After a radical coaching makeover and before practice starts in two weeks, Rainbow Wahine basketball took time to focus on its long-term future.

Moloka'i High School junior Kalei Adolpho has verbally committed to play basketball and volleyball when she matriculates to Manoa in 2011. She will be on a basketball scholarship because the NCAA considers it the dominant sport with 15 scholarships to volleyball's 12.

Adolpho is 6 feet 1 and plays the post for the Farmers, who became the Maui Interscholastic League's first girls basketball state champions last March when they won the Division II title. The All-State center is working on her versatility before she comes to UH.

"I'm just trying to work on being a more all-around player because I know I won't be a center in college," Adolpho said. "I'm working on dribbling and shooting."

She might have a tutor in Sydney Haydel, a senior at Harvard-Westlake in North Hollywood, Calif. Haydel has also verbally committed to Rainbow Wahine basketball. In high school, the 5-foot-8 Haydel plays center and averaged 10 points and eight rebounds as a junior. On her California Storm Team Taurasi summer squad, the left-hander is an accomplished point guard. The Storm was ranked fourth in the country by espn.com last season after winning the Nike Summer Showcase.

"I'm a really loud, energetic person and like being able to control the game," Haydel said from her home in Woodland Hills. "It's really important to me. After playing all season with my back to the basket it's really nice to face it. I like passing and finding people to hit open shots. It's a lot more fun from way outside."

The Rainbows' new staff — head coach Dana Takahara-Dias and assistants Da Houl and Serenda Valdez (Patrick Knapp was added last week) — not only convinced Haydel to take a flyer on a team in its infancy, they convinced her it would be an excellent adventure.

"I loved the coaches," Haydel said. "I talked to them in July right after junior club season. They were great. Everybody seemed really excited and enthusiastic about the program. I love that it's a completely new coaching staff. I think they're doing a great job turning the program around. I just got back from my visit and who can resist Hawai'i? The weather ... it reminds me of California so much. And the beach is clean.

"I hope to come in and get a WAC title."

Haydel goes to an "independent college preparatory day school" with about 900 students in grades 10 to 12. Adolpho goes to a school of less than 400 that has to fly to every away game. She isn't intimidated by the big city, where she has "a few cousins and an uncle" and is already familiar with Takahara-Dias, who coached her the last two years on the Team Aloha all-star travel squad.

"She's intense, but she's really nice about it," Adolpho said. "I think she's really patient."

Adolpho is working on that attribute. Expanding her game is the focus in basketball, where she had 21 points, 19 rebounds and six blocks in last season's Division II championship game. In volleyball, she is concentrating on speeding up her game. UH coaches told her she could play in middle or outside in college and she is coming to grips with the difficulty of putting her game in another gear when the competition is not always in the fast lane.

"I know I've got to be faster and so I guess I'm trying to work on that, but it's hard because I can't work on going faster if the game I'm playing is not fast," Adolpho said. "Then I'd be in my own little world. I'll try to work on that."

Adolpho does not have an offseason, going from volleyball to basketball and track and field, where she was third in the state in high jump last May. She also does the distance runs and is now training for the 400 and 800. Haydel finished third in the shot put at last season's CIF championship. Neither has time to worry about what awaits them in a program re-inventing itself.

"It's a little scary, but at the same time it's exciting," Haydel said. "The coaches are new, I'm new. I'm really excited about working with them. I'm going to love being part of a new era."

Official practice for this year's team begins Oct. 16. The Rainbow Wahine play an exhibition against Hawai'i Pacific Nov. 4. They open in Southern California, playing UC Riverside Nov. 17, UCLA two days later and Cal State Bakersfield two days after that. Haydel hopes to be at all three.

NOTES

Rainbow Wahine basketball has created the Triple Threat club, for players, coaches and boosters. Its focus in the inaugural year is to gain members to provide community and financial support. Byron Cheng is president.

The club's goal is to provide funding for summer school tuition, renovation of the locker room, enhanced technology for recruiting and strategic purposes, funding for academic advisors, post- and pre-game meals and otherwise supplement the team's budget. For more information, call 956-4507.