Stein Metzger has been gone nearly half his life chasing volleyball dreams and turning them into reality. Now, just before his 37th birthday, he is back home in Hawai'i, pondering life after kills.

The 1991 Punahou graduate just retired from professional volleyball. He and wife Emily moved to Hawai'i Oct. 20. They plan to redirect their exceptional energies into real estate for Prudential Advantage Realty.

Metzger originally left for UCLA, where he won three NCAA titles and was 1996 co-national player of the year with the Rainbows' Yuval Katz. A month ago, at halftime of the Bruins' football game with Oregon at the Rose Bowl, Metzger was inducted into the UCLA Hall of Fame.

The honor went beyond his body of work for the Bruins. Metzger and Dax Holdren placed fifth in Beach Volleyball at the 2004 Olympics. Metzger won more than $900,000 and 18 tournaments on the beach, where he was the AVP's top-ranked player in 2005 and 2006. He and Jake Gibb were the 2005 AVP Team of the Year. In 2006, Metzger hooked up with childhood friend Mike Lambert and won the same honor, also capturing the inaugural Crocs Cup Championship.

This is not the first time Metzger has come back home. He helped his father build a house when he was here for eight months after the beach tour "collapsed." But when Leonard Armato resuscitated it in 2001, around the time Kerry Walsh and Misty May started dominating the women's game, Metzger was pulled back and made enough money to concentrate solely on volleyball, hiring coaches and trainers.

"For eight years, it was great," Metzger said.

Then the economy took a hit and so did Lambert. He was fully healed after three knee surgeries and looking to play for a team overseas recently when he tore his Achilles. Lambert is back on crutches and Metzger is home, for good this time.

"All my contracts were up and nobody was looking to sign new ones," Metzger said. "I could continue to play and break even on prize money if I really wanted to keep going, or start a new career and move back to Hawai'i. I've tried to do it a couple times before, but it was too hard with all the travel. So I made the decision to start my new career and save my body."

It has held up remarkably well. Metzger was in his 30s during his best years, evidence of his talent, ambition and perseverance, to say nothing of his absolute devotion to the game. That was obvious every time he stepped on any court, indoor or out.

He hopes to devote that same frantic energy to his new pursuit.

"One of the things I've prided myself on is that every year I got better and always tried to learn," Metzger said. "I think I did that through my later years playing professionally. I got better every year, at least mentally, even though my body started to decline a little. I'm so excited to try and stimulate something different. I'll be challenged mentally instead of physically."

Not that he will go completely cold turkey from the game. Metzger is planning volleyball clinics over two weekends in December (5 and 6 and 12 and 13) at Pälolo Gym and Queen's Beach. Details will be available later.