[ HIGH SCHOOLS ]

Maui camp grows

The annual football camp on Maui has a new name, but lots of the same faces.

Known as the Hula Bowl Camp until last year, the Just Win Camp begins today at the Kamehameha-Maui campus. Coaches from a myriad of Division I schools, including UCLA, Colorado, Boise State and Hawaii, are on hand.

The camp has drawn more than 200 players, including 70 from Oahu. J.W. Kenton is the camp's new owner.

Among the high school coaches helping out is Moanalua's Arnold Martinez. After each day's drills, Martinez will coordinate the night-time pass league. Players are rooming, so to speak, on campus.

"J.W. bought beds for the players so they can stay at the facility," Martinez said.

Learning experience: The Hawaii baseball team that toured Japan in a goodwill series last month had a rough go of it, finishing with a record of 0-5-1.

The team, which is selected for the tour each four years, played in Nagano, Niigata, Toyama, Ishikawa, Shiga and Osaka. They played the games over a 14-day span.

Coach Eric Kadooka credited the Japanese teams for outstanding play. "Our pitching was sub par to their pitching, but our hitting was about equal. We also had too many shortstops that could not make the transition to the outfield play," he said.

The Hawaii team was laced with some of the state's top talent, but wasn't purely an all-star collection. "If we had taken Hawaii's best seniors and juniors, we would have done a lot better," Kadooka said.

"I think the Hawaii players are equal in talent and skill level, however, we did face two outstanding Japan players, both to be drafted in Japanese draft."

Kadooka, coach at Punahou, was joined by Waianae coach Kekoa Kaluhiokalani. Baseball in Japan, Kadooka noted, is of another world.

"They practice Tuesday through Friday, play games on Saturday and Sunday. They play year-round without any formal leagues," he said of the high schoolers.

"However, they play schools within their own prefecture with tournaments as a main focus."

The summer national tournament draws more than 400,000 fans, including crowds of 40,000 for championship games. "It's awesome," he said.

Kadooka witnessed more attention by Japanese players to the art and respect of the game. "Younger players earn and pay dues by hand-raking the entire dirt infield after every workout and practice. It's amazing," he said.

Big Islanders off to good start: The Pilipa'a Volleyball Club of Hilo is finding success again on the mainland. Led by former Waiakea standout Napua Canda, Pilipa'a won its first three matches of pool play in the club division of the Junior Olympics tournament in Kentucky.

Pilipa'a defeated Club Wood (25-20, 25-18), CT Juniors Elite (25-19, 25-19) and Tool City I (25-16, 25-22).

Canda, who recently changed his legal name from Napua Cabatu, was a Star-Bulletin All-State first-team pick as a middle blocker. The team is comprised of Napua Canda, Isaac De Guzman, Andrew Dunn, Cory Enriques, Gordan Lacy, Jonah Kalima, Justin Kekaualua and Treston Yasso.

The coaches are Ecko Osorio, Chris Leonard, Ryan Tsuji and Shelton Marzo.

Roundballers gain exposure: The Exposure Basketball Camp drew many of the state's top boys basketball players to tiny Hana recently.

Punahou's Brenton Lee was named Camper of the Week. Lee also won the 1-on-1 crown.

Wayne West of Moanalua was honored with the Lunchbox Award as the hardest worker.

The 5-on-5 championship team was comprised of Vinny Nip (Iolani), Jacob Ho (Kamehameha), Emmanuel Lego (King Kekaulike), Jordan Hollinger (Kalaheo), Dylan Nelson (Kaahumanu Hou) and Matt Heyd (Baldwin). The team was coached by Kelly Wells of Hawaii Pacific University.

Scott Argue (Castle), Scott Keiter-Charles (Castle) and Justin Endo (Seabury Hall) won the 3-on-3 title.

Lee, Nip, Heyd, Endo, Keiter-Charles and West also landed on the camp's all-star teams. Joining them were Tyler Caswell (Kalaheo), Marvin Judd (Kalaheo), Chris Tumaneng (Kalaheo), Jeremiah Ostrowski (Punahou), Barry Kang (Iolani), Tyler Tsukazaki (Maryknoll), Josh Bradbury (Kauai), Junior Ale (Kahuku), Kerstan Ho (Roosevelt) and Clifton Pires (Kalaheo).

Caswell, a 6-foot-5 junior, was named most valuable player of the all-star game.