Late Friday evening in a near empty Kodiak High School gym, Dale Reft turned to his daughter Tara. “For the first time playing together you guys did awesome,” he told his daughter who was standing right next to him down the visitors’ sideline. Tara, a ninth-grader at Karluk, had just played in her first-ever volleyball match for the PAKLOOK Puffins.

PAKLOOK, which is also known as Servant Air, sponsors the team. PAKLOOK is an acronym that stands for Port Lions, Akhiok, Karluk, Larsen Bay, Old Harbor, Ouzinkie and Kodiak. +show/-hide rest of the story

PAKLOOK is a fitting name for a team that has players on it from four different schools around the Kodiak archipelago. Along with Reft, the lone player from Karluk, the team fields players from Akhiok, Larsen Bay and Danger Bay. And even though, PAKLOOK lost five straight sets to Kodiak’s C-squad team and Port Lions, Dale couldn’t wipe the smile from his face.

“I’m very proud of her,” he said. And, for good reason. Tara is the first volleyball player from Karluk since 1984, a team her father played on. “I didn’t expect her to join a volleyball team,” he said. Tara didn’t expect to, either. And up until three weeks ago volleyball was the furthest thing from her mind. That was until she received a phone call to join PAKLOOK. She accepted the challenge, and a challenge it is.

Last Friday was the first time she hit a ball around with her new teammates and that was only minutes before the first match of the season. Prior to that, Tara practiced with her 11-yearold sister and teacher in a gym that is smaller than a volleyball court. There were more volleyballs — 10 — than players.

Twenty-five minutes away by plane, on the south side of Kodiak Island, a handful of Tara’s teammates practiced at Akhiok. They also practiced in a gym smaller than a volleyball court and used a net that sits lower than regulation. “Our biggest challenge is trying to serve and to think about whether the ball is going to be in the court,” PAKLOOK coach Rachel Hinman said. Hinman is one of two teachers at Akhiok. Her husband is the other. They’ve been teaching at the village school for the past five years. Hinman’s been coaching for all of that time. This is the first year under Hinman that Akhiok is the main school of the co-op team.

“This is pretty unique for Akhiok,” she said. She admits it is a challenge having players located at different schools. “When you bring players together, especially when they haven’t played together before, they don’t know what to do. They don’t know where to move. They don’t know what their positions are,” Hinman said. “So it makes it really difficult to coach. “As long as the other players are willing to work with the them, which they were willing to do, it eases those players that are still unsure of how to play.” Hinman played for Juneau-Douglass her senior year of high school and practiced at the college level at the University of Hawaii-Hilo. Despite the challenges that face her team she is looking forward to the rest of the season. “I’m excited to see what happens,” she said. “This is an exciting year.”

On Oct. 29, PAKLOOK is playing in a mix-six tournament on the Kenai Peninsula, before returning home to finish its season against Old Harbor and Ouzinkie. The top village mix-six team will represent Kodiak Island at the region tournament in November. “I think they have a pretty good potential to go the regionals,” Hinman said. “They are a pretty strong team. I am pretty proud of them.”

Mirror writer Derek Clarkston can be reached via e-mail at sports 'at' kodiakdailymirror.com.