Farrington athlete lands leadership role while sidelined by injury

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – As the high school girls volleyball playoffs continue, Farrington, the OIA DII runner ups are fueled by the support of one of their star athletes that hasn’t been on the court all season.
Volleyball was Mia Maiava’s whole life until a heartbreaking injury sidelined her for her entire senior season. That forced her to dive deeper into some of her other talents — ones she never knew she had.
A star in the making for the Lady Govs, Maiava was hopeful that a standout senior year would lead to a college offer.
That dream quickly became undone when she tore her ACL and meniscus during a club match, forcing her to rethink her identity.
“I definitely struggled mentally because I was then thinking about, what am I gonna do after high school? Because I’ve always depended on volleyball, so now I had to expand my options, and it can’t just be volleyball. It made me really think what if volleyball is done, what’s the next step,” said Maiava.
While the harsh reality of not being an athlete set in, Maiava knew it was time to build her college resume.
Born and raised in Kalihi, she takes pride in representing her home town, and thought what better way to impact the school than running for student body president.
“Student body definitely saved me, while I was doing rehab, it was a good way give me some sort of passion, feeling obligated to do something,” said Maiava.
After winning the school election, Maiava set out to follow through on all of her promises.
She describes her leadership as hands on, including taping posters around campus to promote an upcoming Halloween event.
“To be honest, president is just a title. If no one’s here, I’ll do it,” said Maiava.
Outside of student council, she’s also an active member of community service groups that help students obtain their required number of hours for graduation.
Despite a jam-packed schedule, Maiava still shows up to every practice.
She’s focused on helping the Lady Govs prepare for the state tournament in whatever capacity she can.
“Chase balls, stand around, and even cheering them on, ‘Okay let’s do this,’ because she has so much experience playing the last few years and being a senior, a lot of times we need a senior leadership,” said Farrington head coach Raymond Patcho.
Maiava says she still hopes to return to the court later this year for club season.
After graduation, she plans to leave the islands and study law in college.
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