Now she's motivated

As part of last year's soccer team, Cece Hang’andu refused to run on the pitch.

There was one moment in which Coach yelled from the sideline: "Cece, run!"

She turned and looked at the sideline with something of a glare. Some people say they can read palms. But that day, Coach could read her face: "I'm not running. I'm going to continue to walk."

Today, Cecelia, a junior at Lighthouse Christian Academy in Santa Monica, is part of the Saints girls volleyball team. Now that she is contributing in this sport, she comments about her lackluster participation in last year's soccer.

"Running? Heck no. Too much cardio," she complained to this reporter. "It was too much effort. Too much, too much, too much. They weren’t depending on me. Anyway, the boys were going to get the ball and were going to win. They didn’t need me."

Cece is not completely wrong in her assessment. Lighthouse soccer last year did not depend on her. She was given the opportunity to participate, thrown on the pitch from time to time. But there were motors driving last year's successful soccer team, and she was not one. So she walked.

But now Cece has to be a motor on the volleyball team.

"They needed seven players to have a team, and I wanted to be there to help them out," she says. "They needed me."

After winning the first set Wednesday, the Saints ultimately fell to Westmark School of Encino 27-25, 16-25, 23-25, 24-26. LCA now has one win and three losses.

It almost didn't have a team -- at the beginning of the year.

Lighthouse is a small school. With limited resources, they're always trying to squeeze just one more drop out of the grape. First they needed enough players. Cece stepped up. Then they needed a coach.

Lighthouse is not alone among small private schools. As a matter of fact, another team dropped out of the league because of lack of players. This provided LCA a chance to participate in league play (it originally wasn't going to figure in the league because it didn't foresee enough players).

Because she stepped up, Cece is discovering a motivation she previously lacked.

"I feel like volleyball is a better sport," she says. "The team is more encouraging. They want you to get better."

A newcomer to volleyball, Cece has learned to serve, dig, hit, spike and go for the ball. She has learned to not shield her face, she says.

Cece's parents are currently pastoring a startup church in Africa. Her father came to America and overstayed his visa. He then became a Christian and trained for ministry. He then voluntarily returned to Africa to plant a church. Cece and her sister Tammy were raised for part of their childhood in Africa. Born in America, they are citizens and returned to be schooled in an American high school.

Asked about African culture, Cece clarified that it's not that girls are discouraged from participating in sports. Everybody was discouraged from participating in sports, she says. In her school, kids studied to be doctors and engineers; sports were seen as a distraction to academics.

So she didn't immediately burst with enthusiasm to join a team. It gave her physical education credits but didn't initially enthrall her.

2019 changed things. The girls needed her and motivated her to give her best effort.

"Cece never gives up," says Coach Xiovana Moraida. "She's very determined, very motivated. She tries her best in anything she puts her mind to. She's sweet, kind, friendly, loving and caring. She observant and passionate."

With a caring coach, Cece has found motivation better than a coach yelling from the side line.

"It feels nice that people actually put their trust in you," she says. "They want you to give it your best shot. I learned pretty quickly because I had the willpower to learn how to play."

Read about LCA's victory against Hillcrest Christian.