KIF compromise
allows coach access
The Kauai Interscholastic Federation avoided potential legal problems earlier this year, thanks to a compromise between football officials and a junior varsity coach.
During an early season game, football officials asked Kapaa JV offensive line coach Keith Kitamura to move out of the coaches box -- a 2-yard-deep strip that runs between the two 25-yard lines.
Due to injuries suffered in a car accident when he was a senior in high school, Kitamura is unable to walk and uses an electric wheelchair to get around. The officials were worried that the wheelchair was a safety hazard, and when Kitamura didn't want to move right away, they threatened to leave in the middle of the game.
Kitamura agreed to back off so the game could be completed. After the incident, the league held a meeting and an agreement was reached that no JV football coaches on the island can go into the box during JV games. The move was made to guarantee equal access as required under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
"It's nice that we were able to resolve it to everybody's contentment," KIF executive secretary Diane Nitta said. "It's a credit to the officials and Keith Kitamura that they worked it out."
Kitamura, 24, is glad a solution was found, but he's disappointed with how he was treated.
"The officials made it sound like I was trying to hurt the kids and that I was acting hard-headed," Kitamura said. "And after it was resolved, an official called a penalty on us for having one coach in the box. He said, 'You guys should know better, it's your rule.' I didn't think that was very nice of him to say it and (another official) agreed that he was wrong to say it."
Kitamura hopes anyone in a wheelchair who wants to coach football from the sidelines won't have to go through the same problems.
If the same issue comes up on Oahu, the solution may not be as easy as it was on Kauai, where there are only three high schools.
Glenn Young, who spent more than 30 years as a Hawaii football official, has read up on ADA-related coaching issues.
"There is precedence," Young said. "The courts ruled that it's legal for a coach in baseball to be in the third-base coaches box with a wheelchair. But they also ruled that a third-base coach is not a direct threat to safety. That's not quite the same as in football, because it's pretty clear that a wheelchair so close to the sideline would pose a direct threat to the safety of others as well as to the individual in the wheelchair."
Kitamura, meanwhile, is enjoying his first year as an assistant coach. He was an offensive lineman and defensive end for Kapaa and graduated in 1997.
He's a student teacher at Kapaa and will graduate from the University of Hawaii in November.
"It's fate ... how I got into coaching," Kitamura said. "The first day of school, I saw Ryan McKeague, the JV head coach, and he immediately asked me if I wanted to help with the offensive line. So I showed up at practice that first day wearing the dress clothes I already had on.
"Coaching is a whole new story, and I'll be trying to get as much experience as a I can. Maybe I'll try to be a head coach someday. Right now, I'm trying to teach the kids that if they keep trying, they will succeed. I think just me showing up will help them, if you know what I mean."
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