Ryan Tsuji enters his eighth year with the Rainbow Wahine volleyball program, where he will serve as an assistant coach during the 2008 season, filling the void left by Kari Ambrozich while she’s on maternity leave.
Tsuji will help with the preparation and organization of team practices, help with some of the administrative duties and serve as the third bench coach.
Tsuji graduated from the University of Hawai‘i in 2007, earning a bachelor’s degree in political science and communication. He is currently working on his master’s degree in public administration and is scheduled for graduation in May 2009.
He also helped coach the ‘Imi ‘Ike club team that finished second at the Junior Olympics this past summer and placed in the top 15 at the Junior Olympics in each of the previous two years. Current UH players Dani Mafua, Elizabeth Ka‘aihue and Kanani Herring were on those teams.
Tsuji also coached the Pilipa‘a boys volleyball team which captured the 2004 boy’s national championship in Austin, Texas, and placed third the following year at the 2005 Junior Olympics in Louisville, Ky. That team included former Warrior volleyball player Cory Enriques.
He was also the co-founder, along with former UH All-American Lily Kahumoku, of the “Mok-Tsu” volleyball camps that were held on the neighbor islands during the summer of 2003 and is the head coach of the “Rusty Wahine” volleyball team that played in the Club Nationals and Haili tournaments. The team has been made up of former Rainbow Wahine volleyball players including Ashley Watanabe, Lauren Duggins, Kari Gregory, Kanoe Kamana‘o, Nohea Tano, Jennifer Carey, Melissa Villaroman, Aven Lee and Leah Karratti.
Tsuji was a four-year letterwinner in volleyball at Waiakea High School, where he graduated in 2001. He was named honorable mention all-state and first-team all-Big Island Interscholastic Federation. He also helped his club team, Pilipa‘a, place eighth overall at the Junior Olympics in 2001.
Tsuji is from Hilo, Hawai‘i, but currently resides in Honolulu, O‘ahu. He enjoys going to the beach.
