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The KS Kapālama Athletics Department will host an inter-squad scrimmage featuring the U.S. Men’s Olympic Volleyball Team on Friday, July 27 at 7 p.m. at Kekūhaupi‘o Gym.The inter-squad exhibition will feature Micah Christenson (center), a 2011 graduate of KSK who serves as the team’s starting setter. PHOTOS COURTESY: Hawaii Media Source

KS Kapālama to host U.S. Menʻs Olympic Volleyball Team scrimmage on July 27

Jul. 23, 2018

Contributed by Kyle Galdeira

The Kamehameha Schools Kapālama Athletics Department will host an inter-squad scrimmage featuring the U.S. Men’s Olympic Volleyball Team on Friday, July 27 at 7 p.m. at Kekūhaupi‘o Gym.

The U.S. squad includes 2011 KS Kapālama graduate Micah Christenson, who currently serves as the team’s starting setter. The scrimmage marks the end of a week-long stay on O‘ahu for the team, which is coming off a stretch of 18 matches in six countries over the past six weeks.

Tickets for the exhibition will be sold at the door starting at 5 p.m. on the evening of the match, and are general admission at $10 apiece; parking in the adjacent structure is free. The team will also scrimmage on Saturday, July 28 at 6 p.m. at Kalani High School.

Two summers ago, Christenson helped lead the U.S. men’s team to the Rio Olympics where the squad claimed the bronze medal by defeating Russia in a five-set thriller.

At KS Kapālama, Christenson won three state player of the year awards in volleyball (1) and basketball (2), led his teams to six state championship games, and helped the Warriors win the 2011 volleyball title as well as the 2009 and 2011 basketball titles. He was named to the 2011 Hawai‘i High School Athletic Association Hall of Honor and was selected as a “Volleyball Magazine” All-American.

The Honolulu native excelled at the collegiate level with USC where he became a three-time All-American. Christenson won the Lloy Ball Award as the nation’s top setter twice before graduating from USC in 2015 with a degree in human biology.

According to school records, Christenson is the first KS graduate to compete for the United States in the Olympic Games since 1968. That year, KS Kapālama Elementary School teacher and 1963 graduate Barbara Perry played for the U.S. women’s volleyball team and 1955 graduate Pedro Velasco played for the U.S. men’s volleyball team. Velasco was also a member of the 1964 U.S. Olympic volleyball team.

Kelsey Nakanelua, a 1984 graduate, also competed in track in the 2000 and 2004 Olympics for American Samoa.

KS Kapālama also produced some of the most heralded U.S. National Team swimmers of the early 20th Century. Duke Kahanamoku participated in four Olympics (1912, ‘20, ‘24 and ‘32), winning three gold and two silver medals. Warren Paoa Kealoha won gold in the 100m backstroke in both the 1920 and ‘24 Olympics, while Pua Kealoha won a gold and a silver medal in the 1920 Olympics.



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