UH's Miyashiro has grown into solid midfielder

By Leila Wai
Special to The Advertiser

Wanette Miyashiro said she "grew half an inch over the summer," to 5 feet 1 1/2 inches tall.

Midfielder Wanette Miyashiro, left, will captain the UH Wahine soccer team this season. Her sister, Wendy Miyashiro, is an assistant coach. Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser

Now, in more ways than one, Wanette is no longer in Wendy's shadow.

Wendy, 24, an all-conference midfielder for the University of Hawai'i — and current assistant coach — was a hard act to follow. But Wanette, 21, has made a name for herself nonetheless as a Rainbow Wahine soccer player.

"She was my motivating factor," Wanette said of Wendy, who played from 1996-1999. "Before I started playing, I used to watch her train. I don't know how she did it; she used to come out every day even if she was on her own. She was so motivated and she wanted to make the team. I just watched her, and I didn't think that I could ever do it."

"Now that, I don't know," Wendy said, laughing. "She lies."

"If you had 11 players like Wanette, anybody could succeed," said coach Pinsoom Tenzing. "She brings so many things to the team. She does the little things like putting up notice boards in the locker room, she puts up pictures, and keeps the team happy. And she is supportive of every single person on the team.

"I can't say enough good things about her."

Team player

It is that commitment to the team that had Wanette, a senior, calling her teammates before the end of spring off-season training, making sure that they would be running during the summer.

Halfway through the summer "everyone was getting antsy," so she organized scrimmages on Saturday at UH with some of the players who came back from the Mainland for summer school, along with the local players.

"She is the ultimate student-athlete," Tenzing said. "She's been the captain of her team since the spring (season) of her sophomore year; she's got a grade point average that short of a 4.0 (3.73), and she's been a starting midfielder for the past three years."

The physical education major's list of academic achievements include being named to the 2002 NSCAA/Adidas All-Region Academic team and Academic All-Western Athletic Conference three times.

She was named UH's alternate for the 2001 NCAA Leadership conference in Orlando, Fla., and is the soccer team's representative for the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, helping to organize events such as campus cleanups.

Hard worker

Wanette, a 1998 graduate of 'Aiea High School, where she earned All-State honors, chose to sit out her first year of college because she "just didn't feel like playing anymore." Tenzing offered her a position as a manager, which she accepted. It was a good thing, she said, because otherwise, "I wouldn't be here."

"She works hard in everything she does," Wendy said. "That is one thing I really admire about her. Whatever her responsibilities are, she does it well and she'll do it 100 percent no matter how tired she is. After practice we'll come home tired and I'll be lying there and she'll get up and do five loads of laundry. Since she was small, that is the way she has always been."

Wendy, who Wanette sometimes refers to as "coach Wendy," to reduce confusion with sophomore Wendi Young, was a walk-on who earned a scholarship. After serving as a graduate assistant coach once her eligibility was through in 1999, she was named full-time assistant coach.

"I think she was always my coach," Wanette said. "Other people think it is weird, but I am used to it."

Leadership role

Although Wanette's soccer statistics may not be outstanding — she has three points in her college career, all on assists — she may be one of the main reasons the teams of the past two seasons have gotten along so well.

"She knows she is a captain and knows that she has to lead by example," said Wendy, a two-year captain herself. "She knows her role on the team. She takes that seriously. I used to tell her just to work hard, that what you put into it is what you get out of it."

Said senior Noelle Takemoto: "She's benevolent, she gains respect through hard work and always being a good person, and everyone respects her; she has such a great attitude.

Wanette, the lone captain until camp finishes on Aug. 25 — when Tenzing will name others — is leading a talented group that is expected to challenge for the WAC championship and receive its first NCAA berth.

Eleven of their first 13 games are at home, with tough Western Athletic Conference road games at Southern Methodist, San Jose State and Fresno State.

"I think we've got depth in every position, which we've never had in the past," Tenzing said. "It is a really terrific team. We've got phenomenal strikers. They are all infallible finishers and all are extremely fast and aggressive. We've got an experienced defense, and very talented midfielders, and we've got three extraordinary goalkeepers."

The team is picked to finish second in the WAC preseason coaches' poll after finishing second in both the regular season and conference tournament last year. Wanette thinks it is ready for the challenge.

"We want to win the WAC and go to the NCAAs," Wanette said. "This year I think we can really do it. We have a strong offense and a strong defense and the bench is strong, too."

"I'm really excited, and for the first time, nervous," said Tenzing. "We've got a terrific team, but we just don't want to botch it."