[ BOWLING ]
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Mika Shimabukuro, Jennifer Kanemaru and Shawnna Uyehara helped Hawaii Baptist Academy to an ILHbowling title this season.
The HBA girls bowling team
lost seven players to graduation
but still won the ILH title
Losing seven of eight girls from last year's team to graduation, the Hawaii Baptist Academy varsity girls bowling team seemed to be geared toward a year of rebuilding.
Expectations weren't as high, and their string of back-to-back Interscholastic League of Honolulu championships was in doubt. However, with their backs against the wall, one thing became more and more evident as the season went along.
The Eagles don't rebuild, they reload.
As senior captain Mika Shimabukuro put it, "We're HBA. We always pull something."
What they "pulled" was a third consecutive ILH championship and a berth in this week's state tournament in Hilo, where they look to finally break through after runner-up finishes the past two years.
As easy as the girls make bowling look, this year has been anything but that for the Eagles.
Co-head coach Greg Hayashi, who has been involved in the HBA bowling program for more than a decade, suffered a stroke just before the season. His wife, Lynne, who helped him coach the girls team, nearly decided to stop coaching to take care of her husband.
"It was a shock," she said. "Before it happened, he hadn't showed any symptoms at all."
As a result, the girls were very close to not having a head coach.
"I was very apprehensive about coaching," Lynne said. "I didn't know if I would be able to function as well by myself without him, but in the end, it was just an automatic choice I made."
Helped by the fact that her husband was recovering much quicker then expected, Lynne, along with assistant coach Wayne Miyamoto, began to try to get the most out of their girls this year.
"It was like pulling teeth at first," Hayashi said. "But once we got used to each other, they began to jell as a team."
Shimabukuro, the lone returning varsity member, led the way for the Eagles, finishing the season with a 159 average, placing her third individually in the ILH.
"Before this season started, I felt pressure, since I wasn't used to being the captain of this team," Shimabukuro said. "But I felt a bond with this team and we've come together during such a difficult time and done really well."
Juniors Jennifer Kanemaru and Shawnna Uyehara, who played key roles on the team to balance out the HBA attack, finished eighth and 11th in the ILH respectively, and echoed their captain's sentiments.
"It felt like something was missing without (Coach Hayashi) there, but we used it as motivation to win," Kanemaru said.
"I just tried to bowl better and shoot the best game I could for him," Uyehara added.
While bowling is normally a pressure-filled sport (having to stand on the lanes all by yourself with people staring at you from all different directions, knowing the margin of error from a strike to a gutter ball is so thin) going through this adversity early in the season really took the pressure off the girls, especially toward the end of the season.
"Once we came together, we didn't fool around and just did what we had to do," Kanemaru said. "We know that whatever comes at us, we can handle it."
As they head into the state tournament once again, the Eagles take with them the confidence and momentum they have going for them, as well as the return of their coach.
While unable to partake in coaching activities, Greg Hayashi has recovered faster than anyone expected, and has been able to watch the team bowl. He will be by their side as they look to finally bring home a state championship.
"The Lord has been really good to us," Lynne said. "Greg has recovered much faster than I expected, and this team has done so much better than I ever imagined at the beginning of the year."
And no matter what happens at this weekend's state tournament, the Eagles have accomplished so much and persevered through such tough times that every team member knows who they'll be bowling for.
"We dedicated this season to Coach Hayashi and we won," Shimabukuro said.
Why change anything now?
