Over there is Bahrain in the Middle East, where her father, Mack Memea, is a petty officer of the Navy. He watches videos of her matches that are uploaded on the Internet by one of her coaches, Bryan Sanders.

"Des e-mailed an attachment of her final match which she won and what a great feeling to see her progression from last year 'til now," Mack said in an e-mail. "Whatever chance I get I would call back to see how she did and ask her what she could have done to counteract her opponent."

When Memea picked up wrestling a year ago, her father was against her participating "at first because people were getting hurt," she said. "He didn't have faith in me at first. He said, 'Girls can't wrestle, you don't have the mentality to do it.' "

But things changed "after I won my first match," she said. Memea was fourth in the state tournament in 2004, and was a second-team Interscholastic League of Honolulu all-star. Memea also earned All-American honors after she placed third in the 175-pound division at the Junior National Championships last summer at Fargo, N.D.,

This year she is considered a top state contender for her weight division. The state tournament is in March.

"When wrestling came around, my wife and I were surprised that Des wanted to try out for wrestling," Mack said. "I'm glad I was wrong. I'm now eating my words. Des later confessed she was determined to make the team and do well so she would not have to hear me tell her, 'I told you so.' "

Desiree Memea says it is tough on her family with her dad serving in Bahrain, but wrestling "helps keep my mind off things."

"I never thought I would be talking to her like I would my son about moves and strategies in wrestling." — Mack Memea • Father of Pac-Five wrestler Desiree Memea

"It's sad," Memea said. "It's hard on my mom (Terry), (because) all my brothers and sisters play sports, too.

"(Wrestling) keeps my mind off of things because it's always on wrestling."

She said she speaks to Mack almost every day, and he gives her pointers on her wrestling.

"He just thinks he knows," she said. "He watches tapes (of matches), and tells me, 'She did something like this, so you should do it, too.' "

Memea wrestles against the boys on Pac-Five's squad and some of the coaches, because there is no other girl of weight or caliber similar to her.

"She's pretty competitive, so she actually scores points against some of the boys," Pac-Five coach Aaron Sekulich said.

"I never thought I would be talking to her like I would my son about moves and strategies in wrestling," Mack said.

Sekulich said the competitive nature that drives Memea to beat the boys is why she has been successful in wrestling.

"She works hard because she doesn't like to lose," he said. "She's positive, she's energetic and very friendly. She's very competitive by nature."

She may be competitive, but at first she was hesitant about picking up wrestling, for reasons far different than her father.

"The whole jumping on the scale and wearing tight clothes isn't my thing," she said.

Memea, who lives in 'Ewa Beach, wakes up at 5:30 every morning to get to school, which is near the University of Hawai'i-Manoa. School ends at 3:30 p.m., just in time to help her Pac-Five teammates set up wrestling mats in the Education Laboratory School (formerly University Laboratory School) cafeteria, where they hold their practices.

"As long as all the mats are set up by 4 we don't have to do any running," she said. "It's not common at all. Everyone else (at other schools) just goes to a set room. When I first came, I thought it was normal. Then I went to Kamehameha and saw they had it all set up all the time."

She thanked her wrestling coaches, including Sekulich and Pac-Five associate head coach John Schmidtke, for their help.

"I love them and I'm thankful for them," she said. "They got me this far in a short time."

Mack shares her sentiments.

"I'm happy for her that she took up wrestling, and I'm very proud she did it for herself and not what we as parents think she should have done," he said. "I'm grateful for her wrestling coaches (also her basketball coach for believing in her) in instilling the confidence she needed and directing her motivation and desire to do well in the competition."