Good morning Hawaii!
Due to some Olympic rules and regulations, I won’t be able to “blog” for the 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: So the competition has started … what happened in your first two matches?
Answer: Unfortunately, we came out of the blocks slowly against a very underrated Canadian team that as of late has been playing some really good volleyball. We served especially poorly, and they jumped on us and never let us off the hook. It was an ugly match, and a bad start. We held a players only meeting after the match to learn from our experience. Many of our guys were nervous in their first Olympic match and for whatever reason emotionally flat. We bonded late into the night and vowed to be the aggressor for the rest of the tournament. We owe it to ourselves, our coaches and everyone back home who supports us to do that. On Tuesday, we faced Italy, a familiar foe who is ranked a spot ahead of us at No. 4 in the world. Like we promised to do, we came out swinging early. Our aggressiveness and our competitive energy were there, but our execution, especially in crunch time, was not. We fell 3-1 and were extremely disappointed. It’s always more difficult to swallow when you give your absolute all and barely come up short. We did, however, take away some positives from the match. We played better and now understood how much emotion it was going to take to win an Olympic match. We would now have to fight for every single point to stay alive in the tournament.
Q: After your recent win against No. 1 Brazil it seems like you guys have maybe turned it around?
A: I am not sure we have turned it around completely — we still need a few more wins to advance out of the pool — but it was the result we needed at the moment. It doesn’t get much more challenging than playing the best team in the world on their home turf during the Olympic Games in a must-win match. I am so proud of our guys for the way we executed and the way we scrapped. All of our starters — Matt Anderson, David Lee, Max Holt, Aaron Russell, Taylor Sander, Erik Shoji, and Micah Christenson — had great matches. Micah and I discussed offensive strategy throughout the match and he executed it superbly. Erik was phenomenal all night in serve reception and defense. His relentless pursuit in the backrow was inspiring. If you have some time, go check out some of the long rallies throughout the match online. Some are saying it was one of the best volleyball matches ever played. The rallies were amazing!
Q: How was the atmosphere at the match?
A: It was hostile. It was loud. It was fun. We had a small USA cheering section, but every time they started chanting, 12,000 Brazilians booed us and drowned them out. Fans were dancing, waving flags and screaming. Some gave us the thumbs up in approval, others the middle finger. It was a great sporting event.
Q: What’s next?
A: We face a very good France team today. We have to continue to build on our efforts and again win. I think if we continue to play the same way, we will be just fine, but this next match will again be an enormous test. I hope you all get to tune in!
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
