Just For Kicks
THE target date for completion of renovations at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex is just before the University of Hawaii Wahine open their season Aug. 31. Waipio Complex adds
amenities, 4 more fieldsFour fields are being added, bringing the number to 23.
The capacity of the main stadium is being doubled to approximately 5,000 seats. Another parking lot by the main stadium will add 100 spaces.
Some $300,000 worth of trees will be planted. This will provide some welcomed shade for spectators at all the fields.
Fencing, hedges and other shrubbery will be used to enclose the main stadium. This will allow organizations that wish to charge admission to do so and control stadium access.
A concrete slab is being installed behind the press box to accommodate the control truck for television productions so hundreds of feet of transmission cable won't have to be laid from the parking lot.
The problem with the sight lines from the press box -- being able to see the entire playing field -- are being corrected.
Lights are being installed at two fields outside the stadium.
A ticket booth built near the stadium entrance will house restrooms and a large storage room for equipment that is used on the outside fields.
The area behind the scoreboard end of the main stadium has plantings that will provide a better backdrop.
Signs directing fans to the facility have been installed on Kamehameha Highway where cars exit from H1 and at the left-hand turn by Waipahu High School.
Two plans have been devised for additional restrooms throughout the complex. But, since that portion of the facility that is leased from the Navy is in what's known as a "blast zone," approval of subterranean restrooms must come from the Pentagon. The alternative is to set up small, portable restrooms.
Mainland bound: Erin Ota, the Interscholastic League of Honolulu player of the year, will attend Western Oregon University on an academic/athletic scholarship.
A Maryknoll graduate, Ota tied for the ILH regular-season scoring title with seven goals.
"I might move to midfield or fullback. They say strikers don't like to lose the ball and like to push up," Ota said.
Said club coach Phil Neddo: "She has great speed, a great attitude and is hard to rattle."
Ota also received letters of intent from Oregon and Oregon State and considered the University of San Francisco.
Randi Kikuchi, a midfielder from Seabury Hall and a Maui Interscholastic League first-team all-star, will continue her career at USF.
Off to camp: This is the month Hawaii's top young players head to the mainland for the Olympic Development Program camps.
Seventy-seven boys will attend camp in Nampa, Idaho, and 42 girls from the 50th State make the journey to hone their skills in Moscow, Idaho.
The players have a week of instruction and play matches as a Hawaii age group team.
The top players in each group form the region pool and stay an extra four days.
Players are selected for national tournaments and foreign trips from the pool throughout the year.