No dream is impossible.

Just ask Katie Okamoto and Arden Ono. The two were among some 200 youth participants with eyes as big as the volleyballs being peppered about Kamehameha Schools’ Kekuhaupi‘o Gym on Thursday.

The Olympics they had watched less than a year ago suddenly stood before them in the persons of Micah Christenson and Kawika Shoji, the “C” and the “S” of CSVolleyball. It went beyond having two Olympians from the bronze-medal-winning U.S. team in Rio de Janeiro.

“It’s super cool to have locals who are from the top top,” said Okamoto, an incoming freshman at Kaiser High. “There’s nothing higher than the Olympics.

“To have local kids coming back, helping out their community is super cool.”

“It’s a good opportunity for volleyball players to get to know the pros, see the techniques that got them to the highest level,” added Ono, an incoming eighth-grader at Mid-Pacific Institute.

While Christenson and Shoji wasted no time getting to the technique part, the emphasis was on what creates successful volleyball players.

“We are all teammates today,” said Christenson, the starting setter for the U.S. at both last year’s Olympics and the FIVB World League, which concluded on Sunday. “It’s going to be rapid-fire out there, but we want everyone to be encouraging and supportive of each other.”

Christenson and Shoji have a six-day break before returning to the national team to prepare for the Pan Am Cup later this month. It was important they found time “to take a day and put a face to the Olympian title for local kids,” said reserve setter Shoji, who served as team captain as the U.S. finished fourth in World League. “We want to show them that local kids can reach the highest level of sport.

“You don’t have any level of success unless you are surrounded by people, by a community, that supports you along the way. It’s our turn to be those influences on young people.”

The two shared more than technique and skills on Thursday. There was discussion about work ethic and goal-setting, with both Christenson and Shoji headed to Italy to play professionally later this year as well as eyeing a second trip to the Olympics three years from now in Tokyo.

Add libero Erik Shoji, Kawika’s younger brother, and a quarter of the 2020 U.S. team again could be from Hawaii.

“That’s what we wanted to show the kids, that it is possible to come from a small place like Hawaii,” Christenson said, “to be able to achieve your dreams.”

One other thing the attendees could relate to: High school rivalries never die. It’s the ILH all over again for Christenson (Kamehameha), Kawika Shoji (‘Iolani) and Erik Shoji (Punahou).

“It’s cool having the three of us together,” he said. “We’re always talking about home.”