SOMETIMES, the biggest societal changes are made quietly, with hardly any fanfare and certainly without intention. That's what happened to 16-year-old Angela Ichinose of Kaimuki. The Iolani senior made history last Saturday at Aloha Stadium, thanks in part to a fair-minded coach, supportive parents and encouraging teammates. A teen girl who gets
a kick out of footballHer odyssey began late this summer, as Angela was jogging around the field during a varsity football practice. She was already an outstanding player on the Iolani girls' soccer team and had played volleyball until last fall, when a ligament injury sidelined her.
She missed being a two-sport athlete. So as she circled the track, Angela watched the varsity gridders going through their sweaty drills and running into one another. And she noticed there was only one guy booting the pigskin through the uprights. Hmmmmmm.
Later, she trotted up to Head Coach Wendell Look, who has the reputation of being a real toughie, and casually asked, "Can I kick?" Coach Look looked at Angela like she was, well, pulling his leg. He told her to bring in a waiver signed by her parents and to come back with the appropriate shoes. After convincing her folks, Miles and Barbara Ichinose, that she wasn't fooling around, Angela did just that.
She returned daily, donning the pads and uniform, for the two-hour practice. "A sport is a sport. It doesn't matter who's on the team," the 5-foot-5, 135-pound Angela says with a shrug. That low-key attitude made her an unpretentious, low-profile trailblazer at the once all-male private school.
Her football teammates really didn't take her seriously, however, until she showed up at the airport for Iolani's rugged preseason training camp on Maui. "I told her I was going to treat her like any other player," said Look.
Well, not quite. Although Angela is expected to keep up with the physical and mental requirements of the game, she has her own changing area and doesn't roam the locker room when teammates are dressing.
The season starts. As a back-up kicker to first-stringer Ryan Kaneshiro, Angela doesn't see any action - till last Saturday's match-up against the Kamehameha Warriors.
Iolani is ahead 21-6, when Akoni Ah Yat runs 42 yards to score for the Red Raiders. Coach Look beckons to Angela to kick the point after. She is so excited, she misses.
Dejection time. "I can't believe I did that," she mutters, running off the field. Number six sits by herself at the far end of the bench, wallowing in self-imposed silence and embarrassment.
SOMETIMES, the biggest life changes come unexpectedly, facilitated by the faith of others. Iolani regains control of the ball a few plays later, and Coach Look barks at Angela to go in for a 27-yard field goal attempt.
"I was surprised that he was giving me another chance," remembers Angela. And when that football sailed right over the center of the cross bar, albeit a tad on the wobbly side, she became the first female to successfully kick a three-pointer in the history of the Interscholastic Football League.
Don't try and tell her, though, that she's an inspiration or a role model. She's just an athlete, she states emphatically, although her coach, school and community know better.
Angela Ichinose is a living, breathing example to Hawaii's young people that, if you really want to do something, you probably can. She accomplished what she set out to do because nobody told her she couldn't.
Ain't life a kick?