Mahalo for supporting Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Enjoy this free story!
Like a lot of other University of Hawaii athletes, tennis player Petra Melounova was forced by the impact of COVID-19 to go online to complete her last two months of spring semester classes.
Unlike most of them, however, she was doing it from a laptop in her native Havlickuv Brod, the Czech Republic, where, due to the 12-hour time difference from Manoa, it meant some classes, such as electromagnetics and the theory of linear feedback control systems, began at 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. Central European Time.
Not that Melounova missed so much as a beat. “Anything that she puts her mind to she can accomplish,” said tennis coach Jun Hernandez, praising another semester of 17 credits with a 4.0 grade point average as an electrical engineering major.
He has come to prize her focus, dedication and resourcefulness well these last four years, watching her become UH’s first tennis All-American — female or male — a three-time Big West Player of the Year, Big West Scholar Athlete of the Year and, Wednesday, the 2020 female Jack Bonham Award winner.
The Bonham Award, the athletic department’s most prestigious honor for 47 years, annually goes to the top female and male senior student-athletes deemed to best exemplify the ideals of the late UH assistant athletic director in the areas of athletic excellence, academic achievement, public service, leadership and character.
Volleyball player Colton Cowell received the men’s award. Cowell, initially a walk-on from Maui’s King Kekaulike High, has been a second-team All-America outside hitter and three-time All-Big West Academic selection.
The first time Hernandez saw Melounova play in a summer tournament in Europe, he came away impressed. “Her intensity on the court, how smart she plays, her passion and all the tools she has,” made him determined to recruit her to Manoa. “She also stood out for her character and as a fit for our program.”
In time he would also come to marvel her grit and ingenuity. Such as in 2018, when she suffered a shoulder injury that kept her from being able to continue an overhead serve. Undaunted and adaptive, she proceeded to master an underhand serve that allowed her to keep winning not just for a set or match, but on into the NCAA championships, where she became the first UH player to reach the Round of 16 in 2019.
“It might have been the first time and only time an All-American in the tournament served underhand the whole way,” Hernandez said.
So, when teammates and coaches learned a couple of years ago of Melounova’s dream to become an astronaut, nobody dismissed it as a flight of fantasy.
While Melounova humbly made light of it, Hernandez said they sensed her drive and passion to make it happen.
Last May, following the NCAA championships in Orlando, Fla., they had part of a day free before taking their flights home. So, Hernandez asked her where she wanted to spend it: Disney World, Epcot or somewhere else?
The answer was the nearby John F. Kennedy Space Center.
“You could tell that was really a treat for her,” Hernandez said. “It solidified what she had been thinking about.”
Whether Melounova stays at UH past her planned December graduation for a final crack at a COVID-19 postponed senior season, few think she is done shooting for the stars.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.
80
