Coaches follow daughters to college

Two prominent former high school coaches are working as volunteer assistants for their daughters’ teams this semester.

Former Punahou coach Peter Balding, who was a volunteer assistant for the Wahine a few years ago, is taking a sabbatical from his teaching job to help at Willamette University, in Salem, Ore. The Bearcats are coached by Dave Shoji’s brother, Tom.

Balding’s daughter Lizzy is a senior libero on the team. The roster also includes Maryknoll graduates Alexa Dowdell and Taylor Lum, Alida Holt (Roosevelt), Macy Hayashi (Waiakea) and Shannon Waltz (La Pietra).

Former ‘Iolani coach Dennis Berg is in Hanover, N.H., to assist Dartmouth, coached by daughter Erin (Berg) Lindsey.

Lindsey, in her third year as head coach, was an all-region setter at North Carolina. Her sister, Lindsey Berg, was a three-time Olympian.

Punahou graduate Julia Lau is a freshman defensive specialist on the Big Green roster.

Rainbow Wahine fundraiser next month

Next month’s Sand Volleyball Booster Club fundraiser for the Rainbow Wahine — a Portuguese Horseshoe Tournament — has added a few in-kind sponsors to help provide food and drink.

The tournament runs Sept. 8 from 2:30 to 6 p.m. at Hunakai Park in Kahala. Players and nonplaying participants will be able to choose food from a Serg’s Taco truck and Rainbow Drive-In, among others, with drinks from a variety of local distributors.

The cost is $125 per player or $200 for a two-person team. Those who don’t want to play can contribute $50 to be on the Wahine Cheer Squad. Funds will help bring teams in to play the Wahine.

Coach Scott Wong hopes to raise at least $60,000, with the help of a booster who will match donations up to $25,000.

Horseshoe players can register online at hawaiiathletics.com (women’s sand volleyball link). For more information, call 394-7650 or email sandvb@hawaii.edu.

The Wahine begin their third sand season next semester, with individual practices starting Tuesday at the new on-campus facility. Two more courts are still to come.

Wong has 16 players on the roster, including eight new recruits and Katie Spieler, who played at No. 1 last season and is now concentrating on the sand game only.