Thursday, August 2, 2001

Monarchs rewarded
for acting manfully

Damien decides to play St. Louis
after seeing its players take the earlier
decision to forfeit with maturity

See story in News

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By Ben Henry and Dave Reardon
bhenry@starbulletin.com | dreardon@starbulletin.com

Few athletes will ever know what it's like to walk in the cleats of this season's Damien Memorial High School football players.

First, the school announced that it planned to forfeit games against powerhouse St. Louis School.

Then public ridicule.

And now the game is back on.

"When we made the decision (to forfeit), it was an adult, administration decision," said Damien athletic director Herb Lloyd, a former Monarch athlete. "The kids had no part in it. Yet the focus is on them. They're out there amongst their friends, and I heard them getting harassed and teased. It wasn't about them."

Damien's original decision to forfeit led to unprecedented adjustments by the Interscholastic League of Honolulu, a possible first step to statewide classification.

But Damien's players don't care about the wide-ranging implications. They just want to play football.

"Naturally, I wasn't too happy (with the decision to forfeit), but it gave me, as well as all the other players, the incentive to work harder," said Kea Toledo, an offensive lineman and one of the Monarchs' six seniors. "It gave me that little push to do the extras, to get the edge."

That attitude was encouraged by Damien coach Chris Bisho.

"This definitely has brought the kids together," Bisho said. "When this whole thing came to pass, there were a lot of negative feelings. I was just about, 'Guys, we have control over what we have control over. We're going to play football no matter what happens. So let's just get our minds right, prepare ourselves for whoever we're going to play and just go for it."

St. Louis has a similar attitude.

"I'm sure there will be more focus on this game because of the forfeit thing," said Bobby George, a junior quarterback for the Crusaders. "But we've just got to prepare like for any other team."

Players and parents view what has happened as a positive learning experience.

"The (original) decision brought us closer together as a team," Toledo said. "This is our goal, this is what we wanted -- to play against the best."

Joseph Chaves, whose son, Daniel, is a junior on the team at Damien, echoes those sentiments.

"It doesn't matter who wins and who loses, but the experience the players get from playing is irreplaceable," Chaves said.

"There's a lot of positives that have come out of this. It's pulled a lot of parents together. It's given them a common sense of urgency to support the team. And the boys have been motivated and enthusiastic about the coming season."

Principal Mike Weaver, a Damien graduate, said the players' resolve to bulk up and do what they could to get the game back exemplified the school's motto, "Viriliter Age," or "Act Manfully."

"What was the one single factor (that led to this decision not to forfeit)? To me, it was the attitude of the kids," Weaver said. "They could have just hung their heads, tucked their tails and just quit. And they did just the opposite. They've responded just the way we really want 'Viriliter Age' to mean.

"The initial reaction (by some of the public) was pretty harsh. But as time went on, people started thinking about it. Then the comments started coming in from both the parents and the alumni: 'What you did was good.' "

Said Toledo: "It's not a fun situation, but it made us stronger people. It's a positive."