In Hawaiian language, "ho'okahi" translates "to make one."
On Mondays and Thursdays over the next few weeks, GoSwords.com will talk to select returning student-athletes from all 10 Chaminade University sports about how they are learning from home, keeping busy and coping with the current situation.
Featured here is
Desmond Mello of men's golf. The Kaneohe, O'ahu, Hawai'i native has been one of the Silverswords' top golfers since joining the program in September 2018 and, in the 2019 Pacific West Championships, was in contention for the men's individual title heading into the final day. Mello, a senior, plans on taking advantage of the NCAA exemption to grant another year of eligibility to spring sport student-athletes and return for the 2021 championship year.
Q (GS.com): What are you missing the most about Chaminade?
A (ES): What I miss most about Chaminade is being in the classroom joking with all of my friends. I miss seeing and going to lunch with my friends and also my teammates. I also miss talking stories with my teachers about what's going on in the world.
Q: Outside of distance learning, what are you doing to pass the time?
A: Over the past month or so I've been watching a ton of different movies and TV shows on streaming devices such as Amazon Prime and Netflix. This time has allowed me to spend a lot more time with my family because now I am at home all the time. I take time every day to train and exercise to stay in shape because if I don't I will gain a lot of weight because my mom cooks delicious meals that I can't stop eating. Also all I want to do when I watch movies or TV shows is eat snacks.
Q: What are you doing to keep your spirits up during the situation?
A: Being an athlete, it is extremely hard to not be able to watch live sports on TV. Watching sports is almost an everyday thing for me so not having any sort of competition to watch sucks. But I see some of my favorite athletes continuing to work hard and do at-home workouts to stay in shape so that makes me want to be ready for when the economy does open up again. I work out and practice swinging my clubs everyday so that when everything opens up I can hit the ground running instead of being set back because of laziness and not being self-disciplined to take this time that I have to make myself stronger and become better.
Q: How are you staying connected with you coaches and teammates?
A: I've been in touch with some of my teammates through our group message which includes everyone on the team and coach. I have talked to my coach on the phone a couple of times just asking about the situation with everything and making sure she is doing fine as well as her family. Also I've been talking to my good buddy on the team (
Jeren Nishimoto) at least three times a week through FaceTime. It's awesome to just talk and catch up with what's going on even though we've been just at home dying to get out of the house. We always talk about getting back onto the golf course and playing again and also hopefully going to the beach to go fishing soon.
Q: Have you learned any new skills or picked up new hobbies that you otherwise would not have if not for the current situation?
A: My newest hobby is making bomb fresh fruit smoothies. After a couple days of some trials, I can say now that I have mastered it and I know exactly how much of all the ingredients I need to add to make it perfect. If it wasn't for this pandemic I'm not sure that I would ever accomplish becoming a master smoothie maker. I've also learned how to do some things around the house such as change light fixtures. Although I thought it was way too complicated and was nervous to burn down my house, I have successfully changed all nine fixtures outside of my house.
Q: What is your favorite on-the-field or on-court memory from this past 2019-20 year?
A: My favorite memory from this past season is being on the road with my teammates. Being on the road with each other for over a week really allows us to bond and enjoy each other's company. Having to go to the store to get groceries for dinner and then cooking is never a dull moment with my teammates and that is something that I will always remember.
Q: What is the first thing you will do after we return to a sense of "normalcy?"
A: Well there's a lot of things on my mind that I want to do, but the first thing I'm going to do is get my safety check because it is two months expired. Then the next thing that I want to do is take my girlfriend out to a nice "sit down" dinner at (a nice restaurant) because it's been awhile since we were able to do that. On bigger terms I would like to reschedule my trip to Vegas I had to cancel due to the coronavirus which sucked but was the right decision because it wouldn't have been the same if I went and everything was closed anyway.
