For several hours each day, the sole focus in the gym is on volleyball.

Outside of the gym and while in paradise, time is devoted to family and friends.

The United States men’s national volleyball team concludes its weeklong training trip in Hawaii with intrasquad scrimmages tonight and Saturday. After the squad recently played 18 matches in six countries over a seven-week span, this week has allowed the players to regroup and prepare for the upcoming World Championships. With multiple players from Hawaii, this homecoming provides time to reconnect with familiar faces.

“It’s been great here for us,” said national team coach John Speraw. “It’s been quality training, quality family time, quality engagement with the community. We have five guys training with us right now from Hawaii. It’s great for them. The community feel that you have here in Hawaii and the support you have for volleyball here is unlike anywhere else in the country. We feel right at home.”

Micah Christenson (Kamehameha) and brothers Kawika and Erik Shoji (‘Iolani and Punahou) were members of the 2016 squad that won bronze at the Rio Olympics. Current college athletes Micah Ma‘a and Larry “Tui” Tuileta, former Punahou teammates, joined the squad in the gym this week. Former University of Hawaii middle blocker Taylor Averill is also here.

“It’s tough because there’s so many things going on outside of the gym,” Kawika Shoji said after Thursday’s practice at his alma mater. “But we know that when we come into the gym for two to three hours that this is our job, this is what we love to do and we really need to focus. That is something we learned as professionals, that we need to leave the outside world kind of outside of the walls here and come in and get to work.”

Thursday’s two-hour open session gave the crowd of about 200 a glimpse of the squad that finished third at the FIVB Volleyball Nations League earlier this month. The U.S. squad will hold Red-Blue scrimmages tonight at 7 at Kamehameha and Saturday at 6 p.m. at Kalani. Tickets are $10 and available at the door.

“This is our first week back,” Speraw said. “This is a way for us to get our touch back, start working on some of the things we saw that needed some improvement in Nations League and still take a little bit of time to go jump in the water and spend time with family. I’ve seen some really good things.”

Ma‘a, a setter at UCLA, and Tuileta, a libero who finished his volleyball career at Hawaii in May but is still a member of the football team, have been training with the 20-member squad this week. Speraw coaches Ma‘a at UCLA.

“Both of them have great ball control, great leadership abilities. They’re so skilled and athletic,” Speraw said. “They might be smaller than the other players, but they’re so athletic that they belong here. As the national team coach, we’re always evaluating guys in college to see who the next up-and-comers are to be in our gym.”

Thursday’s session concluded with a 20-minute question and answer session with fans. Players fielded questions about conditioning, mental preparation, strategy and the characteristics of a volleyball player.

“It’s special because we value the Hawaii community and the Hawaii volleyball community so much,” Shoji said. “To be able to come in and talk with the kids, talk with the parents, give back a little bit is awesome. We were those kids at one point and now we can hopefully help those kids reach the next level.”