The Kanda kids --ÊLauren, Reid and Ashley -- have been a big part of Castle's successful boys and girls soccer teams the past few years.
Castle’s Kanda siblings can
For all the energy Reid Kanda and his twin sisters, Ashley and Lauren, expend on the soccer field for the Castle Knights, the trio always have a little fuel left over for the inevitable competition found at home.
"You could say I'm competitive," laughed Lauren. "We're all competitive -- and not just with soccer."
"Anything," added Reid, "cards, video games -- you name it."
That includes a little verbal sparring among them.
"I usually get better grades than Lauren, so I like to rub it in," Ashley said
And as for the two sisters ganging up on Reid?
"We don't team up on him anymore because he's too strong," Lauren said.
And so it goes. Typical sibling stuff, and yet the competitive atmosphere the Kandas have created has plainly been on the healthy side, with soccer in the middle of the mix. The sport has become so all-consuming for the three that they're hard-pressed to list additional hobbies. Ask what they do with their time outside of soccer, and they all answer, "Soccer!" in unison.
"Their real passion is soccer," said their mom, Lisa. "They all chose soccer over another sport, so we've become a real soccer family. They just love to play, and winning and losing doesn't seem to affect them that much."
Ashley and Lauren are both juniors who have been on Castle's varsity since their freshman year. They were born just 45 minutes apart and are especially close. "We haven't dressed the same since elementary school," Ashley said.
"Because we've been playing together for so long, we kind of know what the other's going to do," she added.
Said Lauren: "We anticipate each other's movements. Sometimes we look up and see each other and we just know (instinctively what to do next)."
Castle's Ashley, Reid and Lauren Kanda juggle soccer and schoolwork.
"My dad couldn't be there, so my older brother (Rick) had taken over for the game," Lauren said. "When he heard about it later, my dad was mad at Rick for letting us score that much."
Scan both the boys' and girls' Oahu Interscholastic Association Eastern Division scoring columns, and Ashley and Reid are among the leaders. Ashley's six goals are tops in the East, while Reid has tallied five times, tying him for third in the league. Castle teammate Kory Muraoka is the East's scoring leader with eight goals.
In all, Castle's boys' team outscored its first four league opponents 21-2, and the Knights take a 4-0 record into tomorrow's game at Kalani (4 p.m.). The Castle girls play at Kalani today in a game set for 4:30.
Reid credits his parents for the success he and his sisters are having on the field as well as in the classroom.
"They've both had a big influence on our lives," Reid said. "My mom really pushed us academically. My dad pushed us in sports."
Added Lauren: "My freshman year, I wasn't doing so well with my grades; I was just cruising. She knew I could do better, and she told me I was smarter than what the report card had shown."
Lauren received all A's and one B on her most recent report card. Like Ashley, she hopes to earn a soccer scholarship some day.
"She's a little more easily distracted," her mom said. "Now she realizes how important grades are."
Both sisters would like to become pharmacists and figure to attend the same college. "We'd like to go away and play -- somewhere on the West Coast," Lauren said.
Before soccer won out among all three, they had played baseball and softball. "Soccer is played during the same season, so we finally had to choose -- and we chose soccer," Ashley said.
An equally memorable dilemma arose during the offseason before their sophomore year at Castle, when the Kanda sisters faced a tough decision regarding where they would play their club volleyball season.
"There was a lot of drama -- with our parents and our older brother Rick -- when we had to choose between Leahi and the Bulls," Lauren said. "Our dad and our brother wanted us to go to Leahi, and our mom wanted us to stay with the Bulls. It was a tough decision -- we had played with both teams -- but we just felt a little more comfortable with the girls on the Bulls."
Reid concedes that his sisters are perhaps more driven about their soccer future than he is. Last spring, he took second in the OIA in judo, even though he'd only taken up the sport a year earlier. He hopes to become a commercial pilot some day.
"Judo is fun," he said. "I like the physical contact, but it's nerve-racking to have all eyes on you, as opposed to playing a team sport. I was always out there on the soccer field just to have fun. I didn't take it that seriously. People think I take it seriously -- I work hard at it -- but it's all in good fun."
Just like at home.
[News] [Business] [Features] [Sports] [Editorial] [Do It Electric!]
[Classified Ads] [Search] [Subscribe] [Info] [Letter to Editor]
[Feedback]
