She has been starting games at point guard for the WSU women’s basketball team since the end of her freshman year, operating Head Coach June Daugherty’s two-ball screen, drive and kick offense as an expert, yet you might not immediately notice senior Dawnyelle Awa in a frenetically paced Pac-12 contest.

From Kealakekua, Hawaii, the laid-back aloha spirit she grew up with seeps into her character on the basketball court as a floor general.

Not the most vocal on the team, she has proven to be a reserved but incredibly competent leader. Her knowledge of the game rivals that of many coaches.

This may explain why a coaching gig is the likeliest landing point for her upon graduation this May with a degree in sports management. That and being coached in basketball her entire life by both her mom and dad in the tropics.

“My mom and dad both coached the boys and the girls together and a club team,” Awa said. “So they coached me all of my life. Just being around basketball all the time gives me more knowledge than most people have, that’s one of the biggest qualities in being a coach.”

Very much connected with her roots, it is a lifestyle and appreciation for helping mentor young athletes and love of a sport that Awa’s parents instilled in her ever since she could dribble a ball.

Playing hoops on the Palouse in the Pac-12 has not shaken her from her upbringing in the slightest.

“Every summer I go home,” Awa said, “Both my mom and dad run an AAU program called the ‘Stingrays.’ It’s getting more and more well-known. So I help coach all age groups, 5-18, when I go home. I definitely miss home, but home will always be home. So whatever the opportunity I get, I’m going to take.”

Awa’s ultimate goal is to reach the position of athletic director later on, meaning that she knows starting off her alumni years with a coaching career is a safe trajectory toward pursuing her dream.

A selection to the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s “So You Want To Be A Coach” program Jan. 12 certainly put her on the correct path as well.

The event takes place during Final Four Weekend at the WBCA National Convention in Indianapolis from April 1-3 and puts those interested in coaching through a series of workshops aimed at fostering professional development and career advancement through education, skills enhancement, networking and exposure opportunities.

“The coaches really encouraged all four seniors to do it,” Awa said. “I know we played with a teammate, Hannah Potter, who went through the program and she really enjoyed it. I heard so much good things about it, it’s very successful. I don’t really know what I’m going to do there but I know that there are a lot of really good connections that go through it.”

An essay focused on all that her mom has done as a coach and her accomplishments to compliment the paperwork portion of the application made her an easy selection for the workshop.

While she had hoped to travel to Indianapolis her senior year because the Cougs had qualified for the Final Four – the team is currently on the bubble for an NCAA Tournament bid – experiencing the vibe has the always-composed Awa excited.

“After our junior year, we (the four seniors) all sat down with Coach June individually and talked about our plans,” Awa said. “She encouraged all players to play overseas or go on this program. So she’s really helping us with our futures and if I get this program, I have no one to thank but her.”

It is coaching and the experiences she has fed off her own that have shaped her as a four-year starter in a conference that currently boasts five ranked teams with a couple others projected as tournament teams.

“Everyone has different coaching styles,” Awa said. “June is very vocal, she’s really good at communicating. And I’m the total opposite, but I have knowledge of the game.”

The Hawaiian connection never left Awa, even as she ventured thousands of miles away from the Big Island. It is why she ultimately desires to return home and begin her career after division one basketball alongside the people she grew up with.

“Coming from Hawaii, a lot of people don’t get the same exposure as the mainland people do,” Awa said. “My ultimate goal is to get people from Hawaii to colleges on scholarships like I had. They (the athletes she coaches) all look up to me because I am a scholarship athlete at a D1 college. So they really take me seriously whereas other teammates that I have, they don’t go to college but they still help. They really like that I give back.”

At the surface level, it sounds as though Awa has always had it in mind that becoming a coach was the career she wanted for herself, that is far from the truth. In just three short weeks, with the acceptance into “So You Want To Be A Coach,” her whole outlook on the rest of her life has changed.

“Going overseas was my original plan or going home and doing my internship and seeing where my internship took me,” Awa said. “But this came along and I got accepted, totally had no idea that I would get accepted. This is more of the path that I’m focusing on right now.”

Awa remains humble in the face of such a distinguished accomplishment. The alacrity she possesses in channeling her past with being both a basketball player and mentor is not a common trait in collegiate athletes.

“I don’t think it really depends on how good you are or how prestigious you are from wherever you came from,” Awa said. “It’s just how you’ve grown up to be.”

Just one of five upperclassmen on the WSU roster, not many people knew about her involvement with coaching and the WBCA before her selection for its coaching workshop. It is yet another microcosm of the unperturbed and collected nature Awa carries herself with. Flying under the radar on the court, but efficient and effective in her role.

Though she is not ostentatious in all that she does and rather rolls with a feeling of brevity, that aura does not interfere with her plans or dreams. Some goals are worth avidly pursuing, especially when an enlightening opportunity is thrown your way. A tough and family-oriented team, representing the spirit of WSU, has taught Awa to chase her goal and keep representing Cougar basketball outside of Beasley Coliseum.

“If you really think about it, a lot of people are just going with the flow,” Awa said. “What they get is what they get. I’m excited to actually be on a path of where I want to be. Just do what makes you happy.”