KEAAU – Sitting poolside in the shade earlier this week at a Kamehameha water polo practice, coach Dan Lyons looks relaxed and ready to lounge.
He’s anything but looking past the BIIF season, but it can truly be said that the Warriors already have navigated their roughest waters for a while. Kamehameha made its annual preseason trip to Iolani’s tournament on Oahu, where it got beat down by Punahou, a result that is not just expected but preferred.
“We talk about going there to get our butts beat, and see what we need to work on,” Lyons said.
Balance is not on the to-do list, because in fashioning a winning record against the state’s best, the Warriors proved to be deep.
“We stayed and ate at the dorms, and after dinner one day I told the team that anybody that hadn’t scored a goal had to do dishes,” Lyons said. “It was like two people. The goalkeeper had to do dishes.”
Past results say the Warriors will clean up on their BIIF competition — they play Hawaii Prep and Konawaena on Saturday as the season opens with four matches at Naeole Pool – but Lyons isn’t taking anything for granted. He doesn’t remember the myriad wins nearly as much as the rare losses, still mindful of a talented team that lost to Kealakehe in the 2017 BIIF semifinals, the Warriors’ only meaningful setback in league competition dating back to 2009.
“It may sound like coach-speak, but I never know what to expect during regular season,” he said. “I told he girls I hope they’re nervous for Saturday, because it could be the beginning to the end of our season if we don’t play well.”
Lyons can take it easy at practice because he’s got five assistant coaches, including, for the first time, two of his four daughters, Kanoe and Sydney. As the Warriors did drills Monday in the pool, Kanoe and Sydney do most of the work.
Do they listen to dad?
“They keep it interesting,” junior Ocean Akau said.
The same could be said of her.
One of the keys to a program that has won nine of the past 10 BIIF titles is it fulfills Dan Lyons’ goal of graduating three or four “irreplaceable” players every year. BIIF player of the Aubrey Carter, a two-way threat, is gone, while Nani Spaar — a volleyball standout who played like a POY candidate in water polo in 2019 – didn’t come out for the team her session season. The Warriors must replace all three of their all-BIIF players from last season
But Akau was an honorable mention selection and appears poised for a big year, as is junior Noe’ula Lindsey.
“(Ocean) has evolved into a great leader, works hard and is very talented,” Dan Lyons said.
The expectation is that seniors Abigail Andrade, Brianne Souki, Madison Kobayashi, juniors Cherish Keliihoomalu, Osiana Pacheco and Mahina Kirsch, sophomore Kacelyn Kubojiri and freshman Waiahuli Akau are next in line, and that their combined contributions will help make the departed all-BIIF players very replaceable.
“Everyone brings something different to the team,” Ocean Akau said. “We’re a really tight group, and we trust each other.”
Some of the Warriors’ best teams have centered around a 2-meter player who was the focal point of the offense. This season, Lyons thinks he has up to 10 players who are versatile enough to play the set position or attacker.
“Everyone is learning to play every position and learning to adapt to every situating,” Akau said.