Hello!
We are really excited to share our experiences from the Olympic Games over the course of the next three weeks. Because it is extremely rare that three athletes from Hawaii represent the USA on the same team at the same Olympic Games, I thought it would be fun to personally tell our stories and update the people back home on what is going on in Rio.
On Sunday, we spent the day in Houston for processing.
Processing included introductory meetings and inspirational speeches from three-time gold medalist sprinter Gail Devers and three-time medalist skater Joey Cheek.
It also included our personal fitting for our Nike, Polo Ralph Lauren, Omega and other sponsored Team USA gear.
One of the most memorable events from the day was watching the Ralph Lauren staff attempt to fit our 6-foot-10 middle blocker Max Holt for his opening ceremony coat. They just couldn’t get it right! I am guessing Max isn’t quite the typical fit, so they needed about an hour just for his coat.
I think Erik and I were out of there in just under 30 minutes, one of the perks of being the smallest guys on the team! Normal sizing usually works.
Processing finished up after about three hours, and as I was leaving, I happened to bump into Coach K from the basketball team. Being a big Duke basketball fan and predicting that I would probably not see him again in Rio, I quickly decided to ask for a photo. He accepted, and while I was taking the picture with him, I mentioned that I had a similar one with him from 1994 when he brought his team out to the Rainbow Classic.
On Monday, after a 10-hour flight, we finally arrived in Rio and headed straight to the Olympic Village.
We had the day to ourselves, so we used it to explore. The village scenery is quite special and massive. There are 31 buildings, basically hotels, lined up in a circle, with a park running through the middle. The park includes tennis courts, a running path, a mini soccer field, exercise equipment, a skate park and a pond.
On our way back after dinner a few of us walked through the park, and we stumbled upon Novak Djokovic stretching by himself. We decided to snag a picture with him, and he proceeded to talk to us about international volleyball and Team Serbia. He knew his stuff! I felt bad for my brother Erik, the biggest tennis fan on the team, for missing out on the experience.
The outskirts of the village include a McDonald’s, the largest cafeteria you can imagine, a bank and a general store, and luscious green mountains scale the backside of the village just beyond its fence. It is majestic. Perhaps the most impressive thing inside the village, however, is its energy. People are excited. People are exercising, stretching, laughing and mingling. Flags are waving, and color is everywhere. The positive vibes are palpable, and we are soaking it all in.
At the end of the night, Micah and David Lee, another middle on our team, ran into the USA women’s gymnastics team in the training room. Simone Biles, our top gymnast, then asked David for a photo of them standing back to back. The 6’8” Lee and 4’9” Biles had quite the laugh!
Micah, Erik and I are really proud to be representing our state of Hawaii and the USA at the world’s greatest sporting event. Thank you for all your support and for taking the time to read this. I will check in again in a few days.
Aloha,
Kawika
U.S. Olympic team setter Kawika Shoji is blogging from the Rio Games for the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. His items will run occasionally, but readers can follow him daily on Twitter @Kshoji7 and Instagram at kshoji7. Follow Hawaii’s other two volleyball Olympians on Twitter: Erik Shoji @shojinator and Micah Christenson @MChristenson5
