Pomele at peace with life
Mark Janssenmjanssen@themercury.com
Staff photo by Rod MikinskiKansas State’s Ulla Pomele sacks Montana State’s quarterback last Saturday at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
The name "Ulla" carries a definition of "necklace" in Samoan, and the eight-inch woven braid of black hair that hangs from beneath his Powercat helmet further helps in defining Ulla Pomele's heritage.
The Kansas State inside linebacker is quick to say he's only visited Samoa where his father, Ula — with just one L — and mother Alofasau were born, but he's most proud of his culture of "... caring, love of family and respect." As he says, "The basic fundamentals of life."
While playing the game of football with a nasty disposition, Pomele is proud to carry on the relaxing Samoan traits, combined with his California upbringing.
In recruiting Pomele out of Santa Rosa Community College, Wildcat coach Ron Prince said, "You checked both boxes. He was a great player and a great person. He's a kid who focuses on others ahead of himself. He's very conscious of his part in the bigger world."
As crazy as it sounds, Pomele's years in football number only five.
"I was overweight for Pop Warner, and when I tried to play on my brother's team, they said I was too young," Pomele laughed.
Pomele put on a for-real football uniform for the first time as a sophomore at Elsie Allen High School where he immediately won defensive MVP honors, and later was MVP as a senior at both quarterback and linebacker.
"The game has always come natural to me," Pomele said. "I guess I was always chubby, but it always hurt that I couldn't play when I was younger."
Pomele is the third youngest in a cast of 10 Pomele children — four brothers and five sisters — of which two are adopted.
Giving a warm reflective smile, Pomele said, "It was a family in chaos. That's a lot of kids, but I admire how my parents attended to our needs."
And, Ula and Alofasau are proud of Ulla, who is the first of the Pomele's to expand on his/her education past the community college level.
"I'm breaking the family cycle of not being content with just a junior college education," said Pomele, who plans to get an education in family studies with an emphasis on individual counseling. "God-willing, I want to play in the NFL, but some day I just want to help others."
That's exactly what Pomele did out of high school when he went on a Christian-related mission trip to locations in the United States, plus Tijuana, Mexico.
"It was a time to put your life on hold and begin a true relationship with God," said Pomele, who's father is a pastor of the multi-cultured Life In the Word Church in Vellejo. "We built playgrounds and basically got to know kids at an orphanage who had been abandoned by parents.
"I really felt for them. They had no parents at all," Pomele said. "There was no way for them to identify who their mother and father were. It was a great year to make a difference and develop a relationship with Christ. I definitely had that opportunity to do that at a younger age, but I wasn't mature enough to have God in my big picture."
Now, with wife Elizabeth of eight months, the Pomele's are continuing their growth in Manhattan.
"My folks asked, 'Where are you going?' but we looked at it as stepping out of our comfort zone and relying on each other instead of depending on our parents," Pomele said of his K-State decision.
In part, sliding out of their comfort zone meant being introduced to things like — well, winter.
"It was cold, man, but beautiful," Pomele said. "It's the first time I've ever seen snow falling down. I'd seen snow in Tahoe, but never falling down. It was beautiful. I really liked it."
And, Pomele really likes playing for the Wildcats.
From his inside linebacker spot, Pomele has a team-high 11 tackles, plus a fumble recovery.
Out of junior college, Prince said, "He's a kid where his highlight tape wasn't that much difference than the regular game tape. He was always around the ball and knew where he fit."
Today, that fit is with the Wildcats.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
K-State juco transfer Pomele has a passion for football, but his passion for Jesus is stronger
By Austin Meek
The Capital-Journal
Published Thursday, July 17, 2008
There were no booming voices from heaven, no miraculous signs or wonders.
As Ulla Pomele remembers it, there was only a gentle, persistent tug.
Courtesy / Kansas State University
Linebacker Ulla Pomele is one of 19 junior college players signed by Kansas State coach Ron Prince in 2008.
Give me your dream.
At first, Pomele didn't understand.
Give me your dream, the voice repeated.
Suddenly, everything clicked. Pomele walked into the office of Keith Simons, his coach at Santa Rosa Junior College, and explained what he needed to do.
This time, it was Simons who didn't understand.
"That's something you don't deal with too many times as a JC coach," Simons said. "Usually these guys are trying to beat our door down to come in and try to get on the field. For a guy to make a decision like that and say, 'I'm going to step away from the game for a year by choice,' that was kind of a shocker."
But that's exactly what Pomele was doing. He was leaving behind a football scholarship and a year's worth of training to volunteer for a missions organization called the Masters Commission. He was putting his football career on hold to spend 10 months building playgrounds and speaking at schools and churches throughout the United States and Mexico.
Simons didn't know why he was losing his starting middle linebacker, but he knew better than to argue.
"When my coach found out about it, he really didn't want me to go," Pomele said. "But he couldn't really decide for me. He was an encourager, though. Now he realizes it was a great thing that I went."
Pomele was one of 19 junior college players signed by Kansas State coach Ron Prince in February, a move that raised eyebrows around college football. In many cases, juco players were denied Division I scholarships out of high school because of academic or legal problems, and there is an acknowledged risk associated with recruiting the community college ranks.
Pomele bears little resemblance to the stereotype. He established that before even saying a word, arriving at the Vanier Football Complex for an interview in a T-shirt that proclaimed "Jesus is Lord."
Pomele is devoted to his faith, and equally devoted to his family. While his teammates are scoping out coeds, Pomele is perfectly happy spending time with his wife, Elizabeth.
"(Marriage) has been a blessing, man," Pomele said. "I know there are those who might be saying, 'Yeah right, you wait until later on. Later on in the future you're going to see what's really going on.' But everybody is different. They've got their own personal things."
And Pomele has his. Simons describes it as "balance," a realization that life is more than football.
"He's not a guy that sleeps, eats and drinks football," Simons said. "He's got other things he wants to do — spiritual things. He's got a good balance with his plan."
In the beginning, football wasn't even part of the plan. Pomele battled weight problems growing up and didn't start playing until his sophomore year of high school. Even after he developed into a promising middle linebacker, Pomele didn't give much thought to playing football in college.
His high school, Santa Rosa's Elsie Allen High, had one of the lowest academic success rates in the region, and its sports programs weren't much better. Many college coaches had decided long ago that it wasn't worth the effort to recruit there.
"It was tough for recruiters to come to our city because of all of that, all the records of having one of the highest failure rates in SATS and exams and all that stuff," Pomele said.
Simons, who also coached Pomele's brothers at Santa Rosa, knew he'd found a rarity: a player with Division I ability who'd somehow slipped through the cracks.
"A guy that plays like he plans he plays — and he was dominant in high school — I just couldn't believe that somehow, some way, he didn't get a scholarship offer from somebody," Simons said. "This isn't a big football hotbed in this county, but every year there are two or three guys who are signing full rides to go play Division I. He was a D-1 guy, we thought, when he was a senior in high school."
That's why Simons was practically speechless when Pomele walked into his office the spring before his freshman season and said he was taking a year off from football.
Pomele told his coach first, then his father. Neither were particularly thrilled, but both understood.
"I love football with a passion, man," Pomele said. "I really do. But it was not as important as my relationship with God. Going into Masters Commission was basically me trusting God to lead me throughout my life, him taking control of everything I do."
During his 10 months in the Masses Commission, Pomele helped build a playground at an orphanage in Tijuana and worked with inner-city kids in Boston, working for Microsoft during the week to help pay the travel expenses. The scholarship offer was right there waiting for him when he returned.
Now, Pomele says he plays football with a passion he never experienced before his year away from the game.
"The other times when I played, I was kind of going through the routine," he said. "I love the game, but I was just basically going through the routine. Now when I play, I actually really focus. I'm able to study the opponents' techniques and their playbooks. Before, I never used to do that type of stuff.
"Now when I get one the field, I make sure all glory goes to God. I take no credit."
By Austin Meek
The Capital-Journal
Published Thursday, July 17, 2008
There were no booming voices from heaven, no miraculous signs or wonders.
As Ulla Pomele remembers it, there was only a gentle, persistent tug.
Courtesy / Kansas State University
Linebacker Ulla Pomele is one of 19 junior college players signed by Kansas State coach Ron Prince in 2008.
Give me your dream.
At first, Pomele didn't understand.
Give me your dream, the voice repeated.
Suddenly, everything clicked. Pomele walked into the office of Keith Simons, his coach at Santa Rosa Junior College, and explained what he needed to do.
This time, it was Simons who didn't understand.
"That's something you don't deal with too many times as a JC coach," Simons said. "Usually these guys are trying to beat our door down to come in and try to get on the field. For a guy to make a decision like that and say, 'I'm going to step away from the game for a year by choice,' that was kind of a shocker."
But that's exactly what Pomele was doing. He was leaving behind a football scholarship and a year's worth of training to volunteer for a missions organization called the Masters Commission. He was putting his football career on hold to spend 10 months building playgrounds and speaking at schools and churches throughout the United States and Mexico.
Simons didn't know why he was losing his starting middle linebacker, but he knew better than to argue.
"When my coach found out about it, he really didn't want me to go," Pomele said. "But he couldn't really decide for me. He was an encourager, though. Now he realizes it was a great thing that I went."
Pomele was one of 19 junior college players signed by Kansas State coach Ron Prince in February, a move that raised eyebrows around college football. In many cases, juco players were denied Division I scholarships out of high school because of academic or legal problems, and there is an acknowledged risk associated with recruiting the community college ranks.
Pomele bears little resemblance to the stereotype. He established that before even saying a word, arriving at the Vanier Football Complex for an interview in a T-shirt that proclaimed "Jesus is Lord."
Pomele is devoted to his faith, and equally devoted to his family. While his teammates are scoping out coeds, Pomele is perfectly happy spending time with his wife, Elizabeth.
"(Marriage) has been a blessing, man," Pomele said. "I know there are those who might be saying, 'Yeah right, you wait until later on. Later on in the future you're going to see what's really going on.' But everybody is different. They've got their own personal things."
And Pomele has his. Simons describes it as "balance," a realization that life is more than football.
"He's not a guy that sleeps, eats and drinks football," Simons said. "He's got other things he wants to do — spiritual things. He's got a good balance with his plan."
In the beginning, football wasn't even part of the plan. Pomele battled weight problems growing up and didn't start playing until his sophomore year of high school. Even after he developed into a promising middle linebacker, Pomele didn't give much thought to playing football in college.
His high school, Santa Rosa's Elsie Allen High, had one of the lowest academic success rates in the region, and its sports programs weren't much better. Many college coaches had decided long ago that it wasn't worth the effort to recruit there.
"It was tough for recruiters to come to our city because of all of that, all the records of having one of the highest failure rates in SATS and exams and all that stuff," Pomele said.
Simons, who also coached Pomele's brothers at Santa Rosa, knew he'd found a rarity: a player with Division I ability who'd somehow slipped through the cracks.
"A guy that plays like he plans he plays — and he was dominant in high school — I just couldn't believe that somehow, some way, he didn't get a scholarship offer from somebody," Simons said. "This isn't a big football hotbed in this county, but every year there are two or three guys who are signing full rides to go play Division I. He was a D-1 guy, we thought, when he was a senior in high school."
That's why Simons was practically speechless when Pomele walked into his office the spring before his freshman season and said he was taking a year off from football.
Pomele told his coach first, then his father. Neither were particularly thrilled, but both understood.
"I love football with a passion, man," Pomele said. "I really do. But it was not as important as my relationship with God. Going into Masters Commission was basically me trusting God to lead me throughout my life, him taking control of everything I do."
During his 10 months in the Masses Commission, Pomele helped build a playground at an orphanage in Tijuana and worked with inner-city kids in Boston, working for Microsoft during the week to help pay the travel expenses. The scholarship offer was right there waiting for him when he returned.
Now, Pomele says he plays football with a passion he never experienced before his year away from the game.
"The other times when I played, I was kind of going through the routine," he said. "I love the game, but I was just basically going through the routine. Now when I play, I actually really focus. I'm able to study the opponents' techniques and their playbooks. Before, I never used to do that type of stuff.
"Now when I get one the field, I make sure all glory goes to God. I take no credit."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
