At McKinley High, there aren't enough Chelsie Satos to go around.

Or is it there aren't enough sports for the multi-sport athlete?

This much is known about the 5-foot-6, 130-pound junior. If it's Tuesday or Thursday, she's the setter for the girls' volleyball team. If it's Friday or Saturday, she's the place kicker for the football team.

In the winter, she's a sweeper in soccer. In the spring, she's where ever she is needed on the basketball court.

"I can't decide," Sato said when asked which was her favorite sport.

All she remembers is everything started in her youth with soccer. Then came basketball in the Kalaniana'ole Athletic Club and Boys and Girls Club programs. Later, volleyball entered the picture.

When she got to McKinley, she played in all three sports, starting on the varsity as a freshman in soccer and basketball. In soccer, she was an O'ahu Interscholastic Association East first-team all-star and honorable mention for all-state. In basketball, she was an OIA East second-team selection.

Only in volleyball did she need seasoning at JV as a freshman before advancing to varsity her sophomore year, when she was an OIA East honorable-mention selection.

"She hasn't played club volleyball; she's only played school volleyball," McKinley girls volleyball coach Fiona Nepo said. "And she's just practiced her way into being my starting setter. She just picks up fast. She's very athletic. She's an all-around girl."

McKinley athletic director Neal Takamori noticed Sato's leg strength and suggested she try kicking a football. That was two years ago.

"At first her parents didn't want her to come out," Takamori said. "It was just a matter of educating them."

At least one of them.

Chelsie's father, Dwight Sato, said his wife, Dayle, objected at first.

"I said it was up to (Chelsie)," said Sato, a Honolulu Police detective. "As long as she was having fun."

So Sato went out for football. Since volleyball is concurrent with football, she has had to split time. After volleyball practice, she suits up for football practice, which is timed for her to make it for the special teams session, football coach William Moeava said.

So far, Sato has four PATs and, to prove she is no fluke, nailed a 33-yard field goal in a 44-7 win against Pac-Five on Friday.

But it's not to say her football career got off on the right foot. In the Tigers' first game of the season at Wai'anae, she had a field-goal attempt blocked. In the pursuit of the loose football, she got knocked down and found herself under a pile of players.

"It happened so fast," she recalled. "I was sore, but it was fun at the same time."

Meanwhile, there was at least one worried parent in the stands.

"My wife was like, 'What happened to my daughter?' " Sato said. "I was just laughing. It was like nothing. Just part of the game."

Moeava said he has instructed Sato to run off the field in situations such as the blocked kick. But her father, an all-star linebacker for McKinley in 1977 when Takamori was his coach, has different ideas.

"I told her, 'You go after 'em. You're part of the team,' " he said.

Of course, mom isn't the only one sweating Chelsie's safety. So are her other coaches.

"As long as she doesn't do kickoffs," basketball coach Jesse Victorino said. "I told her to kick (the PAT or field goal) and get off the field."

Victorino said some college basketball programs are making inquiries about Sato.

"My only hope is the O-line blocks and that she doesn't get trampled on and she doesn't get injured," Nepo said. "But I think it's great. She loves it. She's athletic, that's great. More power to her."

Moeava said his players have no issues about a girl doing kicking duties.

"They treat her like one of the boys," he said. "They respect her because of her stature in the other sports."

Andrew Mitani, who did the kicking last year, does the kickoffs.

"He's all right with (Sato doing the place-kicking)," Moeava said. "He's our main kick-off guy."

Dwight Sato said his daughter is fortunate to be able to play so many sports. He said through her youth leagues to high school, she has had good coaching at all levels.

Sato has played on the Hawai'i Select basketball teams that competed in tournaments in Las Vegas for Kalaheo coach Chico Furtado the past two summers. She also has spent half her life honing her soccer skills under Jorge Barbosa in HYSA.

"Jorge has taught her a lot," Dwight Sato said. "He teaches (his players) to go hard all the way. That's what I tell her. To go hard all the way. It doesn't matter if you win or lose, you have nothing to be ashamed of if you played your best."

Yet, despite being athletically gifted, Sato is one of the hardest workers in practice.

"She's the kind of player that coaches love: very coachable, very intelligent, great work ethic," Nepo said.

"She's very willing and a gifted athlete," Takamori said. "Her attitude is so great and that's why she's so successful."

Sato said her parents gave her the option of attending a private school. She chose her father's alma mater.

"School is the same," she said. "It's just a matter of how you push yourself."

She has a 3.0 grade point average this semester, her father said.

Her sister, Kylie, is an eighth-grader at Washington Middle and plays the same sports, except football.

Dwight Sato said Kylie has the same option of attending a private or public school. He thinks she'll follow Chelsie because of the opportunity for them to play on the same team.

Chelsie is so unassuming that she easily blends into the McKinley student body. At first, she thought that she was too short to play basketball.

"But my father looked around and saw that there were other (high school) girls my size," she said. "My hopes went up."

Victorino said someone seeing Sato for the first time wouldn't think she would be one of the better players on the court.

"Although she doesn't look it, on the court, she's faster than everyone else," Victorino said. "She's deceptively athletic."

If anything, Sato's activities help keep the family together. Dwight attends as many of his daughters' games as possible. At one time, he admittedly consumed himself with work until a co-worker explained the importance of being around for your children.

"This is a blessing for us," he said.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.