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PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY BRYANT FUKUTOMI / BFUKUTOMI@STARBULLETIN.COM
Warriors
in waitingKamehameha's neighbor-island campuses
are trying to build athletics programs as
strong as their Oahu counterpart's
Kamehameha's athletic departments on the neighbor islands are growing, and school officials hope it won't be long before their varsity sports teams gain in competitive stature at the state level.
On Oahu, Kamehameha has achieved tremendous athletic success over the years and the same kind of commitment to excellence could bring the same level of success to the Maui and Big Island campuses.
Bob Wagner, the former University of Hawaii football coach, is the athletic director at Kamehameha's Big Island campus at Keaau. His aim is to make the sports teams competitive.
"We're busy as heck," Wagner said. "We've hired over 30 coaches this year and we will more than double that amount next year and add 20 to 30 more the year after that."
During 2002-03, Kamehameha-Big Island's high school (consisting of a class of 96 freshmen only) participated in a handful of Big Island Interscholastic Federation varsity sports -- bowling, cross country and swimming and diving -- while a girls soccer team played an exhibition schedule. For 2003-04, the school plans to compete in 15 of the 18 Big Island Interscholastic Federation varsity and junior varsity sports. It won't field judo, riflery or varsity football teams, but it will take part in JV football.
In Upcountry Maui, members of Kamehameha's freshman class on that island took part in varsity cross country and numerous JV sports in the Maui Interscholastic League this year.
Next school year, the Maui school plans on varsity participation in boys and girls volleyball, track and field, paddling and golf, as well as girls basketball and soccer. The school has 22 coaches and that number will double next year.
In addition, both Maui and Big Island schools held their first spring JV football practices last week, and they'll eventually field varsity football teams.
Enrollment at both schools will nearly triple to 288 next year, with 144 in each of the freshman and sophomore classes. The student bodies will grow to 576 in 2005-06.
Wagner addressed concerns about Kamehameha-Big Island becoming too dominant in the BIIF.
"I think we'll fit in," he said. "We'll be one more very competitive school and I think all of the schools will make each other better, and because there's more teams, it gives more kids an opportunity to compete at the high school level."
Kamehameha-Maui athletic director Kurt Ginoza sees the growth of the school and its affiliation with the MIL as a positive for everyone.
"We look at it as kids participating and learning the lessons from athletics," he said. "Number of victories is not a concern. We plan to work well with the league and share our great facilities with all of Maui."
The Maui school's gymnasium is expected to be completed in the winter. It will include a detached wrestling room and a fitness and training room. A football facility with artificial turf and a rubberized track is expected to be ready by next spring. Plans also call for a soccer field and a swimming pool and eventually baseball and softball fields.
On the Big Island, a gym, baseball and softball fields and a football/soccer field are expected to be completed by December, and a swimming pool is scheduled to be finished in the summer of 2004.
Unofficially, the Big Island school has added red as a third color to Kamehameha's traditional blue and white.
"It's a Big Island color," Wagner said. "To distinguish us from the other Kamehameha teams, we may also use a petroglyph for our boys teams and a lehua blossom for our girls teams to denote the Big Island."
Wagner also said the school may eventually add a modifier to Kamehameha's "Warriors" nickname so it will be easy to tell which school is being referred to.
"But there are a lot more critical things we're working on right now than nicknames," he said.
Maui has no plans to add a third color or a different nickname at this time, but Ginoza said that will be explored in the future.
"At the state cross country meet, there was certainly a lot of blue and white," said Blane Gaison, the athletic director at Kamehameha's Oahu campus. "It was nice to see a couple of Kamehameha athletes come over from the Big Island, but it also would be nice to tell who's who. If it does happen (adding colors or nicknames), it would have to be approved by the heads of the schools and the trustees."
It may be a few years before it's known if Kamehameha athletics at the Oahu campus will be negatively affected by the growing Maui and Big Island athletic departments. Neighbor island students who would have attended the Oahu school will now be enrolling on their home islands.
"On the surface, it looks like it could hurt Kamehameha on Oahu," Wagner said. "But I think the impact will be minimal because there will be other kids that can step in."
Said Gaison: "I don't think it will affect us whatsoever. We have so many athletes here already, many nonstarters who could be starters elsewhere. They have tremendous assets there (Maui and Big Island) and they're opening up the gates for more people to have an opportunity. We'll certainly miss having neighbor island kids at our schools because they're special in that they sometimes bring a totally different culture and perspective on life and share it with us."
The three Kamehameha schools will continue to discuss topics and assist each other in various ways, according to Gaison, but they will have their own autonomy.
"We'll share ideas and help each other cope with problems, but that's something we do with schools already all across the ILH," Gaison said.
It's an exciting time for Ginoza and Wagner, who are facilitating a big change in Hawaii high school athletics.
"We're very fortunate, Bob and myself, to be working on the blueprint on the history of the Maui and Big Island chapters of Kamehameha athletics," Ginoza said. "It's a challenge and it's fun and we're extending the reach and creating opportunities for Hawaiians."
