Kayelah Arakaki cries a lot. That’s OK, because she laughs a lot, too.

She’s usually happy-go-lucky, but watch out. When it’s crunch time, she is going to get the job done for her team or … well … she’ll most certainly cry her eyes out.

As a senior captain of the Pearl City judo team, she’s no crybaby, though. Those tears are shed after enormous difficulties on the mat or basketball court. It’s in her DNA to not disappoint those close to her.

She takes her judo seriously, and Chargers judo coach Robin Puahala takes Arakaki seriously.

"I am SO lucky to have her," Puahala said. "She is always lifting everybody’s spirits up. If I need anything done, I go to her and I know it will get done. Her main attribute is her infectious quality, and her ability to get everybody on board."

During an interview after being pulled away from practice Friday, Arakaki had one eye on the team and one eye and nearly her full attention on the interviewer while smiles or laughs were constantly emanating from her hapa face.

It took her about five seconds to name her nine nationalities (including Irish, which explains the freckles) and she also took just a bit longer to go through all the Pearl City judo captains since she was a freshman.

"Everyone, especially the freshmen, look up to her," Puahala said.

Sometimes captains have the title only. Not so in Arakaki’s case. She is, for instance, probably the only person on the team who can tell boys captain Jackson Fuamatu what to do.

And that’s saying something! Fuamatu is a 6-foot, 220-pound intimidating defensive end who also fought back in the final seconds of regulation and in overtime to win a state wrestling title.

"When Jackson says something, everybody jumps," Arakaki said. "He is such a role model, it’s ridiculous."

Still, Puahala insists, Fuamatu will defer to Arakaki. She means that much to the program.

"I can be the ‘B’ word sometimes," she admitted, laughing, of course.

None of that attitude is for selfish reasons, however.

"It’s all about my teammates and what we do as a team," she said.

Individually, Arakaki placed second in the state at 139 pounds last year and will try to go one better in May. Last weekend, she won the OIA West title.

Team-wise, the Chargers girls are three-time defending state champions and six-time defending OIA titlists.

A starting captain in basketball, Arakaki scored 34 points in a game this season.

"The coaches told me, ‘We need you to score,’ and that’s why I kept shooting," she said. "When coaches say they want something, I do not want to disappoint them."

A self-described tomboy in her younger days, Arakaki said her parents taught her that she was just as strong as boys. Lesson learned … and she played linebacker in youth football and was so proficient at throwing the football that her uncles all wanted to play catch with her to see for themselves.

But for all that toughness, Arakaki has no problem showing her emotions.

One of the times she cried her eyes out was after a loss in last year’s state final to Aiea’s Kari Okubo.

"I had been coaching all of her matches all year, but during this match, I couldn’t be there," Puahala said. "I was coaching another match going on at the same time, and I felt so bad. She was devastated."

It was Arakaki’s third loss to Okubo, with the other two coming in the OIA final and the OIA West final.

"I thought I was tougher," Arakaki said Friday.

This year, however, the doubt Arakaki had in her mind about losing those three times was allayed a bit. Okubo moved up to 154 pounds, but Puahala matched them up in a meet.

"She was giving up 15 to 20 pounds, but Kayelah was the aggressor and it turned out to be a draw," Puahala said.

In business class, Arakaki is working on running a "judo day" to promote the sport, and she is lucky to have the help of Kevin Asano, who won a silver medal in the 1988 Olympics.

The daughter of Val and James Arakaki, Kayelah gets a lot of her inspiration from teammate Netanya Kang, and they push each other, Puahala said.

She also gets inspiration from her late grandfather, Lawson Arakaki, who died when she was a sophomore. Everywhere she goes, she carries a vial that once contained some of his ashes.

Last year, Arakaki was close to being kept out of states because of a shoulder injury.

"The doctor said I would be out three weeks and states was in one week. I was ready to cry my eyes out, but he was kidding," she said.

As for the 2015 states coming up May 9, she said, "It means a lot."

And if she doesn’t win?

"I’ll cry a little bit."

THE TOP 10

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