Wednesday, October 24, 2001
From Duke Kahanamoku in the 1932 Olympics to Maureen O'Toole and Sean Kern in the 2000 Sydney Games, Hawaii's connection to water polo has been solid.
Water polo supporters
push for more teamsBy Cindy Luis
cluis@starbulletin.comNumerous island high school athletes have gone on to collegiate and international success in one of the world's most popular sports. More than a dozen Hawaii 2001 high school graduates have made their respective college varsity teams as freshmen this year alone.
Water polo is the fastest growing women's collegiate sport with its first NCAA-sanctioned national championship last spring.
The Interscholastic League of Honolulu has offered it for decades. When Punahou travels to Iolani this Friday for a boys match, it will draw several hundred fans for one of the most intense rivalries in island sports.
Yet, there has been a reluctance for other Hawaii leagues to sanction it as a high school sport.
The Big Island Interscholastic Federation offered girls water polo on an experimental basis last spring and the Maui Interscholastic League has offered it in the past but will not sponsor it this year. And the Hawaii High School Athletic Association needs three leagues to sponsor league championships before it can consider holding a state championship.
The reasons (some say excuses) for not having it in the Oahu Interscholastic Association could fill a pool. Lack of interest, lack of facilities, lack of funding, lack of support from athletic departments and fear of losing athletes to another sport."We have offered, through the Hawaiian Water Polo Association, to help with funding, to hold clinics, to help get coaches," said Ken Smith, water polo coach at Punahou School. "We've talked (with the OIA) for years. Originally, we were told we had to have a certain number of teams to get a league. They said six. We had four ready to go.
"It was a catch-22. We thought if we could start with four, others would join. They said we had to wait until we had six."
OIA students wanting to play the sport have a few options. The Hawaiian Water Polo League (formerly the Oahu Public Schools League), under the aegis of the Rainbow Aquatics Water Polo Club, sponsors fall and spring leagues for boys, girls and coed teams.
Schools currently competing are perennial power Kahuku, Kalani, and Kaiser. Roosevelt, competing under the team names Rainbows and Anuenue, also uses students from Radford and Pearl City and home-schoolers. McKinley and Kaimuki have participated intermittently.
Moanalua and Leilehua would have had teams but had to pull out. They normally use pools on military bases and no longer have access due to extra security precautions since Sept. 11.
Three windward schools -- Kailua, Kalaheo and Castle -- have expressed interest. But no windward OIA school has a pool.
"It's a real problem," Castle swim coach Stan Wada said of not having a pool. "I'd like to see Castle build a pool, but it would cost $1 million.
"I'd be interested in having water polo. I don't know much about the sport, but I'm willing to learn. It would keep the kids swimming. Some of my swimmers don't swim at all after our season is done until the next season.
"I know that some of the swim coaches think if we give the kids water polo, they'll lose them as swimmers. I say why hold them back if they can excel at something that will help get them to college."
At least for females, that is a real possibility. Gender equity requirements have led colleges to look for additional women's sports. (Men's water polo is going the way of men's volleyball, with about 22 schools at the Division I level.)
Water polo is cheap. An NCAA study showed that it was the most cost-efficient of all college sports offered.
"Outside of California, Hawaii has produced more Division I players than any other state," said Smith. "That says something, considering our population. I think Kahuku (the only OIA school that gives a varsity letter for water polo) is a great example. They're isolated, share a pool, but if they can do it, any school can.
"If we're responsible educators, we should be providing kids with as many opportunities as you can. What's left if you don't achieve your swimming goals? There's the possibility of water polo."
Hawaii is one of nine states that offer the sport at the high school level. At the collegiate level, only Hawaii (women), Chaminade (men) and Brigham Young-Hawaii (men) field teams.
"It's not a dead issue in the OIA," said Dwight Toyama, the executive secretary of the state's largest public school league. "I think eventually we'll get there. The tough part is the pools. No windward pools. Kahuku has done well, but they practice at Kamehameha.
"Because of gender equity, we are pushing for it. But right now, rather than add a new sport, the schools are adding a new level, a junior varsity, in sports they already have."
In the past three years, the OIA has added junior varsity competition in girls softball, soccer and tennis. There had been talk of adding girls flag football "but what good is that?" Susan Nishioka asks.
"It's hard to say what is in the minds of the athletic directors," said Nishioka, a teacher and coach at Roosevelt who began playing water polo at UH in 1972. "No one offers college scholarships in football (for girls). But there are so many opportunities for them in college water polo.
"If we ran a 10-team league (in the OIA), it would be less than $15,000. And that would include equipment, coaches and officials. We made a presentation to the OIA last February where we were shooting for girls varsity water polo. It was disappointing to find out they went with other sports."
Besides introducing several junior varsity sports, the HHSAA also added outrigger canoe paddling and cheerleading to this year's state championship offerings. Judo could be next.
"We're always looking to add sports and increase participation wherever we can," said HHSAA executive director Keith Amemiya. "I think all the leagues are looking at ways to increase girls participation, and water polo is one way to do it.
"It being a water sport, it would seem a natural one to add here. Besides being a fairly inexpensive sport, the added benefit is that it would afford more of our student-athletes a chance for college scholarships."
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