[5][6] During her High School swimming career, she also trained and competed for Hall of Fame Coach Soichi Sakamoto's Hawaii Swim Club in Honolulu, an outstanding program that produced several Olympic medalists.

[9][10] In late August 1949, she helped lead the Hawaii Swim Club to the National AAU Team championship in San Antonio, Texas, and again at the National AAU swim championships in High Point North Carolina in late August 1950.

[12] On June 20, 1948, a committee unanimously selected her and Honolulu native Bill Smith, a fellow Hawaii swim club member, to attend the Olympic trials in Detroit accompanied by her Coach Soichi Sakamoto, and his wife.

[13] Kalama took fourth place in both the 100 and 400-meter freestyle events at the U.S. trials, helping her to gain a spot on the Olympic relay team.

[9] She competed at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, where she won a gold medal in the women's 4×100-meter freestyle relay, together with her teammates Marie Corridon, Brenda Helser and Ann Curtis.