Fagasa Mareko '26 Recruiting Profile

When the match is inevitably lost, you always look up and move on. This testament goes for the sport of hardship, pure dedication, meaningful relationships, and so many more that many different people across the globe call volleyball. The sport to me was a showing of what your life could truly mean if you fell upon the principles of the general life. The people, the responsibility, and the passion represents how I believe life should be known as. The willingness and competitiveness to go against people who may be better than you, the brutal reality of failure, and the beauty of achieving success is what I believe to be my why’s of playing volleyball. 

    Growing up, I wasn’t always the best kid to raise due to my laziness and unpassionate attitude with anything I ever did. With this generation, playing video games was always the dream of possible careers, but I’m not even the best when it comes to things like that. Besides that, I had many achievements when it came to school because my academics were above average. I always maintained a principal's list or higher from the first grade. Because of that, my family found my purpose of academics in which I believed as well until the sport of volleyball was introduced to my life. This passion wouldn’t have been possible due to the particular reason that we had to move due to family health concerns. Although it was a shock due to me leaving my previous life of 8-9 years behind, that unfortunate mess up may have been a blessing in disguise with many opportunities in my life opening up to what could be achieved. Many things were different, and I had to endure being a new kid around with a bunch of people already knowing each other from previous years. With that came sports being openly expressed throughout the state, volleyball was just one of them. Also with that knowledge, I also grew to know that Hawaii had one of the best Division 1 teams throughout the entire country, so I didn’t want to just toss away an opportunity like that. Clubs here were committed to make people better from who they were yesterday and the day before. The thought of people actually truly loving what they do is a thought I’ve always been searching for the opportunities shown to me. Whether it was school, the media, my family, or heck even my electronics, volleyball was truly the one path I knew I had the potential, talent, and passion for in my life. Yet I know people will always be better than me, but it’s bound to me to focus on and face many hardships ahead just to get even an inch better than them. 

    From many videos I’ve watched online, I always learned that your role is your responsibility from the beginning to the end. It doesn’t matter what you play in my opinion; the one true meaning is that you’re valued for what you as a person can bring to such a team you dream to be in. This goes for any sport as well. The purpose of bringing the best you can be in terms of what you yourself display as your limits. My limits so far go as to poorly misjudging plays, yet I know that the end isn’t near and is possible for any future possibilities. Volleyball was told to me as a sport where you can only look up, and I believe that because one negative will always bring down the positives. My coach once told me, “Being a champion is not a skill but is a mindset.” What this showed me is that your skill alone can be that of a champion, but your mindset is just as important. As of right now, my skill and mindset together are not champions yet; however, I know that as time progresses on. That one day, I know for sure and with guarantee as my dream that I will be a champion with the skill and mindset alone. Although I know I can’t do it alone, I know with guarantee that I will do it as a unit and not solo. The time isn’t near for sure. That I know because I’ve only just begun with the fundamentals and principles of volleyball.