Tanya Fuamatu-Anderson and Heidi Illustre

By Yu Shing Ting

Local volleyball stars Tanya Fuamatu-Anderson and Heidi Ilustre are hitting the beach — and getting paid for it. Fuamatu-Anderson and Ilustre, who had illustrious careers in college ball — Fuamatu-Anderson at UH-Hilo and Ilustre at UH-Manoa — are now climbing their way up the rankings and gaining respect in the beach volleyball circuit with the Association of Volleyball Professionals.

The only Hawai‘i female players on tour this year, the statuesque duo are representing the state with an ace. Their next match is Sept. 2-5 in Chicago. The AVP pro beach volleyball season runs from about April through October.
“On tour, we’re known as the Hawaiians,” says Fuamatu-Anderson. “But it’s funny because neither of us is Hawaiian.”

Fuamatu-Anderson, who is one of 11 children including brother Chris Fuamatu-Maafala of the Jacksonville Jaguars, is Samoan. Ilustre, who was born and raised in Carson, Calif., is Filipino and Chinese.

“People don’t even call us by our names,” adds Ilustre. “They’ll ask, ‘Who are you playing?’ and the other people will say, ‘Oh, the Hawaiians.’”

Fuamatu-Anderson, 30, and Ilustre, 26, have been playing together for three seasons. This season, so far, they have four ninth place finishes, one 13th place finish and two 17th place finishes (out of 24 to 32 teams). Their current overall ranking is 13th.

The majority of their expenses are paid for by their winnings, and the rest comes out of pocket. So far, this year, they’ve each made about $5,000 in prize money. For the three years, so far, it’s about $12,000.

“This is probably the most successful season by far in the last three seasons,” says Ilustre. “It’s not a complete change from before, but our friendship off the court has gotten a lot closer. In the last two years, we’ll have practice and then she’ll do her thing and I’ll do mine. This year, we hang out a lot more.

“She’s like my older sister. I’ll call her for advice. We’ve improved our chemistry on the court and I think that’s the biggest difference from the last two years.”

“I think when we go to tour on the Mainland, we definitely learn to appreciate each other,” adds Fuamatu-Anderson. “Our teamship is not perfect. We don’t always agree and sometimes we can get on each other’s nerves, but our drama is not half as bad as what we see on the Mainland.

“This whole year has been awesome. Our goal now is to try to break into the top eight. We’ve been one round shy from breaking into the top eight.”

Off the court, Fuamatu-Anderson works for Verizon Hawai‘i as a line worker. Growing up in Kalihi, she started playing volleyball at age 12 competing in the Police Athletic League (PAL) at Palama. The University Lab School graduate would then go on to play for UH-Hilo from 1992 to 1996.

As a four-year starter at Hilo, Fuamatu-Anderson was the NAIA national player of the year in 1993, the Jeep Eagle Aloha Bowl Female Athlete of the Year in 1993, and was twice named Pacific West Conference Player of the Year after the university moved into the NCAA’s Division II. In 2001, she was inducted to the UH-Hilo Vulcans Hall of Fame.

Ilustre, who was working at Headstart, took the summer off to concentrate on volleyball. As the AVP season comes to an end, she will start working at Hula Grill in Waikiki as a hostess. She will also continue to enter volleyball tournaments in hopes of qualifying for the Southeast Asian Games to be held in December 2005 in Manila.

“I want to represent the Philippines,” says Ilustre. “The first tournament is in Thailand in January. I have to play in these tournaments to get points and for the Philippines to see me play. If I get to play for them, then the government takes over and pays us.”

A graduate of Bishop Montgomery High School in Torrance, Calif., Ilustre moved to Hawaii to play for UH from 1996 to 1999. She then played pro indoor volleyball in Belgium but returned before the season ended. Her college career highlights include being named to the all-WAC second team and selected for the WAC all-tournament team in 1998. In high school, she was a Junior Olympic gold medalist in 1993, a member of the 1994 Division II CIF champions, and selected as a first-team All-American for Junior Olympics.

She has a younger sister, Hedder, who also played for UH, and an older brother, Harbell. It was at recess in eighth grade when Ilustre discovered her enjoyment for volleyball. Soon after she joined the Nike Ichiban Volleyball Club.
“Tanya and Heidi are professionals and I think that one synonym best describes them,” says Randy Morris, who along with Paul McCurdy runs the Oahu Volleyball Association (OVA). “They are competitive, honest and can be very tenacious. They’re very well respected and have a lot of integrity. And they’re very dominant.”

Fuamatu-Anderson and Ilustre partnered up after seeing each other in local OVA tournaments. The OVA is a non-profit beach volleyball organization that puts on about eight to 10 tournaments per year at Queen’s Surf beach. The next event is this weekend.

“I had just started to play beach volleyball and wanted to play on tour,” recalls Ilustre. “Then Tanya called me up one day and asked if I wanted to play with her. We knew each other but we didn’t hang out. So we played in one tournament together and we just kind of clicked. Our personalities go well together.

“If you get to know us we’re big goofballs. We take the game seriously and we’re competitive, but you’ll see us smiling and having fun at the same time.”

Fuamatu-Anderson and Ilustre train year-round. They practice at Queen’s Surf beach for about two hours every Saturday and Sunday morning and for about an hour and a half two more times during the week. Regulars like Morris and Keoki Shupe will often play against them.

They also do strength training twice a week with trainers 1Barry Toyama, Darin Yap and Wayne Hudson of Tactical Strength and Conditioning, which is their main sponsor. Ilustre is also sponsored by the Honolulu Club.
“Some local places will give us stuff, but money-wise it’s tough,” says Fuamatu-Anderson of getting sponsorships. “A few times Big City Diner comped our meal and that’s cool. They’re awesome here.”

The pair usually stop at the popular Kaimuki eatery after their practices. And it’s where MidWeek met up with them for this interview.

But even with a relatively small tournament purse and lack of sponsors, Fuamatu-Anderson and Ilustre say they are thankful just to be able to play the sport that they love so much.

“It’s every volleyball girl’s dream — to play at the pro level,” explains Ilustre. “And just to have an opportunity to play at the next level is awesome. We get to play against girls that take this sport very seriously and in turn it’s making us work harder here at home.”

While Fuamatu-Anderson and Ilustre are the only two females on the AVP tour from Hawaii, the men’s side features a few more familiar names with Hawaii ties including Kevin Wong, Scott Wong, Alika Williams, Mike Lambert and Stein Metzger.

“During the tour everyone is very serious,” says Fuamatu-Anderson, whose husband Josh Anderson will sometimes accompany her on tour. “So every time we pass the Hawaii guys we shaka at each other, but that’s about it.”

“And when we do get to talk they’ll tell us how much they miss it here,” adds Ilustre. “And how they envy us because we’re always here and they’re on the Mainland.”

Fuamatu-Anderson and Ilustre plan to play together again next year with a goal of breaking into the top 8 in overall ranking. Highlights and the finals of their next match in Chicago will be aired live on NBC on Sept. 5.

For the first time since 1992, the AVP added Hawaii to its schedule (Queen’s Surf beach Sept. 23- 25).