Some stories about athletes are filled with fluff. Not this one. Let’s get this fact out of the way right now — Hanalē Lee Loy is not a superstar volleyball player.

That’s right. He’ll admit it. His coach said it.

But that doesn’t mean Lee Loy is not a valuable contributor as a middle blocker for the Kamehameha-Hawaii boys team. He is.

Now, let’s take a walk off the court for a moment. It’s probably a little too early in Lee Loy’s life — he’s just a senior in high school — to say that he is a superstar human being, but he certainly is off to a great start.

When told Lee Loy would be the subject of a feature story, Warriors coach Guy Enriques was delighted, saying, "You picked the right person."

While interviewing Lee Loy during the ‘Iolani Invitational last week, you could still see the trepidation in his whole being when he gave the harrowing details of his ordeal in a Houston hospital room last summer.

Yes, and while this was not a heroic situation — like serving your country overseas or fighting a house fire — the simple truth is it was life or death. How would he face it? Would he live?

Or the question he posed to himself, "What’s wrong with me?"

This is not your typical teenage drama.

On a club volleyball trip with Enriques and many of his Kamehameha-Hawaii teammates, Lee Loy felt chest discomfort when he landed in a Los Angeles stopover.

Everybody he spoke to said it was probably just sore muscles. He had trained hard for the trip. The pain didn’t go away after he got to Houston, so he went to the hospital and was about to be released with the diagnosis of muscle strain.

"Another doctor came in and said, ‘Since you’re here, let’s take some X-rays and a CT scan.’ It turned out my left lung was collapsed and my right lung had blebs (blisters) that, if they popped, would have collapsed that lung too," Lee Loy said.

"The worst part was my parents weren’t there and I was scheduled to go in for surgery the next morning. It was a relief to see them when I came out of surgery."

But the nightmare was just beginning. He did not improve, and two weeks later, he needed another operation.

Scary stuff. That’s when he wondered, "What’s wrong with me?"

Fortunately, things worked out the second time, but he couldn’t fly home for another month, and he said that his lungs will be minimally deflated for the rest of his life.

During this stressful time, Lee Loy found inspiration from his mom, Keala.

"She’s in remission now, but in July 2012 she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. When she was suffering, she always told me that everything was going to be OK, even when she was going through intense chemo treatments. I saw how strong she was, so I said to myself, ‘If my mom can do something like that, so can I.’ "

Aside from Lee Loy’s traumatic experience, Enriques recalls that his club team really missed their steady middle blocker.

"We did really well in that tournament and we had a shot at winning it, especially if Hanalē had been playing," Enriques said. "He is one of the best representatives of our team. Not a showcase type of athlete, but everything you want to see in an athlete. He is steady, smart and we depend on him a lot."

Added Lee Loy: "Right before that trip (to Houston), I was playing the best volleyball of my life."

In December, Lee Loy was one of four high school athletes statewide to be awarded a $1,000 scholarship (and a $1,000 anonymous match) by the Positive Coaching Alliance.

"They’re (the PCA) looking for great people, responsible, unselfish, with goals, a work ethic, and on a team sport like volleyball, playing your role with purpose. Hanalē is all of that," Enriques said.

Lee Loy was chosen for that award based on an essay he wrote, in which he made it crystal clear that he is not taking life for granted.

"I’ve experienced adversity quite a few times now," he said last week. "I’ve learned to keep a positive attitude in pretty much everything I do. The main lesson is it’s not the experience of what happens to you that matters, it’s what you do when things happen to you. I’m stronger now than I was and I’ve learned to stay true to what I believe in."

The name Hanalē is Hawaiian for Henry, and the 6-foot-1, 180-pound Lee Loy was named after his dad, Dr. Henry Lee Loy of Hilo.

Hanalē, who has been accepted at Pepperdine, Chapman (Orange, Calif.), UC Irvine, UC Davis and Hawaii, does not plan to play sports in college. He still loves to play basketball and used to play it for the Warriors until he chose to focus on volleyball.

Lee Loy, who returns to Oahu with Kamehameha-Hawaii to play in a tournament at Kamehameha’s Kapalama campus April 9-11, considers volleyball more of a team sport than basketball, and that’s one of the reasons he switched.

"There’s nothing like shooting the ball in the basket," he said. "But I like volleyball more now. If your team is not doing well, you’re not doing well. And if you’re not doing well, you can always fall back on the team. The players on the bench and the cheering from the bench is probably the most important thing. And if anyone makes a mistake, you get right back and reset together. That’s very important."

Lee Loy knows a thing or two about resetting.

ATHLETES OF THE WEEK

Girls
Shearyna Labasan
Maryknoll softball
In 11 innings, allowed no earned runs on five hits with 18 strikeouts and two walks for two wins over St. Francis. At the plate, she went 3-for-6 with three runs, a home run, three stolen bases and two walks.

Boys
Micah Ma’a
Punahou volleyball
The senior outside hitter had 13 kills against Moanalua to spark the Buffanblu to victory in the Hawaii Invitational final. He also had 15 kills and four aces against HBA.

NEWS & NOTES

Maggiolino added to ‘Iolani AD team

‘Iolani School hired Maurice Maggiolino as one of its three athletic directors, the school announced Monday morning.

He will step into his new role on July 1, replacing Carl Schroers, who is retiring after 37 years.

Eddie Maruyama and Wendell Look are the other ‘Iolani ADs. According to a school news release, they "oversee more than 100 boys and girls teams at the varsity, junior varsity and intermediate level; 300 head and assistant coaches; and hundreds of student athletes involved in 1,100 competitive events during the school year."

Four finalists out of 82 applicants were interviewed.

Maggiolino is currently an associate athletic director at Kamehameha. Previously, he was the sports information director at Chaminade.

THE TOP 10

Voted on by coaches and media from statewide. First-place votes in parentheses. Ten points for first-place votes, nine for second, etc.

Also receiving votes: ‘Iolani 10, Punahou 8, Maryknoll 7, Kamehameha-Hawaii 6, Hilo 4, Castle 1. No longer in Top 10: ‘Iolani.

Also receiving votes: Kalaheo 8, Iolani 7, King Kekaulike 6, Mid-Pacific 4, Punahou I-AA 4, MIlilani 3, Kealakehe 2, Leilehua 1.

Also receiving votes: Kailua 7, Leilehua 4, Moanalua 3, Roosevelt 2, Pac-Five 2, Lahainaluna 2, Waiakea 1.