Ceremony, village and fellow athletes enjoyed by local trio

Good morning Hawaii!

Due to some Olympic rules and regulations, I won’t be able to “blog” for the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, but I will be able to answer the staff’s questions for you all. Here are my responses to some fun questions!

Question: We saw that you participated in the Opening Ceremony. How was the experience?

Answer: I know that I speak for all three of us when I say the Opening Ceremony was a blast. It was about a seven-hour process. We met in the village with the rest of Team USA, bused to the Maracanazinho arena (our volleyball arena), waited in the arena, and then walked to the Maracana stadium to then walk into the ceremony. It was a time when athletes from all over the world and from different events mingled and celebrated not only the start of the Games, but their hard work and dedication that brought us to this point. Micah, Erik, and I walked next to stars like Michael Phelps, Kyrie Irving, Rickie Fowler and Serena Williams. It didn’t matter what sport you play, how many social media followers you have, or where you are from. We are all Olympians. And we were all enjoying the moment.

Q: How was the actual ceremony?

A: I can’t really describe what the moment felt like when we entered the stadium. The crowd was electric. They didn’t stop screaming, and we didn’t either. We walked onto the field, filming, hugging, crying, and chanting, “USA! USA! USA!” We tried to throw up as many shakas as we could, too! I have never seen or felt a crowd quite like it.

Q: Any new updates from the village?

A: We actually moved out of the village yesterday into a hotel closer to our playing venue. The commute was about an hour and a half to the arena, so now we are closer, and we will begin to really focus on our tournament.

Q: Any fun interactions or stories from you three?

A: The entire team met the U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, yesterday. Micah met one of the top American sprinters and fellow USC Trojan, Allyson Felix, and top American boxer, Claressa Shields. We also chatted it up with Klay Thompson, one of Derrick Low’s old friends from Washington State. Nice guy! Erik finally got his pictures with Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams and Caroline Wozniacki. And I chatted with Rickie Fowler and DeMarcus Cousins for a few minutes. Rickie loves Maui, and DeMarcus said the ‘Iolani Classic was the best tournament that he ever played in! It was really fun to mingle with all of them and share stories.

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