Over the course of his first season playing professional volleyball, Jakob Thelle was always looking forward to his first trip trip back home.
By home, the native of Norway meant coming back to Hawaii.
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Thelle, a former setter for the University of Hawaii from 2019 to 2023, became a hanai son to the islands during his time in a Rainbow Warrior uniform. After leading the 'Bows to national titles in 2021 and 2022, he decided to come back for a fifth year of collegiate volleyball in 2023. Thelle was named the AVCA National Player of the Year in 2023, guiding the 'Bows to the national championship match once again before falling to UCLA.
All the while, Thelle adopted pidgin english as his second language, endearing himself to the state on countless occasions. He recently finished his first professional season with Volley Lube in Italy, returning to Hawaii for the first portion of his first offseason.
“There’s a lot of emotions that come up when I come back, but I’ve been looking forward to this day pretty much since I left," Thelle told KHON2. "I always try to get those tickets as early as I can and I’m back here in Hawaii. I’m back home.”
Thelle played sparingly behind All-World setter Luciano De Cecco in his first year, but professional volleyball was still a grind. Volley Lube's season consisted of nearly 50 matches over the course of nearly half a year, with multiple matches every week.
“It was a pretty amazing experience. A lot different from college, but just to get the professional life, to not worry about school, it was a really high level, one of the top leagues in the world," Thelle said. "To not only get that experience my first year is very valuable to my career.”
Despite the massive time difference between Europe and Hawaii, Thelle made sure to watch as many UH matches as he could, which is why the injury to former teammate Spyros Chakas hit him hard.
“My emotions were pretty much the same as everyone else here and fans that followed the team over the years. Spyros grew to be such an amazing leader for the team and it was really tough to see him fall down but the way he was able to contribute even though he wasn’t on the court was amazing. It tells a lot about him, his character. He’s really important for the team and the culture which we built together," Thelle said.
“I’d always make time (to watch Hawaii's 2024 matches). I wasn’t able to see it live but I always made sure to watch it on YouTube like I used to do in my hanabata days before coming to UH. I was able to watch pretty much every game they played here."
Although Thelle's time in a Hawaii uniform his done, his sister, Julia, is continuing the family legacy. She recently completed her freshman season with the Rainbow Wahine beach volleyball team.
“I don’t know where to start. It’s huge having my sister come and kind of follow my footsteps. Of course, she’s here to build her own career and do her own great things but it’s special to have family come here," he said. "It’s great that she can also experience the life that I was living here. I had the most amazing time of my life.”
Most professional athletes choose to spend their offseasons in a leisurely fashion. Although Thelle was recently able to satisfy his poke cravings and see some of his favorite spots on Oahu, he's also spending his time giving back to the community. On Friday, he was assisting former teammate James Anastassiades at a Volley Method clinic at Volley Hawaii. He's also set to help another former teammate in Filip Humler, now a Kamehameha boys volleyball assistant coach, at a separate event.
“It’s exactly the part I felt I was missing in Italy, which is having that community. I was thinking about the community here in Hawaii, both volleyball and outside of volleyball, too," Thelle said. "The community here is special and you don’t get that anywhere else in the world so being here and being a part of the community is really important to me.”
On Friday and Saturday, Volley Method organized setting clinics with Thelle as one of the coaches alongside Anastassiades, giving youth players in Hawaii the opportunity to learn from the same players they grew up watching. Thelle's advice to them?
“Where to start, where to start? I think just taking responsibility for their own development. They’re gonna have a lot of different coaches and just making the most out of it, spend time thinking about what to do in practice and being more mindful and really just embrace the time that they have playing for different teams and playing for different coaches. Really, just take it all in because you get all of it here in Hawaii Nei,” Thelle said.