HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS' VOLLEYBALL
Iolani hires Tumaneng for girls volleyball
It wasn't the first time he sought the job, but Jenic Tumaneng persisted.
The Farrington girls basketball coach has been a girls volleyball coach at the school for 14 seasons. That stint has come to an end, at least on the volleyball court, now that he has been hired to guide the Iolani girls volleyball program.
"I'm looking forward to the challenges," said Tumaneng, who has also coached boys basketball at Word of Life Academy in recent years.
Tumaneng applied at Iolani for the boys coaching job a few years back, but the job went to Luis Ramirez. After longtime coach Ann Kang passed away, he thought about applying for the girls head coaching position.
"The timing wasn't right. I withdrew my name," he said.
Iolani girls co-coaches Rona Kekauoha and Rena Winchester stepped down last year, which is when Tumaneng considered giving it a shot again. "But I didn't know Luis was moving from boys to girls," he said.
Now, the timing is right. "This year, it wasn't a last-minute thing. I still wanted to test new waters. I talked with my wife. After 14 years at Farrington, now I'll see what it's like coaching other type of kids," Tumaneng said.
His basketball team is in the running for a playoff spot and has enough talent to make a run for the OIA title. After this season, Tumaneng isn't sure what will happen.
"I'm hoping to stay on with basketball, but with the Iolani program, I need to evaluate what I need to do to keep it competitive there. We haven't really gotten to that point. We'll finish out the season first," he said.
The differences between Farrington and Iolani will be substantial. Tumaneng welcomes the change.
"For me, I like to have parents that want to be involved with how the program is going. As long as that support is there, that's going to keep me focused and keep the competitiveness of the team," he said, noting the heavy offseason club involvement of Iolani's players.
At Farrington, Tumaneng's players often had a different set of priorities.
"Some of them have to go home early and take care of their siblings. We've tried to push our kids to play club ball, but the private-school kids are committed to doing that, and the parents support them there," he said.