Skylar Holt, left, Eddie Maldonado III and Nalu Foriseth checked out the waves yesterday at Makaha Beach. Maldonado, a 2002 graduate, said he had tried to start a surfing club at Waianae High School with some teachers and a sponsor but was unsuccessful.
BOE set to approve
school surf teamsNine board members say they
plan to give the sport official status
Surfing, Hawaii's gift to the athletic world, will gain official status as a high school sport at tomorrow's Board of Education meeting on Maui, according to board members.
CORRECTION
Thursday, May 20, 2004The Oahu Interscholastic Association, the Oahu public high schools athletic league, has not taken an official position on surfing as an interscholastic sport, but athletic directors have concerns about liability. In a story on Page A3 in yesterday's early edition, the organization was incorrectly labeled as the Oahu Interscholastic League.
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin strives to make its news report fair and accurate. If you have a question or comment about news coverage, call Editor Frank Bridgewater at 529-4791 or email him at corrections@starbulletin.com.
All nine members who plan to attend told the Star-Bulletin they will vote to approve surfing as a school sport, a policy that had been torpedoed previously because of concerns about safety and cost. The proposal needs seven votes to pass.
"Liability is a legitimate concern, of course," said Mary Cochran, chairwoman of the board's committee on special programs, which developed the policy. "But the fact is when you look statistically at what the injuries have been, football is far more dangerous than surfing."
Hawaii public school students now compete in surf meets as members of clubs, but they cannot use their school's names. The new policy would allow such clubs to be official school teams. The decision on whether to have a surf team would be left to individual schools.
"We're not dictating that schools must have surfing," said Board Chairman Breene Harimoto. "That's the key."
Surfers have campaigned for years to get official recognition for their sport. In 2002, the state Attorney General's Office vetoed the idea over liability concerns. Opponents argue that surfing involves an unpredictable environment, including waves, sharks and collisions with other surfers.
But advocates refused to give up, and have shown up at board meetings even when the item wasn't on the agenda.
Iris Kahaulelio, coach of the Koolauloa Surf Club, made up of students from Kahuku High and Intermediate School, said she has been pushing the issue for eight years, starting with the Legislature.
"The seventh-graders I taught to surf are now seniors," she said yesterday. "I told them, 'I promise you, by the time you graduate it's going to be a sport,' and it just might be."
"Students need something to tie them in with the school community," she added. "They want to be recognized at a sports banquet just like football or basketball."
The policy poised for approval directs the Department of Education to adopt regulations to implement surfing as a high school sport. Those rules would need to address liability, logistics, safety, equipment and funding. The policy does not require interscholastic leagues to offer competitive surfing.
The Interscholastic League of Honolulu has opposed surfing as an interscholastic sport, citing potential liability. Dwight Toyama, executive secretary of the Oahu Interscholastic League, said yesterday his organization has not taken a formal position, but athletic directors have similar concerns.
The California Interscholastic Federation does not sanction surfing as a sport, although schools there compete as "club" sports and some offer surfing as physical education.
The Department of Education estimated last year that the cost could be as high as $2.6 million a season if all high schools offered the sport and provided coaches, equipment, transportation, and lifeguards with Jet Skis at every meet and practice. Surfing advocates scoff at that figure, saying the clubs have been operating at no cost to the schools, with volunteer coaches and donated equipment.
"I really hope it passes," said Reis Harney, a Kahuku senior and captain of the Koolauloa Surf Club, which just won the regional finals of the National Scholastic Surfing Association.
"Even if some of us won't be able to say that we belonged to a school team, maybe our kids will, and our brothers and sisters and friends," he said. "We'll always know that we helped for them to have that."
