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Kalina Obrey’s first love was basketball, and together, the two shall remain forever entwined.
Her second love, it can be said, was probably “Candy Crush.”
“I used to play it lots, but I had to delete it from my phone,” she said. “I got addicted to it. I would have to do my homework, but I was always on my phone instead. My mom was yelling because I was ignoring her.”
Yet, she maintains a 3.75 cumulative grade-point average, micromanaging her schoolwork constantly with time management. Obrey constantly checks her updated GPA online; she knows it down to the thousandth of a point, writing her GPA as “3.750.”
“I don’t have any video games on my phone anymore. I stopped playing, like, two years ago,” she said.
KALINA OBREY
>> Kamehameha basketball/ volleyball
>> 5 feet 11
>> Junior
Q&A: Favorites
>> Athlete: LeBron James. “He makes his teammates better.”
>> Team: Cleveland Cavaliers. “When I was little, I used to have two LeBron James jerseys. Not anymore.”
>> Food: Side Street Inn (Kapahulu). “I love their kal bi. When my grandparents come to town from California, we take them there.”
>> TV show: “Friends.” “Phoebe (actress Lisa Kudrow) is my favorite. She is hilarious. It never gets old. I watch it on Netflix.”
>> Movie: “The Blind Side.” “When they got into a car crash and he punched the air bag to save the little kid, I was so sad, I started crying.”
>> What your mom (Sunny) says that you can’t forget: “Do the dishes.”
>> What your dad (Joshua) says that you can’t forget: “Did you do your homework?”
>> Bucket list: To visit 1) New Zealand, 2) Fiji, 3) Japan, 4) Paris, 5) Italy. “I want to see the world.”
Compiled by Paul Honda, Star-Advertiser; for full Q&A, go to hawaiiprepworld.com
That’s good news for the Kamehameha Warriors, who have a two-sport force in Obrey. The 5-foot-11 junior was an integral cog in Kamehameha’s state championship run on the volleyball court this fall.
“Kalina is awesome. She is such a competitor and she is driven by the need to succeed,” volleyball coach Chris Blake said. “She reminds me of Kea Kimball from the late 1990s. She is physically gifted and very unassuming.”
Now winter has arrived, and Obrey, an ILH second-team selection in volleyball as an opposite/middle hitter, is in her sweet spot.
The basketball Warriors are 9-1 through nonconference play, losing only when Obrey was sidelined briefly with an injury. They open the ILH regular season on Thursday against Sacred Hearts, and No. 2 Kamehameha is ready with point guard Jewel Paaluhi-Caulk and UC Santa Barbara signee Kiana Vierra at the peak of their powers. Of course, there’s two-time state runner-up and three-time ILH champion Maryknoll towering on the horizon. The league is stacked once again. ‘Iolani is No. 5 in the Top 10, Punahou is No. 6, Sacred Hearts is No. 9 and Mid-Pacific, which moved up after winning the state Division II title last season, is No. 10.
“Maryknoll is beatable, but they’re tough,” Obrey said. “We have to play a great game against everyone in the ILH.”
Obrey’s early-season injury is history. She was superb at the Orthopedic Associates Sacred Hearts Invitational over the weekend. She had 21 points against Kamehameha-Maui, 19 points and 21 rebounds against Waiakea and 20 points against Hawaii Baptist as the Warriors went 3-0. Obrey was named the tournament’s most outstanding player.
“Her biggest attribute is her motor. She plays the game with a great amount of passion and is very active around the basket,” said Ryan Hogue, a former Kalaheo and UH Hilo hoopster who is now athletic director at Sacred Hearts.
Obrey, who made the All-State Fab 15 last season as a sophomore, is the center of Kamehameha’s offensive attack. She draws double and triple teams regularly, which opens the perimeter for sharpshooters like Vierra and Paaluhi-Caulk.
“I just look at it as another chance for me to grow as a player and for our younger ones to step up and gain a bigger role,” she said. “I hope we return to the state tournament and make it to the championship. It’s going to be a lot closer this year.”
She put the work in for volleyball, knowing the Warriors’ legacy — now at 21 state titles.
“For me, it was important to focus on how to get better at volleyball because I was always focused on basketball. I didn’t want to let my teammates down, so I was constantly trying to improve my jumping and blocking. I knew if I could do that, I could help become part of a championship,” Obrey said. “Being coached by Chris Blake, and these girls are part of my family. The Maas, the Robins, the Akanas. I love being part of it.”
She spends much of the offseason training with Ku‘ikahi Volleyball Club, coached by uncles Teoni Obrey (Hawaii Baptist boys head coach) and Kainoa Obrey (‘Iolani girls head coach). She also puts a lot of effort into year-round work with her basketball club, 808 Basketball.
“Basketball is my first love. I like that it’s a faster game, a physical sport. When I get mad, I can have a lot of contact,” she said.
The instincts and intelligence match her aggression and athleticism. So does her will.
“She wants to play every second of every game,” Warriors basketball coach Joseph Cho said. “She doesn’t come out of the game. I’d give her rest, but she feels like she’s not as explosive if she does that. She has a high IQ in hoops. She’s one of the best players I’ve coached, guy or girl, and she gets it from her parents. She was in eighth grade when I first saw her play and already she had a lot of polish.”
For Obrey, it’s all about giving back on and off the court, all about time management, academics and catching a breather now and then.
“If you love two sports enough and you’re working hard in them, it’s fun and you get to make new friends,” she said. “I recommend it — if you’re willing to sacrifice a lot.”
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