[ HIGH SCHOOL SOCCER ]
COURTESY REED & JAY PHOTOGRAPHY
"I stopped volleyball this year to concentrate on soccer. It (soccer) is so competitive. I love stepping onto the field with my teammates and working toward the same goal. That is the ultimate. Soccer is the best sport, ever." --JoBette Nabarro, Waiakea soccer player who balked at committing to her senior prom because of a soccer tourney.
JoBette’s The exceptional ballhandling skills that have helped make Waiakea's JoBette Nabarro one of the state's most highly regarded soccer players isn't all that makes her unique.
1-track mind
The Waiakea standout has an
High School Beat
uncontrollable case of soccer-itisBy Jack Danilewicz
Special to the Star-BulletinUndoubtedly, she is one of few ex-football players among the ranks of Hawaii's girls soccer players.
And what position did she occupy on the football field?
"The bench," she laughed. "Actually, I was a wide receiver; that was in the fourth grade. When I was young, I tried all sports ... baseball, football, softball, basketball, volleyball, but soccer came the fastest to me. I've always been athletic --I'm usually playing a sport. One day we were driving by (Hilo) bay-front beach -- where they play a lot of soccer --and I said to my mom, 'I want to play that.' She signed me up when I was 5, and I've loved it ever since."
Eventually, Nabarro became a weekend resident on Oahu, competing for the Honolulu Bulls Club Team and coach Phil Neddo.
"I've been playing soccer for 13 years now," she said. "In the summer of eighth grade, that's when I first started to take it seriously. I used to fly over two or three times a month on the weekends. I have a lot of relatives there, so I stay with my uncle (Carling)."
Nabarro's love of soccer can perhaps best be summed up in her reluctance to commit to attending her senior prom, which will be held in May, due to a scheduling conflict with an American Youth Soccer Organization tournament.
"She didn't want to miss a game, but I told her, 'You've been playing soccer your whole life, but this is your only chance to go to your senior prom,' " said her mom, Barbette.
"She'll be on Oahu for her game (on a Thursday), come back (to Hilo) to get ready and attend the prom on Friday, and hopefully, return to Oahu on Saturday to play in the tournament. She eats, sleeps and dreams about soccer. Her car and her room are filled with anything soccer."
Nabarro's reward for all of those trips from Hilo to Honolulu is yet another trip in an airplane. Today, her destination is the campus of San Diego State, where she will make one of the five official college visits she is allowed by the NCAA. SDSU is one of a handful of schools recruiting her.
This winter, she rolled up 32 goals in leading Waiakea to a 9-1 mark in the Big Island Interscholastic Federation's South Division.
In fact, if you omit one game with archrival Hilo -- the only one she was held without a goal (she had three assists) -- her stats are even more noteworthy. She averaged 3.5 goals a game in the Warriors' other nine regular-season meetings. She had 33 goals this year, including the playoffs. (Mililani's Mele French scored 31 goals as a senior last year in regular-season and playoff games).
Nabarro had a fan following all her own in that all-important matchup with Hilo.
"I coach a little league soccer team in my spare time.It's fun helping little kids," she said. "They came to watch me play when we played against (Hilo) --it was cute --and cheered me on."
Included in her personal fan club is Dave Mena, who coaches BIIF South rival St. Joseph.
"Her personality is very bubbly, very positive," said Mena, who coached Nabarro in the Olympic Development Program on Oahu. "If something bad happens, she's working to turn it around. She's an amazing individual in that respect.
"I think she has a lot of inner strength. She's always had motivation to be the best player she can be, and she's gotten very good direction from Neddo, who has given her the opportunity to come to Oahu and compete, which really helps her because the competition level on her own island just isn't there."
On the soccer field, Nabarro's overall skills serve her well.
"She gets herself out of trouble with her ballhandling skills, which creates more opportunities for her to score," Mena said.
Added JoBette: "I'm not the fastest on my team, but I can make plays. I get a lot of my goals dribbling past people."
Nabarro's love of athletics was developed largely at home. She is the oldest of three children born to Royden and Barbette Nabarro.
"The family encouraged sports a lot," she said. "My dad played football (for Hilo) and other sports. We're a very athletic family."
In her spare time, JoBette bodyboards, catches MTV to keep up on "the new songs coming out" and hangs out with her friends. But her mind is never far from soccer, which has allowed her to travel to California, Wyoming, Utah and New York, among other places. Last summer, she competed for a Hilo Club Team, which was invited to a National Tournament on the West Point campus and won its division with a 6-0 mark.
"I've been to the mainland lots of times, and I want to live in a different climate so I can try new things," she said. "I'll take the best (scholarship) offer to make it easier for my family. I want to go into sports medicine or forensic science. If I'm not going to make it in sports, I'd like to stay in sports.
"I stopped volleyball this year to concentrate on soccer," continued JoBette, who will compete for the Waiakea basketball team this spring. "It (soccer) is so competitive. I love stepping onto the field with my teammates and working toward the same goal. That is the ultimate. Soccer is the best sport, ever."
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