Augapeipeigamalie: a good friend to all she meets

This archived article was written by: Michaella Crooks

From the beaches of San Diego to the mountains of Eastern Utah, Kali Augapeipeigamalie, brings height and experience to USU Eastern’s basketball team. Her interests are “long boarding, boating, fishing, hunting and hanging out with her girls.”
Augapeipeigamalie’s family consist of “seven brothers and sisters and I am the middle child, and a girlfriend of two years that they all consider family.”
Augapeipeigamalie is the first one in her family to, “graduate high school and go to college.” After college, she plans on, “becoming a coach and teaching English in a high school with hopes to one day become a professor for a college.”
Advice for anyone that is wanting to play basketball, Augapeipeigamalie said, “at first it’s really hard to get the hang of things and gain the skills necessary to succeed in your basketball career. You just need to put extra time and work in the gym and you will accomplish great things.” She is good, at “being a good friend.” So if you ever need a good friend, Augapeipeigamalie is the one to get to know.”
Augapeipeigamali, “has no regrets because at this very moment, it’s exactly what I want.” The most embarrassing thing that has ever happen to her was “when I was young at a basketball camp I peed on myself and everyone laughed at me so I quit playing until I was in high school.”
The worst date she has ever been on was, “for junior prom. We went on a hike to Capitol Reef and lost half of our group. We hiked on a different trail that was a 10-mile hike instead of the three-mile hike. We got rained on and ended up being late to prom and didn’t look good anymore.”
If Pei could be any cartoon character it would be, “Bagheera from the Jungle Book because my favorite animal is a panther and he is wise and gives good advice just like me.” Her favorite movie is “Love and Basketball.” Her most prized position in life is, “is a picture of me and my best friend that is unfortunately not with us anymore.” Out of all the superpowers, Augapeipeigamalie would like to, “read minds because I’m a people pleaser and like to tell people what they want to hear.”
The best moment in Augapeipeigamalie’s life is when she, “un-red shirted for basketball.” The funniest story she loves to tell is when, “at work one day, we had a trust-fall contest with my family. My cousin and I would run across the room whenever I said trust fall. When we were cleaning up and closing the store, I yelled trust fall and my cousin had his head phones in and didn’t know so I just closed my eyes and fell back and no one was there so I hit my face on the concrete.”
Pei has two tattoos. “The one on my wrist is one that I got with all my sisters and it means that we will always have each other’s back and will always be family. On my shoulder I have a Samoa tribal tattoo just to show the pride I have for my country.”
Her favorite memory at USU Eastern is, “going to AJ and hanging out with the volleyball team.” Her team is, “doing great. We have only lost four games and won 14. We also get along on and off the court just like a family.” At the end of the season, she is expecting, “nothing less but going to nationals because two teams get to go this year.” The best part of the team is, “the system we run. We run the Granelle system which consist of a lot of threes, that gives me the opportunity to get a lot rebounds and put backs.”