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A family of Warriors

By Robert Collias 7 min read

Nearly everything has changed for him and his family in the last 10 months, but the beaming smile on Bala Spencer's face remains the same.

A few things are like old times for the former Kamehameha Schools Maui girls volleyball coach. He's back at home after months away, and when a familiar visitor enters the room where he rests on a large bed, there are still handshakes and nods.

Much, however, is missing since Spencer suffered a massive stroke following surgery for a dissected aorta last year. He did not respond to the operation, which took place on Nov. 23, and a CAT scan performed four days later revealed the stroke affecting much of the left side of his brain.

It profoundly limited his speech and movement, but his family -- both those who live under his roof and the Kamehameha ohana -- are providing their support.

"Coach Bala is in there," his wife, Lisa Spencer, said last week. "He's just waiting to come out."

Lisa Spencer is at her husband's side nearly every minute of the day. She helps Bala get into his wheelchair, put on his clothes, brush his teeth, comb his hair, bathe and communicate.

Bala Spencer got out of the hospital on Feb. 2. More than four months at two different rehabilitation centers on Oahu were required before he and his wife, both 49, returned home on June 14.

Spencer has physical therapy three times a week to build strength and dexterity in his right leg, speech therapy three times a week as he tries to regain his ability to talk and occupational therapy twice a week for his upper body.

"Hopefully it's soon, but it's going to take some more time and work," Lisa Spencer said. "It's hard to say exactly what's going on in his brain."

Bala Spencer has been to Kaulaheanuio­kamoku Gym just twice this season -- most recently as Kamehameha finished its perfect 12-0 run through the Maui Interscholastic League regular season with a win over Lahainaluna on Tuesday -- but the family has remained right in the middle of the mix.

Oldest daughter Logan Spen­cer is a starting opposite hitter as a sophomore; younger brother Kale Spencer, an 8th-grader at the Kamehameha Maui middle school, is the team manager and videographer; and Pa'u Spencer, a Kula Elementary 4th-grader, can often be seen at the gym for matches.

Lisa Spencer spends her time watching matches -- when she can get help at home -- from a quiet corner of the gym near where Kale is often filming.

Some of the most anticipated times at home come when Logan Spencer is able to sit down and give her father news about matches or practice.

"He knows, he can hear, he can think about what we're talking about more than we think," said Lisa Spencer, who also noted the importance of her family's faith.

Bala Spencer coached for more than 25 years, guiding more than 20 players in his 10-year tenure at Kamehameha to college volleyball. His first seven seasons in Pukalani ended with MIL titles.

He had also been the geometry and career seminar teacher at Kamehameha since 2007 after several coaching and teaching stints on Oahu.

The imposing frame that remained into his coaching days -- he was an offensive lineman at Eastern Washington University -- has changed. Lisa Spencer estimates her husband, with whom she will celebrate a 20th wedding anniversary on Nov. 8, has lost 120 pounds.

Lisa Spencer, 5-foot-7 and 120 pounds, does most of the physical lifting to help Bala around the house and on any ventures outside, but the whole family has been boosted by the Kamehameha ohana from throughout the state.

Former Kamehameha Kapalama coach Dan Kitashima and his wife, Merv, provided Lisa a room and a car during Bala's recovery on Oahu. Bala's uncle and aunt, Eddie and Hope Woolsey, built the special-needs bathroom area in the Spencer home in Kula. Bala's mother, Lani Spen­cer, looked after the children while their parents were off-island.

Mallory Chong, a counselor at the school who worked closely with Bala Spencer, has helped coordinate the Kamehameha Maui efforts to help the family. Chong is in the home weekly and has seen Logan Spencer step up in a way rarely seen from a 15-year-old.

"When Bala does have a hard moment, there's no one that Bala can take out his frustrations on but Lisa," Chong said. "When Kamehameha staff come, they only see the light side of Bala. ... The thing about Logan is that she's been able to step in when Bala is in Lisa's face. No fear. Logan gets in there and says, 'Dad, knock it off. Mom, go upstairs, take a moment, take a hot shower, I got dad. Kale, feed the dog.' I'm like, 'Who are you, Logan?' She's like a parent."

Logan Spencer has impressed her teammates, too.

"I can tell you that playing with her last year to playing with her this year, she has grown a lot as an individual, as a leader especially," said senior middle blocker Kimani Fernandez-Roy. "You wouldn't even know that she's going through something like that at home. She's pretty strong as a person, and she's growing into a really strong and intelligent young adult."

On a normal school day, followed by volleyball practice, Logan and Kale Spencer leave home at 7 a.m. and don't get back for 12 hours.

"Last year I would have somebody who gave me a lot of feedback and I don't really have that this year," Logan Spencer said. "But Kale has been helping a lot. ... It's kind of hard because me and Kale are gone almost all day, so there's only like 30 or 45 minutes we get to spend with him. Whenever we get to talk he is always, like, very emotional."

Kale Spencer said volleyball "is definitely an escape because when you're on the court, it's a whole different place. You can compete and do things without worrying outside of that court. ... My sister has helped me. We've come closer as a team, as a family."

Alex Akana, a former standout for Kamehameha Kapalama and San Jose State, is the Kamehameha Maui head coach after spending last year as an assistant.

"It's a family here at Kamehameha, everybody is a family," said Akana, who is also one of the school's 5th-grade teachers. "We treat our students ... like our kids."

She added: "When one of our ohana members is struggling or they fall, it's a community thing where we all come together.

"I've learned how to face adversity through his example and I still continue that. The process that he's in, his road to recovery, facing adversity like that and improving every single day, it's a reminder that our problems are very minute in the whole picture."

The football team has come to the home to help with yardwork, and the school staff routinely takes turns providing meals for the Spencers. Teachers from the Maui campus' middle school showed up one day to help clean the house.

"I couldn't do it without them, without a doubt," Lisa Spencer said. "Not only in practicality stuff, but the moral support and just emotional support has been absolutely huge. It's absolutely family taking care of family."

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com

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