Alayna Galeai- $500 DigitalSports.com Applause Scholarship recipient
Kingsley Ah You
www.HawaiiDigitalSports.com Owner
Kahyou@digitalsports.com
Hawaii Digital Sports is proud to announce that Alayan Galeai a recent graduate of Kahuku High School has been awarded the $500 DigitalSports.com Applause Scholarship. Alayan submitted an essay on her challenges and accomplishments. She will be playing volleyball for Notre Dame de Namur the Argos who are members of the Pac-West Conference.
Hard work and Determination Pays-off
Essay by Alayna Galeai
Than basketball season started and at first I joined the sport to stay
in shape. The season was going smoothly and our team proved to be worth
challenging. Our rival was Farrington and we met them at the
championships. That game was the turning point of my life. I got hurt
and tore one of the major ligaments in my knee. Being oblivious to the
fact that perhaps I just might need medical attention I neglected to
put much thought into it until I went to the doctors. I was told that I
wouldn’t be able to play for a year and that my knee would require
surgery.
It was as if someone told me that my heart would
stop beating for a year! Perhaps the doctor should have said just that,
because sitting out one whole year would keep me behind. I would have
to sit out my whole sophomore year and I would have to work extra hard
to be back up there. It was a preposterous idea to even try and
comprehend, but it was to no avail my knee had temporarily impeded my
chances of playing for a year.
The whole year I was out I
had my surgery and couldn’t walk for two months. It was a trying time
of excruciating pain and the worst two months of my life. The rest of
the year I had to go through rehab to strengthen my knee. The surgery
left me with a new found fear for playing. I was worried and scared to
move a certain way in case I make matters worse for myself. The game I
once played so passionately became a mental game for me. It took me a
long time to get back into the swing of things. Every night for months
I went running to try and get back into shape with constant lifting of
weights to continue to strengthen my knee.
Before going to
volleyball tryouts for my junior year, I had to get clearance from my
doctor. I was told that I had to get a customed-made knee brace that
would cost me a thousand dollars. It was one that I would have to wear
every time I was involved in any physical activity. Although the brace
made me feel handicapped, I struggled to scrutinize ways of playing
with the huge brace that made me look like I had another leg connected
to my knee. However, my desire to play was greater than the feeling of
looking handicapped.
Volleyball tryouts came around and my
coaches told me to take everything slowly and not to rush right back
into sports. The volleyball season was good but not the best for me.
Wearing the brace made me look feeble in the eyes of my coach, and as a
consequence I was treated the way my knee looked – handicapped! I
wasn’t able to play much and it really affected me because I wasn’t
able to play to my potential. The same thing happened with basketball
where I still wasn’t given the opportunity to play up to my potential.
The summer leading to my senior year I worked even harder. I was
determined to prove that I could play just as good as any player on the
team without any physical challenges. I went to the Reno volleyball
tournament then to volleyball camps and came back to Hawaii right in
time for volleyball tryouts. I had to make an impact because it was my
last year. My volleyball season became the season where everything was
as I pictured, hoped and prayed for. I started every game and played
the entire game. I was the team captain, I made the Hawaii-state
All-Star team, received the most inspirational player, and our team
took second in OIA and fourth in the State of Hawaii.
After
volleyball season, basketball started. My basketball season also turned
out to be just as I had wished for. Although we didn’t make it to
states, I was just happy that I was able to contribute to my team and
got good playing time. I was the team captain, named the “impact
player” of the game for Oceanic cable and invited to play in the Mufi
Hannemann Jamboree. It was an invitational all-star tournament for top
players from high school and college levels in the state of Hawaii. It
was a great experience for me.
Even though my knee surgeries
threatened to thwart my dream to play varsity in my senior year, I knew
that it was all up to me. I knew I had to work hard, push myself and
do my very best. I knew I had to not only prove to my coaches that I
was the same player I was before even with the braced knee, but I also
had to prove to myself that my will and determination was stronger than
my fear to fail. Through all the pain and frustrations I made it.
Although it was a drawback experience for me, I’m grateful it happened
because I now stand as a changed person and individual. I realize now
that it takes more than talent and passion to get somewhere. It takes
will, determination and effort to make the team. Such driven will and
determination then leads to hard work, and no matter how physically
challenged one can be, anything is possible. It does not take talent,
it takes heart to make the team. And that is exactly what I am walking
away with this year. I, an individual with handicapped knees and
perhaps to some crippled in some way, I am walking away with a heart
full of hope and full of determination to not let anything stand in my
way of fulfilling my dreams. I thank my mother and siblings for being
my cheerleaders on the sideline in every possible way. I thank my dad
for being my mentor, my coach on the side, my counselor and my number
one fan. I thank my coaches for believing and trusting that I could
make a difference. I thank my Heavenly Father for giving me another
chance to prove myself. I’m happy that I’ve ended my senior year on a
good note…it’s a good feeling.Volleyball Profile
Name: Alayna-Lori Sulesa Galeai
Address: 55-666 Kamehameha Hwy., Laie, HI 96762
Email: galeait@polynesia.com
School: Kahuku High & Intermediate School
Parents: Tipa & Taliilagi Galeai
Volleyball Experience: 7 years school and club
Other Sports Played: Soccer and Basketball
Athletic Honors: Lettered three years in basketball and volleyball. All-star in volleyball. All-star in basketball, most Inspirational volleyball player. Basketball impact player. Team Captain for volleyball and basketball.
Tournaments:2002 Junior Olympics, 2003 Junior Nationals, St. George Elite, UC Davis, Las Vegas, Reno, Aloha Region and South Pacific tournaments.
Clinics: Aloha Region, Junior Nationals, South Pacific.
Height: 5’11”
Interest: Sports – basketball & volleyball, hiking, biking with friends, boogie boarding, jumping off Laie point, working at kapaka farm with dad.
Personal: Born August 10, 1995 in Oahu, Hawaii…third daughter of Tipa and Taliilagi Galeai. Expects to major in Exercise Science…honor roll student…loves the outdoors… enjoys making new friends and keeping old ones. Loves to hike Laie Falls. Has three sisters and one brother: Alethea, Adrianne, Aja and Tipa-Jesse (baby Tee).