Natasha Kai made the U.S. Women's Olympic soccer team yesterday, which, while definitely worthy of celebration, might be only the beginning of this yet-to-fully-unfold story.

That she would earn a place on the 18-member roster as the first player from Hawai'i in Olympic soccer hasn't been in much doubt the past month the way she was leading the U.S. in scoring.

More intriguing is what the 25-year-old forward from Kahuku might be capable of on the world stage once she gets to Beijing and beyond. Chances are the crowds in Qinhuangdao, where the U.S. will open Aug. 6 against Norway, have never seen anything like her. Of course, until last year, neither had many of the people she now calls teammates. Life for both of them has hardly been the same since.

Perhaps not since Brandi Chastain whipped off her jersey in a celebratory frenzy, dropping to her knees and waving fists after scoring the winning penalty kick over China in the 1999 Women's World Cup has there been a player for the U.S. team with the potential to be as flamboyant as Kai and athletic enough to back it up.

Rarely has there been anyone with Kai's dynamism. Somebody who not only marches to her own drummer but gyrates to the music, too.

From the time she first laced on a pair of shoes for the national team — sometimes, quintessentially, wearing two different colors at the same time — she was a Nike ad waiting to happen. And it did. Now, Kai is one of those NBC up-close-and-personal Olympic vignettes in the making.

And, what a story to tell of the well-rounded athlete from the North Shore who, had she chosen any number of sports, could have been a success in quite a few of them. In fact, UH assistant football coach Rich Miano tried repeatedly to talk her into sticking around the school after soccer for a fifth season — to try football. Not as a kicker, either. "She was good enough to play special teams, maybe defensive back, and not embarrass herself," said Miano who has used her as an example in speed and quickness camps.

Football — not to mention, track, basketball and volleyball's — loss has been soccer's considerable gain. Never mind that a lot of people outside the sport don't know her name yet, the soccer types know her down to the tattoo sleeve. Whether it be the 19 tattoos — at last count — or the zest with which she celebrates goals — both her teammates' and her own — she is somebody to keep an eye on. The Olympics, is where, working in tandem with striker Abby Wambach, she could expand that following exponentially beyond the soccer hard core.

She is just as likely to athletically drop a couple of goals and an assist on somebody as perform a well-choreographed celebratory routine. In Beijing, we could see both.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.