Points East
ORLANDO, Fla. -- What did you do over Thanksgiving break? Chances are it wasn't as interesting as Kaine Charleston's experience. Hilo junior hangs
with GriffeysCharleston was at the Disney Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, helping the Griffey family run its baseball camp.
The Hilo High junior, originally from Australia, attended the Griffey camp last year as a player, and was named MVP. This year, he came back as a player/instructor.
Between workouts, he became a University of Florida volleyball fan as he watched the Gators dominate South Florida and Marquette in the Conference Challenge tournament.
"If they make it to the final four, I'm going to cheer for them," he said. "Even if they play Hawaii."
Of course, the real highlight was rubbing shoulders with the Griffeys.
"I guess a highlight was having dinner at Junior's house last night," Charleston said on Friday. "He didn't say much about where he wants to be traded, but he did remind me that his dad was a Red."
Speaking of Reds, Charleston also met Barry Larkin, another Orlando resident, at the camp. Barry's brother Steve, who almost played baseball at the University of Hawaii, was there, too.
CHARLESTON left Hilo last Sunday and returned last night. It was his second trip to the East Coast in little over a month; in October, the honors student went to Washington, D.C. to lobby congresswoman Patsy Mink about school books for lower income students as a National Youth Conference delegate.
Charleston can afford to travel so much because his father, Robert Shoemaker, is a pilot for Continental Airlines.
"It's pretty cool. You get to know the flight attendants and they bake you cookies and stuff," Charleston said.
Besides dinner and a bit of time on the field, Charleston didn't get to spend a lot of time with Griffey Jr. because the Mariners' superstar had some other commitments.
"He had to do a thing for Nintendo for a new game where they had him hooked up to machines for nine hours so they could duplicate his skills in the game," Charleston said.
While Charleston loves baseball, he is actually more committed to soccer at Hilo High. He has been a starting halfback for Don Memmer's Vikings since his freshman year. This year, he plans to go out for baseball after soccer.
Hilo baseball coach Buzzy Capellas said he can't wait.
"He's very versatile and he's crazy about baseball," Capellas said. "He can play just about anywhere on the field. The only problem is he's involved in other sports."
Charleston, 5-foot-10 and 160 pounds, isn't impressive physically. But he batted .600 in Colt League ball last year and captained the all-star team.
"They have a rule at school that you can't be out for two teams at the same time, so I can't go to baseball practice two days and soccer three days a week," Charleston said. "So until soccer's over, I'll just have to practice for baseball on my own after soccer practice."
His goal, as it is for most young ballplayers, is to make it to the majors someday. He knows the odds are long, but he's got some pretty good mentors.
"I feel good about my chances, because Ken Griffey Sr. told me I have a future," Charleston said.
Now that's a guy who knows something about young talent.
Dave Reardon, who covered sports in Hawaii
from 1977 to 1998, is a sportswriter at the
Gainesville Sun. E-mail reardod@gvillesun.com