The world’s beaches were the sandboxes in which Hendrik Mol grew up, not with the proverbial skis on his feet like most Norwegians, but with sand between his toes. His mother Merita was among the best beach volleyball players in the world when Mol was born, two years before she finished ninth at the 1996 Olympics when coached by her husband Kare and representing their native Norway.
Mol seemingly has been chasing the sun ever since, tracking it half way around the globe to play at the University of Hawaii. There is no collegiate men’s beach volleyball but Mol knew his all-around skills would transition well to the indoor game as well as be a means to one of his ends: a degree.
Both those goals were seriously jeopardized — as well as a bright future in beach volleyball — when, two years ago this April, Mol was diagnosed with a rare eye infection. He spent weeks at the famed Jules Stein Eye Institute at UCLA, undergoing an aggressive nonsurgical treatment that cured the infection but left Mol with a scarred cornea, 20 percent vision in his left eye and the real prospect that he’d have to retire from the sport.
“There were dark days,” he said. “I bore a lot of pain, a lot of uncertainty. It was hard.”
But Mol continued to make the improbable probable, and then possible. Not only did he change his majors in order to graduate in four years — from civil engineering to physics — he retrained himself to play the game to which he was born, compensating for his loss of depth perception and, in the process switching to a third position for the Rainbow Warriors.
Mol, moving from left-side hitter to opposite and now to middle, has become the heart of fourth-ranked Hawaii’s block that leads the country at 2.68 per set. Heading into tonight’s match with No. 14 USC, the senior is averaging 1.0 bps, with a team-leading 14 aces and has played in all but four of the Warriors’ 60 sets.
“Moving to the middle is the best I could hope for,” he said. “I got to experience something different. I’ve become a better blocker and I take pride in that. It’s cool to see the game from another perspective.”
“It is really scary to think about what he went through,” Hawaii senior setter Jennings Franciskovic said. “That fact that he has come back like he has is amazing. How amazing would he be if he had his full sight?”
“It shows that nothing’s going to stop him from playing,” added senior hitter Kupono Fey, Mol’s roommate for several years. “He’s one of our strongest guys, mentally and physically. He shows such leadership, has a high volleyball IQ, and is a funny guy, very clever.”
Mol had to miss the final seven matches of 2015, a season where Hawaii spent some time ranked No. 1 and advanced to the NCAA tournament quarterfinals before losing to Penn State 3-1. The 22-year-old — he’ll be 23 on March 10 — feels this year’s team could match or even exceed the success from two years ago.
“We’re on track right now,” Mol said. “We had some injuries then but if we stay healthy, we have the potential.”
Mol’s potential should be realized at the next level on the beach. At 19, he was part of the U22 European Championships silver medal team and, after graduation in May, will return to the Norwegian National Beach Team that is coached by his father and includes his younger brother Anders.
“I am ready to play beach after this year,” he said. “The Olympics is everyone’s big goal and (Tokyo in) 2020 is my biggest goal. It should be attainable.”
It takes between 24 to 28 hours — barring a flight delay or two— for Mol to travel from Norway to Hawaii. There have been no regrets, volleyball or otherwise.
“The people are so nice, I love the food and the beaches are insanely beautiful,” he said. “I’m enjoying my senior year.”
Hawaii coach Charlie Wade wasn’t sure he’d see that happen.
“His disease was so rare, it was like getting struck by lightning,” Wade said of the odds. “There was real concern that if the eye got hit with any sort of force it would rupture and he’d lose it. We discussed the real possibility of a medical retirement.
“It’s impressive what he’s done, learning a new position as an undersized middle and being No. 4 in blocks in this league. He’s just a really good volleyball player.”
As Mol has said, he was born to the game, destined for the beach and destined to end up in Hawaii. Where else would someone who went to school in Sand, Norway, end up?
