She had aspirations of pursuing criminals, but instead will spend the foreseeable future chasing down soccer balls and shooting goals instead.

Kahuku native Natasha Kai is using her considerable talent and outstanding athletic ability as a forward on the U.S. Women's National soccer team, which starts Olympic play two days before the actual start of the Olympics.

She is enjoying her best season with one of the best soccer teams in the world with 12 of her 20 career goals scored in 2008. The U.S. won Olympic gold in 2004, but is coming off a third-place finish in the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup.

Kai's role will likely elevate with the absence of forward Abby Wambach, who broke her leg in the team's final game before the Olympics.

Yet seven years ago Kai, who is the first female soccer player from Hawai'i to make the U.S. National team, took a much-needed break from soccer that propelled her to where she is now.

After enduring a "rough senior year" at Kahuku with school and soccer, Kai decided to take a year off to preserve her passion for the game.

"I talked to my parents and talked to (University of Hawai'i coach Pinsoom Tenzing) and we all agreed that if I came straight into college after high school, I probably would have quit soccer and dropped out of school," she said in an e-mail.

Instead, she took the time to "soul search." She worked a 9-to-5 job at the cafeteria at Brigham Young-Hawai'i in La'ie.

"I didn't touch a soccer ball the whole year, but I went to the beach, hung out with my friends and played some rugby," Kai said. "At that time, I never, ever thought I would end up as an Olympian. I thought my soccer career would end after college. I didn't think I would have a chance, being from Hawai'i, to be on the highest level of soccer. I now have the opportunity to live my dream."

After that year she returned to the sport she grew up loving and dominating, winning the Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year honor an unprecedented three times and shattering UH's record books including points (162), goals (72) and shots (446).

She took that success to the next level when she was invited to the under-21 national team in 2004, when she led the team in scoring with 12 goals.

But injuries hindered her progress with the team and she missed the 2005 season while recovering from shoulder surgery. She was invited back to the U-21 team in 2006 before being called up to the full national team in that same year.

"For me, I think that everything happens for a reason," Kai said. "I took a hard path while others took a different path, but yet through my struggles I found a way to overcome the adversity and become the person I am today. Because of that, I don't look back to any decisions I made or anything I (did), because my life experience has brought me here and I'm happy."

Her post-soccer path would ideally lead her back to Hawai'i where she plans to apply to the police department.

To do so she may have to tone down the rock-star image and mentality that put her in advertisements for the Nike and "Got Milk?" campaigns, although much of her self-expression will remain permanently in the form of tattoos that cover parts of her body, including a "sleeve" down her right arm.

"People ask me all the time about my tattoos, but I tell them that it's a cultural thing," she said. "It's where I'm from. Each one means something different to me. As far as any more, we'll see. Right now, I'm happy with the way they are."