Joshua Ortega accepted a challenge this past season, agreeing to become the Ka’u High School boys volleyball team’s head coach, and he’s glad he did. Joshua Ortega accepted a challenge this past season, agreeing to become the Ka‘u High School
Joshua Ortega accepted a challenge this past season, agreeing to become the Ka‘u High School boys volleyball team’s head coach, and he’s glad he did.
After all, it’s not easy starting your head coaching career with a young squad that has only one senior and a number of inexperienced players.
But Ortega, 27, stepped up to the net and relied upon his years of experience playing volleyball and being around his hanai father, Guy Enriques, the highly successful Kamehameha-Hawaii head coach, to lead the Trojans to an 11-3 record in the Big Island Interscholastic Federation’s Red Division for the 2011-12 season.
For his efforts, Ortega was named the Red Division’s Coach of the Year. His talented junior, Donald Garo Jr., earned the division’s Player of the Year honors for the Trojans.
The division all-stars were determined by a vote of the league coaches.
“We had a young team with only two or three returnees,” Ortega said. “But we did pretty well, and it was a learning experience for all of us. I just tried to get the players to work on their games and learn some life lessons. We talked about making the right choices in life and playing for each other in volleyball. It’s a team game, and we’re all family.
“We started out with 12 players and ended up with 10. The players practiced hard every day, and we just wanted to have fun and enjoy volleyball. I’m really proud of my team, and I’m looking forward to coming back and coaching next year.”
He said the move from assistant coach to head coach wasn’t easy.
“As an assistant you can show up for practice whenever you want and not have much responsibility,” Ortega said. “But as head coach, you’ve got to take on a lot more responsibilities and make sure things get done the right way. It was a lot more responsibility, but I enjoyed being the head coach and trying to establish my own program.”
Ortega, who works as a PTP teacher at the school, graduated from Ka‘u High in 2003. In that year, he played volleyball on the first Trojans boys team that earned a berth in the Hawaii High School Athletic Association volleyball tournament.
Garo, a 6-foot-2 outside hitter, was a force this past season for the Trojans. His strong blocking and hitting were keys to Ka‘u battling on fairly even terms with Red Division frontrunner Honokaa (13-1) and Christian Liberty (11-3). He teamed with senior Holden Galigo to provide the Trojans with consistency and leadership.
“Donald started the season off strong,” Ortega said. “We lost to Christian Liberty by a couple of points, and he played well. But during the season, he struggled some before finishing up strong. He had a good year and hopefully will play even better next year as a senior.”
Garo is looking forward to a return to the volleyball court and seeing how far the Trojans can go during the 2012-13 season.
“I’m happy with how this season went,” the Ka‘u standout said. “We had a new coach and almost everybody else was new. But we improved and had a pretty good season. Next year, we hope to be better and maybe make it to states.”
Garo is joined on the Red Division first team by teammate Galigo, a 5-10 outside hitter, Konawaena’s Gabriel Trevino, a 6-0 sophomore outside hitter; Christian Liberty’s Keenan Freitas, a 5-11 junior outside hitter, and Preston Cawagas, a 5-4 senior libero; and Honokaa’s Kawika Aurello, a 5-10 senior outside hitter, and Wayne Vaoga, a 5-8 sophomore right-side hitter.
The Red Division second team includes Christian Liberty’s Joven Miguel, a 5-6 senior setter, and Keanu Bergfeld, a 6-4 junior middle blocker; Konawaena’s Allan Fukushima, a 5-7 junior defensive specialist, and Kaua Puotu, a 6-3 senior setter; Hualalai Academy’s Randall Honor, a 5-11 senior outside hitter; Honokaa’s Keanu Freitas, a 5-11 junior outside hitter; and St. Joseph’s Isaac Pacheco, a 5-7 senior setter, and Cody Andrade, a 6-4 senior middle blocker.
