakea graduate, who signed a scholarship for both sports, is a pro at making friends. Besides all her old teammates will be a long or short drive away.
Cassie Emnase and Taniah Ayap, a pair of recent Waiakea graduates, and 2016 class members Casi Gacusana and Brianna Ridgway will be at William Penn.
The NAIA school is two hours, 30 minutes away from Iowa Central, where 2016 Hilo graduate Josh Breitbarth is playing baseball.
Okinaka’s Haili Juniors club teammate Sayge Rosas, a 2016 Waiakea graduate, is at Briar Cliff University, about an hour away. Also, Ka‘u grad Toni Beck will be a senior at Briar Cliff, also an NAIA school.
“I was pretty excited to have a scholarship for the two sports that I love,” said Okinaka, who’ll be the only one from Hawaii on both rosters. “My hobbies were always playing sports ever since I was 8 years old. Basketball and volleyball were the only two things that I kept doing throughout my life.
“This scholarship will make a huge impact in my life. This journey isn’t going to be easy, but with my bubbly, happy, positive personality I’m going to make it an awesome journey no matter what.”
In February, the Haili Juniors played at the Las Vegas Volleyball Classic, a recruiting hotbed. Tritons coach Sara Horn was there on a scouting mission.
Horn, who played at Nebraska, contacted club coaches Jodi Kalawe and Lyndell Lindsey, and that’s how the hookup began.
It’s pretty serious business at Iowa Central under Horn, whose team finished with a 27-15 record in her fourth season. In 2015, the Tritons lost in five sets in a regional championship, missing a return trip to the juco national championships.
Iowa Central loses three starters who were All-Region picks, including defender Danielle Coronado, so there’s a job opening for Okinaka, a 5-foot-4 defensive specialist/libero.
After she secured a scholarship for volleyball, she contacted Triton basketball coach Kelly Kruger, sent a video and was offered another deal.
The Triton hoops team finished with a 12-18 record and lose one starter who was an All-Region selection at guard. Okinaka doubles as a point and shooting guard.
There are very few BIIF players who have held three full-time jobs in college: student and two sports.
One that quickly comes to mind is recent Konawaena graduate Celena Jane Molina, who signed to play volleyball and basketball at Washington State.
“This scholarship means that I need to work harder than I did in high school, academically and on the court,” Okinaka said. “I’m confident that I can do both sports. It’s just the matter of how hard I’m willing to work in class and also on the court. I’m mentally prepared for that. Physically, I’m getting there, hahaha.”
Well, Okinaka does have a bubbly personality, so she can find comedy at her own expense.
She doesn’t need to look far to find a pair of hard-working role models. Her dad Darwin is a Battalion Chief at the Hawaii Fire Department. Her mom Cheryl has her hands full.
“My moms is a part-time substitute EA at E.B. de Silva but a full-time mother of five kids. She has the hardest job,” Okinaka seriously joked. “My parents taught me a bunch of life lessons, but one that I always keep in mind is that I have to work hard for what I want and always strive to be the best I can be.”
Get-together time
The four old Warriors can hold a spam musubi party at William Penn. But if Okinaka wants to join she’ll need to catch a bus service from Fort Dodge to Oskaloosa.
Okinaka can also head to Briar Cliff, located in Sioux City to spend time with Rosas and Beck.
“It’s good to know that I have friends close to me, maybe not super close,” she said. “We could always plan something to see each other somehow, just like if we were able to go to Kona to see each other.”
“One-Handed Wonder”
What’s a story about Okinaka without mentioning her free throw shooting?
At Waiakea in her senior season, she shot her free throws only with her right hand. She was fine shooting jump shots with both hands and putting up floaters with her right hand.
“Those one-handed free throws … that was classic, wasn’t it? For some reason, my left hand always got in the way of my shot,” she said. “So Waiakea coach Brandon Kauhi told me to practice with one hand. First preseason game, my free throws weren’t falling in, so he told me to shoot with one hand in the game and ever since then it was just the one-handed free throw.
“I won’t be doing that in college, but if times get hard, the one-handed shot would come in handy.”
Of course, Okinaka, so bubbly and happy, was already laughing with her telling of the “One-Handed Wonder” story.
