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Just For Kicks
SOCCER purists will be surprised, perhaps even shocked, by FIFA's decision to approve artificial turf for international play, even the World Cup. FIFA is ready to
roll out green carpetFIFA president Sepp Blatter said his organization has removed rules banning artificial turf. He thinks the move will help ease a crowded calendar.
Blatter had warned recently about the increasing number of competitions worldwide for national and club teams.
"With artificial surfaces, you can play as often as you like," he said. "We have removed any objections to artificial pitches from our statutes, and that includes the World Cup. There would be absolutely no problem with a top league in Europe using modern technology to provide artificial pitches."
Grass fields always were mandatory for the World Cup. Several teams experimented with artificial turf in the 1980s but then dropped them when FIFA outlawed such fields.
Jennifer and Robin deHay, key players for Interscholastic League of Honolulu girls' champion Kamehameha, have decided where they will continue their soccer careers in college.
Jennifer deHay, a 5-foot-6 defender, has signed a letter of intent to play for Louisiana State. Baylor, Fresno State, Nevada and UC Santa Barbara also were interested, but her only recruiting trip was to LSU.
"I liked the fact that it was different. I thought the people were really nice. It was kind of like home," Jennifer said. "I also met someone from Hawaii, Curtis Tsuruda, LSU's strength and conditioning coach."
Robin deHay, a 5-6 striker, will take her skills to Stanford. She also made recruiting trips to Harvard and Portland and had interest from LSU, Penn and Hawaii.
"I always wanted to go to Stanford, but never thought I would be able to," Robin said. "I never felt I could get through the academics or be good enough to play on their soccer team. I thought about staying home but knew if I went away it would be something really, really good."
Ironically, the twins won't be playing for the head coaches who recruited them.
Stanford's Steve Swanson is taking the job at Virginia vacated by April Heinrichs when she became head coach of the U.S. National Women's team.
George Fotopoulos has taken over at LSU and his wife, 1999 World Cup and four-year national team veteran Danielle, will be a volunteer coach
Jodie Tanga (Iolani) started 18 or 20 matches during the 1999 season as a freshman midfielder for the San Francisco Dons. She scored twice on her six shots on goal.
"Jodie had a good season. Her most impressive game was against Duke, when she scored a great goal," Dons head coach Jean Paul Verhees said.
"Despite her size (5-2), she didn't back off. She gained confidence throughout the season."
Hawaii head women's soccer coach Pinsoom Tenzing spent 10 days in Spain observing the training sessions of SSV Ulm, a German first division team.
"It was very educational, especially in terms of the organization for each practice sessions as opposed to a collection of drills," Tenzing said.
With the ongoing renovation of the UH football and soccer practice fields, the Wahine are conducting spring practice wherever they can find space. Some days it's on Cooke Field, other days it's in Gym II.
The goalkeepers work out on a small grass area behind the ROTC building.
Wendi Young led the first-year Pac-5 girls team in scoring with five goals this season.
