Talent alone gets the journey started, but completing the ultimate task goes beyond the physical.

Pearl City’s girls bowling team had been close in 2021 and ’22. Last year, the Chargers broke through, ending Kapolei’s two-year state-title run by seizing control on the lanes of Schofield Bowling Center and winning by 605 pins.

For their two-time state champion, Samantha Kanehailua, mastering the skill of focus makes all the difference.

“When I’m sitting down, I’m thinking to myself what I’m going to do on this shot. Where I have to go. It depends on the (oil) pattern. Some people look at the foul line or the arrows or beyond that. I don’t really look at the oil pattern,” said Kanehailua, now a senior. “A lot of bowlers look, but I just bowl and I adjust from that. I’ll sand my ball or tweak it to match the pattern.”

Born into a family of amateur bowlers, having a grandfather with six perfect games on his resume, Kanehailua bowls with a sense of science, but relies mostly on intuition.

“I just throw it. I kind of have some spin, some rotation. I look at the lane for the arrows on a split. I’ll aim on the left side of it, two boards left of where I normally throw it. I don’t really get into the technical stuff. That’s not really my game,” she said.

As a freshman in 2021, Kanehailua racked up a total of 1,504 pins (188 per game) and took the girls individual crown at Leeward Bowl. Pearl City placed third behind Kapolei and ‘Iolani.

In ’22, again at Leeward Bowl, Kanehailua had a stronger tourney with 1,679 pins (209.9 per game), but Jayna Yockman tallied five more pins, combing with sister Janae Yockman to lead Kapolei to a repeat state title.

At Pearl City’s home lanes in Schofield Bowling Center, scores dipped across the board while the Chargers scored high. Kanehailua (1,543, 192.9 per game), Kaila Kamahiai (runner-up, 1,480, 185 per game), Alicen Ichimura (12th, 1,322, 165.3 per game) and her cousin, Jayda Kanakaole (19th, 1,208, 151 per game), led the way as Pearl City was crowned girls state champion for the first time since 2017.

The chemistry of a group of individual athletes can be eternally gratifying. There are cross country runners, air riflery shooters and, yes, bowlers who have become friends for life. Kanehailua knows she was a shy kid, but her friends near and far, at school and in junior bowling, always got her out of that shell.

“Honestly, everyone is funny on my team,” she said. “Who’s the funniest? That would be a hard decision. We all have humor.”

The day is coming when “Sami” will board the plane and head to college. With a 3.7 grade-point average, all arrows are pointing to Nebraska, which hosted her for a visit.

When she leaves, Naomi, her mother, will shed tears. She also often rejoices in her youngest child’s newest adventure. For John Kanehailua, her grandfather, and Tracey Kanehailua, her auntie, the final, bittersweet phase of letting go will be complete. Sami has been equal parts their little girl and their best buddy for the past 17 years.

Naomi worked long hours while “Sami” grew up, commuting to town where she works as a medical assistant. John, a retired airline mechanic, spent all his waking hours with, probably, the last of his grandkids. When John wasn’t driving little Sami to preschool, picking her up, letting her tag along on his many, many trips to the bowling alleys, it was Auntie Tracey who put in the miles and hours.

There was no way to know Sami Kanehailua would become a two-time state bowling champion, but here she is. Once a somewhat introverted youngster, she has transformed into a personable, sociable senior.

Longtime Chargers coach Millie Gomes guided the program to its first girls state championship in 2008. She tried to keep expectations at a realistic level before Kanehailua arrived.

“I knew of her. There was a lot of talk from parents and spectators about how lucky Pearl City was to get her. I’ve been coaching since ’08 and I’ve seen a lot of good bowlers. I’ve seen some who were good and some who improved through states. She’s so steady. She wants to beat everybody, boys and girls,” Gomes said.

Gomes has led Pearl City to seven girls state titles and has managed Joint Base Pearl Harbor and Hickam Bowling Centers for 33 years.

“This girl is naturally outstanding. She doesn’t have to be coached a lot. I had a chance to go with her to Nebraska last year and (the coach) said he wanted his girls to bowl like her. They want her to go there,” Gomes said.

“She reads the lane. She’s very meticulous. Everything has to be perfect. Her hair has to be a certain way. When she dresses for tournaments, she always looks pristine. She looks professional. She’s college material. She’s gotten every title she’s needed to win,” Gomes added.

If anything, the longtime coach noted, there isn’t a whole lot left for Kanehailua to achieve.

“She’s done everything already. She needs to go already,” Gomes said.

John Kanehailua was an amateur boxer, a Kalihi kid who trained at Kalakaua District Park gym. He married the former Ruth Kam and settled in Ewa Beach, where his sons played baseball and his daughters played softball.

When they weren’t playing high school softball, long-defunct Ewa Beach Bowling Center was a hangout by default. In the crispy, scorching heat, kids like Tracey and Naomi found refuge.

“That was the only place with A/C,” said Tracey, who has worked at Leeward Bowl for eight years.

Ewa Beach Bowling Center, which closed its doors in the mid-1990s, was also the site where John Kanehailua had his first perfect game. He threw a 300 in 1977.

When he moved the family to California, it wasn’t complete culture shock.

“My senior year, my parents moved us to Torrance,” Tracey Kanehailua recalled. “My brothers played baseball at North High. We used to go to California every summer. We had friends there, but going to a new school was different.”

John retired in 2006 after 40 years with Continental Airlines. Ruth died of breast cancer in 2008. It was time to come home. They moved in with Tracey — grandpa, Naomi and her two children. Naomi was already carrying Sami when they moved back to the islands.

“My sister said you need to check yourself. I went to the doctor and they told me I had polyps. A month goes by, and I couldn’t tell at the time. My sister brought home a pregnancy test. The test was positive, we end up going to the doctor and it was confirmed (pregnant),” Naomi said.

In Tracey’s house, baby Sami was surrounded by much older half-siblings, and eventually was the lone child under that roof. Tracey’s children were also much older. In some ways, Sami had three parental figures from day one. John consistently encouraged Sami’s natural talent. Tracey ran a tight ship in the house. Naomi resumed single-parent duties every night when she returned home from work.

“I had to be the nurturer and be both parents,” Naomi said. “And that’s hard.”

It was a team effort before Sami ever bowled on a team.

“Auntie Tracey is tough love. She’s the oldest daughter. She has three kids. She’s the boss,” Sami said. “I was, ‘Wow, she does not let me do anything.’ But I started realizing she was being protective of me when I turned 15.”

Grandpa and Auntie miss those days when little Sami would always hold their hands as they walked. Seeing her grow up with so much success on the lanes and in school still sparks mixed emotions.

“We talk about it every day. We have to prepare for her senior night. That’s pretty much our sad moment,” Tracey said. “When she was about 12, she would stand on her own. She didn’t need to hold our hand. I’m more of a hovering person. My sister would say, ‘Let her go.’ “

John poured everything in his heart, all of his knowledge into Sami, who never seriously wanted to try another sport.

“When she was 4, my dad bowled at the senior leagues at Leeward (Bowl), at Hickam, Barber’s Point. Everybody knows her and my dad,” Tracey said. “They knew her from when she was small until now, practicing on the side. He would look for videos on YouTube. ‘This is what you should do.’ He set up a mirror so she can see her walk on approach.”

Sami’s muscle memory for approach and throwing a bowling ball is ingrained.

“I do remember the mirror. It was so long ago, but I only remembered about it recently,” she said.

This is how good a teacher John Kanehailua was and still is: Tracey bowled a 290 last year and Naomi carded a 270 — three decades since graduating from high school.

“At first, it was just a hobby, but when I started getting good, they started getting strict on bowling. It was a big part of my schedule every single day. I always see how happy my Papa was when I bowled tournaments,” Sami said. “It’s been a passion for me ever since. ”

She was 7 when bowling life went to another level.

“There was a tournament in February, a Pepsi tournament,” Tracey said. “In her division (8-and-under), there were only two girls and we wanted to push her up to 10-under. The Yockmans were in that tournament.”

Jayna and Janae Yockman later led Kapolei to the girls state title in 2022 with Jayna edging Kanehailua by five points for top individual honors. On that day was back when Kanehailua was an 8-year-old, it was her first meteoric achievement.

“She had the front seven. That means she had strikes on her first seven frames,” Tracey recalled. “We weren’t sure if that was right. This was at Schofield. A coach said there’s a girl in a blue shirt with front sevens. We thought it was a girl from another club.”

John was not surprised.

“I was there that day. I’ve seen her (score) 200 when she was 7. She was using a 10-pound ball,” he said. “I taught her how to swing the ball. I didn’t want her to carry the ball. First and second dot in the back. Long stride to get there.”

Since then, the constant has been local and mainland tournaments. The sheer volume of attention as she won her first state title as a freshman. The weight on the Chargers team a year later, when they fell to Kapolei in the final game of the state tourney. Redemption in Kanehailua’s junior year.

A trip to Nebraska, one of several schools interested in signing Kanehailua, may have been the highlight of 2024 so far. It began with an in-house guru, a boxer-turned-bowler whose most recent perfect game was in 2016. John Kanehailua was well into his 70s when he carded his sixth 300 game.

“He pushed me to continue bowling even when times get hard. Bowling is not really a sport in some people’s eyes, but he changed my perspective. ‘Don’t listen to others and do what you love instead.’ I stuck with that ever since,” she said. “He was like a leader to me. He would guide me. He wouldn’t be strict, but he made sure I knew what to do. That’s why I love my Papa. He doesn’t really give consequences if I do something wrong.”

Sometimes, the weight of pressure was self-imposed. It was a lot to bear as a young kegler coming to Pearl City with a golden list of junior bowling achievements and huge expectations.

“Once in awhile, there’s an attitude and it’s not so much bowling, but things around her. I try to get her out of that mode,” Gomes said. “That kind of helps her. She’s been bowling since she was 5 and that’s all she knows. The people around her, that’s all she knows. We all sometimes need to be by ourselves, regroup by ourselves. People expect her to win and when she doesn’t, she gets a little bit down on herself.”

Public perception of the sport is something Kanehailua has always been aware of.

“There were times when I felt like I might burn out. On the first day of school, the question is what is your hobby or sport. I would say bowling. Kids would say, ‘Bowling?’ It would affect me in a way. It’s something I worked so hard for. At the end of the day, I would feel ashamed of it and wouldn’t want to do it,” she said. “But after awhile, I didn’t care what other people think.”

One day, she was sitting in class and a couple of classmates had a conversation.

“One of them said, ‘Wow, Pearl City is good at nothing,’ and the other one said, ‘We’re only good at bowling.’ And the first one said, ‘Who the (expletive) does bowling?’ I was sitting there and I didn’t say anything,” she said.

Instead, Kanehailua lets the pin action do all the talking. Her personal high score is 297. She has not peaked. The best is yet to come. She has learned to calm her nerves, her adrenaline, all the external chaos. In junior bowling, her game average is 200, but bends and curves lower and higher from week to week during the offseason. In OIA play so far, it’s around 183, she said.

“It doesn’t really get bad, but it’s still pretty difficult to overcome. The nervousness. The thing I remember to do is to breathe. It really does help. When I get nervous, my heart starts racing. I just think to myself that my body’s telling me, ‘I’m ready.’ It’s more of a feel. Take a deep breath. When I’m ready, I go. Four steps,” Kanehailua said.

When she was around 12, the questions started popping up. Naomi Kanehailua had never told Sami who her father was. By the time the family had moved back to Hawaii, she barely had any of his contact information. To this day, he doesn’t know he has a daughter who is a state-champion bowler. This gap, of course, was part of life in the pre-internet age.

“I didn’t have his phone number. He only had our house phone number. He built the carburetor for this one company, left them and started working for Honda Motocross. I haven’t talked to him in all these years,” Naomi said. “My auntie and sister went by the house where he lived, but he moved.”

Naomi Kanehailua is an open book. There’s nothing to hide from Sami, but there was also nothing to gain from unveiling the lack of information about her father.

“With Sami, it was like she didn’t really ask until she was maybe eighth grade. She really didn’t pursue it until she got to junior year. The only thing she would ask, ‘What is his nationality?’ I know he’s Italian and Irish,” Naomi said. “Bottom line, it’s Caucasian. European.”

There’s a Facebook page they discovered.

“She has it, so if she wanted to message him, I wouldn’t be against it or anything, you know. Kids, sometimes they do those things. They’re inquisitive. That’s between him and her. It would be closure for her,” she said.

Kanehailua would like to meet her father. She’s willing to wait. Like her approach on the lanes, conditions and preparation will have to be just right.

“I think I’m going to try after college,” she said.

Whatever void there may be, much of it has been filled by her mother, auntie and grandfather. All the support and unconditional love she ever needed has always been right by her side, almost hiding in plain view. And she is still meeting more of her Kanehailua ohana.

“The cool thing is, I’ve met my Papa’s side. They’re all from Nanakuli and I met one through bowling. He’s my cousin. His dad is my Papa’s cousin,” she said. “That’s always my goal, to meet them. My Papa was the first of his family to move out of Nanakuli.”

Tight-knit family. Devotion to her sport. In a way, Sami has been incubated in a bowling bubble.

“On the lanes, she can stay focused on her bowling. I told her, this should be your peace,” Tracey Kanehailua said. “This is your domain. If anything gets you down, this is your safe zone. Use it. Nobody can touch you.”

John Kanehailua cherishes everything.

“Sami came a long way. She met all of my expectations that I wanted for her since elementary school. She met all of her grades and her bowling. I’m surprised with her accomplishments. I have all of those since she was in first grade. I have all of her report cards,” he said. “She’s a good listener. She listens.”

She tries her best to walk the walk.

“Do everything in love,” Kanehailua said, noting her favorite scripture (1 Cor. 16:14). “That really helps me. In life, you have to find a way to pull all that off without being negative. Do everything in love, that really helps me.”

Samantha “Sami” Kanehailua

Pearl City bowling

Senior

Top 3 movies

1. “Real Steel”

2. “Bumblebee”

3. “It Ends with Us”

“I’ve seen ‘Real Steel’ at least 25 times. I just like how they have to keep trying. It’s basically robot fighting and they always lose, every single fight.”

Top 3 foods

1. Kalua pig

2. Haupia

3. Rice

“I can eat rice with anything. Just not by itself.”

Top 3 homemade food

1. Uncle Milton (Grado)’s pastele stew

2. Uncle Milton’s beef stew

3. Uncle Milton’s shepherd’s pie

“He rarely makes pastele stew, maybe once every two months. His beef stew is more frequently. He lives with us. He cooks most of the days.”

My Top 3 artists

1. Ekolu – “Just One Night”

2. SZA – “20 Something”

3. Jhené Aiko – “Bed Peace”

“Jhené has different genres. She made some really calm music when she was younger.”

Smartest teammate: “I would say Alicen Ichimura because she really knows how to play the lanes when the pattern continues to get difficult.”

GPA: 3.69

“I’m a senior, so I have two T.A. periods, so I do homework. I don’t like to procrastinate. I used to do that a lot, but it stresses me out too much so I like to get it done.”

My favorite teacher: Mr. (Almendro) Fernandez. “He’s my English teacher in freshman year and this year, as well. Not only because he helps me with English, but I can talk to him about difficulties in school, reality without judgment. He’s a go-to teacher.”

My favorite class: Economics.

“Because it really does show you how the ‘outside world’ is. After high school, there is a percentage of students that have absolutely no idea what they are going to do.”

My favorite scripture: “God is within her she will not fail.” Psalm 45:5

“This scripture really helped me when life gets bumpy, because no matter what, you can always lean on God for support.

Hidden talent: Dancing

“I dance for my school’s music club. I’m definitely not perfect at it, but once you get the dance down, it’s like therapy and I enjoy doing it. I started dancing sophomore year. I do Hawaiian, Tongan and Samoan.”

My bucket list: “I really wanted to jump off the rock at Waimea. It took an hour, but I did it. Now I can say I did it.”

Time travel: “I would travel back to my elementary days! Waiau Elementary. One time, I went on a ālama the ‘Āina! It felt so great to help the community. We went to a lo‘i patch and helped clean.”

If I could go back in time, I would tell my younger self?

“Everything is going to be OK, with God. I would always try to make sure I had my life planned out, but the thing is, that’s not going to happen. You can only control the controllable. I would stress myself out too much sometimes, not realizing that life is too precious to dwell on anything. Instead, leave it up to the king himself!”