New Wahine assistant Berg excited to give back to state

Today, for the first time since 2000, Lindsey Berg will watch the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics on TV — probably in her office at the University of Hawaii, taking a short break from the job she started Monday as assistant volleyball coach.

She was at the last three, walking into the stadium as one of the world’s greatest athletes. Berg was a setter on the U.S. team, starting on two silver-medal winners.

Berg, 36, won’t be wishing she were there again as she watches.

“I knew I wasn’t going for it by around ’13. So it’s OK. I’ve been out of playing now for about three years, and I did way more than I ever expected. I’m actually excited about watching it on TV. When you’re in the Olympics you don’t get much of a chance to watch a lot. It’ll be fun.”

Maybe she will get a glimpse of Kawika and Erik Shoji who, along with Micah Christenson, comprise the 25 percent of the U.S. men’s volleyball team that comes from Hawaii, a state with less than 0.5 percent of the nation’s population.

If NBC is on the ball with human interest stories they’ll find Dave Shoji in the stands. I mean, who has two sons in the Olympics?

And, most agree, UH’s Hall of Fame head coach could not pass on Rio, even though practice starts Monday and Shoji will miss a good portion of preseason camp.

“I would’ve made him go if he said he wasn’t going to go,” Berg said of her new boss.

That wasn’t necessary, as Shoji is confident in his new staff that includes acting head coach Jeff Hall, Berg, and volunteer Tom Pestolesi. Also, Kaleo Baxter was announced Thursday as director of volleyball operations, filling a newly created position.

Hall became Shoji’s associate coach last year after four seasons as Charlie Wade’s assistant with the men’s team, and is head coach of the sand squad.

Pestolesi is on sabbatical from Irvine Valley College, where he is the women’s head coach. He was an All-American honoree at UH and is married to one of the Wahine all-time greats, Diane Sebastian Pestolesi.

As for Berg, she grew up in Manoa and graduated from Punahou before college at Minnesota. Her dad, Dennis, was Shoji’s best man.

“I’ve known her since she was in diapers,” Shoji said.

He was pleasantly surprised when Dennis Berg relayed Lindsey’s interest in the job that her former Olympic teammate, Robyn Ah Mow-Santos, was vacating due to her husband’s Army transfer.

College coaching was not in the business major’s plan.

“But this opportunity was very unique and special to me,” Berg said. “It’s a situation I want to be a part of, to give back to the program, these girls, and my home state.”

Although she didn’t play at UH, Berg learned her basics on the ASICS Rainbows Volleyball Club, which Shoji founded.

“I lived in Gym 1, pretty much. And I was a floor wiper at Klum Gym, watched all the games growing up,” she said.

Berg has a passion for coaching but said she doesn’t know if she will make a long-term career of it.

For at least one more year, Shoji’s setters remain in very good hands — hands, like those of Ah Mow-Santos, that competed at the very highest level.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at Hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quickreads