Power Surge Volleyball - Respect All, Fear None

Aloha Power Surge Ohana,

May I introduce you to the ladies and gentlemen, and Champions of the 2020 18 Open NW Jrs President’s Day Volleyball Tournament; Power Surge 18 Black.

Well done ladies, you believed from the beginning, you never gave up through the rough patches, you represented all of us with class and dignity, and you blessed us proudly by bringing home the 18 Open Gold Championship! Mahalo nui loa (Thank you very much)!

All things are possible, when you believe.

Thank you parents, family members, and friends for your unwavering support. We appreciate you all.

Mahalo,

Coach Kama Kalalau

Aloha Power Surge Ohana,

This past weekend, 18-20 Jan 2020, our 18 Black team competed in the Matt Hartner Classic, a 3-day tourney in Eugene, OR on the beautiful campus of the University of Oregon. Although we always want to win every tournament we compete in or at least do better than our actual results, our final finish, 27th out of 116 teams, is without question, very respectable for our team and our club.

Although we are a U18 team by USAV definition, we went to Eugene with just 8 players: 4 U18 players, 2 U17 players, and 2 U16 players, not a true U18 team age-wise, but a true U18 team in all the other important ways that matter.

Day 1 is the most important day of the competition, because that is where the teams in each division are divided right down the middle after the first round of pool play: top 2 in each pool is on the path to Gold, and everyone else to Silver and lower.

We were seeded #3 in our pool, and we finished #2 at the end of pool play beating a good Portland team Webfoot 18 in the first match in a cliff hanger, 25-22, 28-26, then losing to the #1 seed in pool from Yakima (CRU 18 Baden), 19-25, 18-25, but closing very strong against WVBA 18 Molten, 25-12, 25-9 at the end of Day 1.

But Day 2 is where the hard work really begins, where the very good are separated from the great. Although there were 4 teams in each pool, all 4 teams finished #1 or #2 on Day 1 and therefore there were no weak teams in any Gold division pools on Day 2. And our Day 2 final results are proof of that. We lost all our matches on Day 2. Two of the 3 matches on Day 2 were very close matches that went to a 3rd deciding set. But if you cannot close it out in the 3rd set, then you don’t deserve to finish in the top gold brackets. If you want to play with the big girls, you must win the 3rd set, period, without exception.

Day 3 put us in the 4th Gold Bracket where the best we can finish is 25th overall. We finished tied for 27th ,winning a very tough first match against another Puget Sound team ITVC 17 Baden, 24-26, 25-22, 15-6. But something really special happened in this match, especially after losing that first set in overtime. A toughness and fire was lit in our bellies. After a very disappointing Day 2, we were very hungry for redemption. Tough teams make you tough, and that’s exactly what this match did for us; it made us tougher, hungry, and on fire. It elevated our game to a level we had never been before, a level we never thought possible. But once we saw that we could play at that next level, our confidence shot through the roof. Our 18 Black were truly amazing, phenomenal even. We carried that high level of competitiveness right into the next match, but lost against a very good Canadian Thunder 18-1 team, 18-25, 25-21, 9-15. This was the 2nd time in the same day we came back to win the 2nd set after losing the first set, a major achievement at this high level of competition. Now we need to work on closing it out in the 3rd.

The final loss on Day 3 didn’t hurt as it did the day before, because it was clear to everyone watching, that two titans were battling with power, ferocity, and finesse; we actually drew a crowd. It was beautiful to watch and our entire coaching staff, stood on the sideline just awed at what was unfolding before our very eyes. For our 18 Black, it was a major eye opener. We now know that our game has elevated to that next level, and now there’s no going back. But there are still several areas of our game we need to tweak and when those areas are where they should be, we will win more and more of these highly competitive matches in 2 straight sets and never have to be concerned about winning a deciding set.

We are looking forward to seeing how much further our team can take their game and we are on track to qualify for the U18 National Championships, 1-3 May 2020 in the beautiful city of Reno-Tahoe, NV. See it, believe it.

Congrats to our 18 Black team, enjoy your day off Tue Jan 21st, and be ready to work hard on Thu Jan 23rd. PL1 is going to be another great test and great preparation for the upcoming bid tourney. Well done!

Coach Kama Kalalau

It’s one more win in the books for 18 Black, their 2nd this 2020 Club Season. Our Power Surge 18 Black wins the Cowlitz Aces U18 Tournament at Kelso HS today, Sunday Jan 12th.

This time the entire team is there, all 9 players, including Pomai, Tatiana, and Brooklyn. The other 6 (Eliana, Nana, Parisa, Charmayne, Gabby and Erin) already got a tournament championship in their resume when they won the Trojan U18 Classic earlier this month at Everett Community College.

And just like the Everett CC tourney, our 18 Black team never dropped a single set all day long, finishing very strong at number one in our pool, and then number one overall in bracket play. We were definitely the strongest team there, which gave us a chance to really work on our game, offense especially. Very exciting.

Well done ladies, we’re getting closer and closer to Nationals Championship form every time we play. At every tournament from now till the Bid Tourney and the Pacific NW National Qualifier, we need to bring it at every point, every set, every match, every tournament, without fail – a Champions mindset, always.

Keep it up ladies, well done!! Respect ALL, Fear NONE.

Enjoy the huge Candy Bar prize.

Coach Kama Kalalau

The “Babies," formerly Power Surge 12 Gold, played in their very first tournament this 2020 club season on Saturday Jan 11th, and I’m still a little shell shocked at what just happened. Our “Babies” finished 3rd in the Kitsap U12 Winter Classic. And here they are!

What’s so shocking about our babies finishing 3rd? I’m glad you asked. There are 11 young champions on our 12 Gold team, two are 2nd year players and the rest are all brand new to club ball.

More shocking is the fact that there are 3 U9s, 3 U10s, 2 U11s, and 3 U12s on this team; average USAV age, 10.45 years old.

To win a single match would have been just awesome by itself, for this team at this very early point in the season. To finish 3rd is extraordinary, and we did that by beating a team we had already lost to in pool play, making a 3rd place finish even sweeter and so much more extraordinary.

Well done babies, keep up the great work. Power League is next and we still have lots of work ahead of us, like learning rotations and serving. We’re gonna get there, as long as we keep giving our best effort at every practice. Amen!

Respect All, Fear None,

Coach Kama Kalalau

Congratulations to our Power Surge girls of summer; they did it again, it’s official, we are the 2019 Lakewood Summer League Champions! We barely slipped ahead of Washington HS by winning just one more set than they did. But who’s counting, right, either you are the Champions or you’re not the Champions. All that matters is that we are the Champions.

A little lesson here, nobody remembers who the 2nd or 3rd place winner is. Remember that and let it motivate you in your training and preparation for school ball. A big thank you to our Team Orlando for helping us out in June and also a big thank you to our Ball Control Students who also stepped up to help us out too, when we didn’t have enough players. And of course, our former Power Surge players, always great to see you all each summer. Great effort by everyone, well done.