Sidelines
Hometown swells with
pride after winYour eyes were not playing tricks on you last night if you were watching the late news. YES, Ka'u High School boys' volleyball team made it to the Nissan Hawaii State Volleyball Tourney being held here in Hilo this week. The best news? They made it past the first round last night by beating the OIA's Leilehua last night. They lost the first set ... and then kicked they (okole) for the next two. These bradduhs can play some volleyball. Typical Ka'u ... not real tall ... mainly Hawaiian and Filipinos ... or both. ... but can play. EXCELLENT coach in Guy Enriques. They going play giant killas tonite 'cuz they gotta play the #1 ranked Kamehameha warriors tonite (Thursday) at 5. Stay tuned!
Go TROJANS!
-- e-mail entitled
"Yup, you saw it"IT'S unbelievable. Do you believe in miracles? Yes. For real. Ka'u made it to the state volleyball tournament. And won a match!
This is the reaction of everyone from Ka'u now living elsewhere, especially me:
1) Are my eyes playing tricks on me?
2) WOW!
This is one of those Cinderella hometown pride stories. Ka'u is on the south side of the Big Island, both vastly large and incredibly small. There is no Oahu equivalent. I realized that once and for all while watching a music video for "Easy Country Living," and their country living included several shots of a tourist trolley.
(My third reaction was that Ka'u finally qualified for a state tournament and it's held in Hilo. "OK, we going states. Get on the bus." But then, for a kid from Ka'u, a trip to Hilo is still a pretty big day.)
So this was big news. The e-mails exploded. Nothing like this had ever happened. No one had ever dared dream it. How big was this? Let's turn to unofficial Ka'u sports historian Robin Gomes:
Kalani -- in our next column you going write something about Ka'u, eh? I know hundreds of Ka'u Alumni up here that are proud of what these young men are doing. I can't recall any volleyball team from Ka'u going to the states. A few track teams went. In 1980, the 440 relay team went. Grant (Bozo) Sumida, Larson (Mongo) Mondina, Kerry Tapia. I forget who the addah guy was. Eric Lorenzo, I think. But as for individuals, yeah. Casey McGuire-Turcotte took states in Cross Country.
Kurt, his older braddah, Thomas, he went states for the mile, eh? In seventh grade I remember watching him run at Hilo High's track. Brah, he blew away the competition so bad, wasn't even funny. I'm pretty sure the second place guy was a good 10 seconds behind. I remember he crossed the finish line, turned around and began to hop in place and greeted every runner with a high five as they crossed the finish line. Everyone else was dying. Thomas was ready to run back to Ka'u! One early evening my dad was driving home from Naalehu back to Pahala and past his brother by Kawaa stretch running towards Naalehu. He turned around and asked Thomas if he needed a ride and Thomas said, "ass OK Mr. Gomes, I training." Braddah used to run from Pahala to Naalehu after track practice every day. (Neva have aftah school bus at the time.)
In '77, Andrew Louis went and took the states in wrestling. That tournament was held at Kam School. My brother Jeff was a freshman then at Kam. He was in his dorm room when his friends came barreling in and said, "Jeff! Wea you said you waz from, now?"
"Ka'u ... why?" he replied.
"Brah, you should have come to the gym. One guy from Ka'u won the states for his division!"
Jeff said, "no way!" His friend said, "fo real brah! You know one Andrew Louis?" Jeff said, "yeah. He live across the high school back in my hometown." His friend said, "brah, az da one! Brah, you should have seen, the entire gymnasium was cheering for him, his final match! They were chanting, KA'U! KA'U! KA'U!! KA'U!!! KA'U!!!" He was the crowd favorite because he was the only guy from Ka'u. Just had him and his coach. Nobody knew where Ka'u was.
No one ever does. That's part of being from Ka'u. That's why it was such a great place to grow up. That's why this means what it does.
Of course the fairy tale didn't last. The Trojans lost to Kamehameha and then to Mililani, and then the e-mails poured in again:
This state appearance and their initial victory was much more than just a win. It was a feel good thing for thousands of folks who call God's country on the southside of the Big Island home.
Another added this:
Now, all my friends know where Ka'u.
Kalani Simpson can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com