By Estela Marie Lactao Go
STANFORD, Calif. - Maples Pavilion on the night of the 2010 NCAA men's volleyball championship was surreal: Fans screamed wildly, many clad in makeshift `Star Wars' gear. On the court, in front of collection of masked Imperial Stormtroopers, the Cardinal dominated and Brad Lawson proved he was no ordinary collegiate outside hitter.
Lawson, only a sophomore, led Stanford to a sweep of Penn State with a dominating performance. Lawson's hitting percentage of .821 (with 24 kills in 28 attempts) was emblematic of a performance that spoke of an athlete unfettered by pressure.
Alongside him was a family of Cardinal players from Hawaii -- including Spencer McLachlin, and Erik and Kawika Shoji -- who watched Brad transform from a shy 12-year-old, who failed to make the cut on his first club team, to the confident All-American, NCAA tournament MVP, and conference player of the year that he became. All this Lawson accomplished in less than a decade's play of volleyball.
It was around middle school when Lawson decided to give volleyball a serious try. By then, his current Hawaiian teammates McLachlin and Erik Shoji already were jump-serving and playing in the Junior Olympics. They were also teammates on the Punahou School team while Lawson was on the other side of the net with Iolani, the crosstown rival.
Merely an observer on the sidelines watching the formation of great volleyball players, Lawson did not know then that he would be their equal.
"After my first tryout (when I was 12), I was a little intimidated and nervous that I would never be as good as everyone else because a lot of the guys on the team had already been playing with each other for a few years," Lawson said. "To be honest, I didn't know if volleyball was right for me and I considered sticking to soccer because I already knew the sport and had been playing it for years."
But Lawson found a younger club team with kids that also were relatively new to the game. Here, he began learning the fundamentals and developing a passion for the game that evolved to the point where he sacrificed soccer for volleyball - taking the sport from a pastime to a possible profession. On the beach, in the gym, and in his backyard he was bumping, passing, and getting in sync with the volleyball.
"With sports, when they're young, they're kind of all over the place," said Laurie Lawson, Brad's mother. "But when he found volleyball, he found the thing he loved to do like he was made to do it."
In high school, Lawson got to the point where he was living a double volleyball life. While he played on the same club team with current Stanford Hawaiian players, he competed against them in high school matches. This duality was front and center in his senior year during the 2008 Hawaii state volleyball championship. Lawson was on one side with Iolani and his friend and club teammate Erik Shoji was on the other with Punahou, the three-time defending state champions.
"We were the underdogs," Lawson said. "We hadn't beat Punahou in my three years in Iolani and (when we won) it was relieving and amazing."
Lawson has gone on to become a starting All-American who, even as a Stanford freshman, started in all 32 matches and had 400 kills, setting a freshmen school record for the rally-scoring era. The following year, he broke the Stanford season record, with 522 kills.
"When it comes down to it, volleyball has been the sport I've been playing for the past nine years so I am very serious about it," said Lawson, who has professional aspirations.
Being athletic was inevitable; both parents were active in water and land sports and their children naturally gravitated to their interests. Lawson played soccer, baseball, volleyball and paddle surfed at an early age. But beyond athletics, he also grew up around a family with musical abilities. Guitars, pianos, and violas all were played in their Kailua home, right by Diamond Head, on the island of Oahu.
Lawson, named after his maternal grandfather who also sang, joined choir from fourth grade until 12th grade at Iolani. Nine years of singing in the choir molded his enthusiasm for music. He took up the piano and has been part of two garage bands, SummaSounds and TruFlo, that play Hawaiian reggae music.
When Brad was younger, "The teacher would tell me that he was good but that he constantly kept making noises that had to do with song," Laurie said. "He must have obviously been composing things in his head."
When Lawson -- now a junior majoring in science, technology, and society -- is not involved in school or volleyball, he jams with his bandmates at restaurants, graduation parties, and other local venues in Hawaii. But he also has managed to take music to another level. Though he hopes to do something with music in the future, Lawson has collaborated with the Stanford athletics department on a video of him singing the school hymn, "Hail, Stanford, Hail," which has been shown on video boards at Cardinal sporting events.
Just like music, there is a rhythm in volleyball -- in knowing the right moment to jump and spike. Lawson is on key with the notes like he's in sync with the game and in both these passions.
"I think I'm intense when it really matters," he said.
There's always something new to learn, something else to improve on, something more to do.