If Keoni Thiim played basketball, he would be the point guard; football — the quarterback; baseball — the leadoff batter. Wherever the spotlight is the brightest, that’s where he longs to be, which is why serving and spiking for BYU’s volleyball team in a packed Smith Fieldhouse gives him a rush like no other — and a spiritual high at the same time.
“There are some games where I feel like I’m talking to God the whole time,” Thiim told the “Y’s Guys” podcast this week. “I feel like I’m not only playing for myself. Everyone has some kind of passion that is beautiful. This is mine.”
Thiim found God around the same time he discovered volleyball.
“I grew up in the church, but I was a rascal kid,” he said. “When volleyball got serious for me during my junior year, I started gaining my own spirituality and started going to church on my own, just learning and praying and building my own relationship with God.”
The Hawaii native believes his divine relationship directed his journey — first to Santa Barbara Community College, then home to the University of Hawaii and finally to BYU for his grand finale.
“I prayed to him about it all the time,” Thiim said. “I think God told me to come here. I didn’t really talk to other schools (in the transfer portal). I didn’t have a thought about (going) anywhere else. This is definitely where I am supposed to be.”
Thiim didn’t come to Provo alone. He brought an incredible 45-inch vertical leap with him. It allows the 6-footer to contend eye to eye with the Goliaths across the net.
“I think I have a little bit more time than others up there,” Thiim said of his ability to elevate and levitate. “I have a little extra time to think and mostly, I’m thinking about the ball and blasting it!”
Weightlifting and diet fueled Thiim’s transformation.
“I don’t think I was in the 30s when I started, but the more I squatted with good form and ate good, the stronger I got, the higher I started to jump,” he said. “It took a couple of years, but it gradually went up.”
Today, standing flat-footed, Thiim can jump up and dunk a basketball on a standard 10-foot rim. When he is at the Smith Fieldhouse, like he and his teammates will be Thursday and Friday when No. 7 BYU hosts No. 12 Stanford (7 p.m. MDT, BYUtv), he might jump even higher.
“On a good day in practice I can jump 45 inches,” he said. “On a good day in a game when you are hearing everyone in the ROC and how much they want us to win, we are not only playing for us, but we are also playing for them, I’m probably jumping 47.”
Add an 80-mile-an-hour serve and it’s easy to see why coach Shawn Olmstead was thrilled to get this high-wire act into his circus — even if it rekindled some family pain from the past.
Rick Olmstead, Shawn’s father, roomed as students with Thiim’s grandfather, Mike Wilton, at BYU-Hawaii in Laie. Wilton went on to become the winningest volleyball coach in UH history. Olmstead became a volleyball referee — and that’s where he met Thiim and his powerful serve.
“I broke Rick’s finger when I was playing junior college in Santa Barbara,” Thiim admitted. “He was the ref. We were winning and I blasted this serve and (Rick’s) hands were (resting) on top of the pole. I hit his finger and busted it.”
It may have been the only time Thiim has apologized for a big hit.
Olmstead’s volleyball program is big enough to justify playing games at the Marriott Center. On some nights, they might even fill it. But the confines of “The Smith,” as Thiim refers to it, is too conducive to Cougar victories to concede.
“The energy they (fans) bring has single-handedly helped us win games,” he said, acknowledging that the atmosphere was a selling point for him and will continue to be for future recruits. “This is where the dream starts for those young guys. Playing in this place gives you superpowers. It’s one of the best feelings in the world to kill a ball or win a game and have the ROC go crazy and put smiles on people’s faces.”
Like “The Smith,” Thiim exudes his own infectious energy that lifts those around him. He also leads by example with a team-best 260 kills and 37 service aces. He has a month remaining at BYU before considering his professional options — whether indoors or on the beach. Either way, volleyball will continue and so will Thiim’s quest to use the game he loves as a game-changer for others.
“This is my way, especially because I am a showman and I jump high and a lot of kids like to watch me play,” Thiim said. “It gives me the opportunity to spread the word of Christ and lead people to get their own relationship with him because it’s always done me so well. In my performances, there have been some where I feel like it’s just me and him. I’m talking and learning — and it’s nice.”
Dave McCann is a sportswriter and columnist for the Deseret News and is a play-by-play announcer and show host for BYUtv/ESPN+. He co-hosts “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com and is the author of the children’s book “C is for Cougar,” available at deseretbook.com.