Organizers busy
trying to put high school
surfing in the water
The hardest part is over, but there's still lots of work to do before the first surfer drops in on a wave during a competitive, state government-sanctioned interscholastic event.
"We'll be contacting other schools and see where we're going with this, now that we're over the big hurdle," said David Cosier, who has been coaching Kalaheo High School surfers in the Pyramid Waveriders Club.
The "big hurdle" was jumped when the state Board of Education decided on May 20 to allow surfing as an interscholastic sport. All Hawaii public high schools have the green light to start up official teams, if they so choose and if there is enough interest.
"We're still waiting for the official go-ahead from the Department of Education," said Iris Kahaulelio, who coaches Kahuku High students in the Koolauloa Surf Club. "We'd like to put together a plan and set up a board of directors and start a group to organize the meets and then present the plan to the Oahu Interscholastic Association."
Kahaulelio was one of the main advocates in the nine-year push for placing surfing into the schools. She would like to see the OIA and the state's other athletic organizations start league competition as soon as possible.
"Maybe it can start next year as a pilot program," she said.
Many other public and private schools -- Campbell, Mililani, Roosevelt, Leilehua, Radford, Waialua, Waianae, Kapolei, Maui, Lahainaluna, Kauai, Saint Louis, Kamehameha and Punahou among them -- have had official or unofficial surf clubs competing as de facto school teams at National Scholastic Surfing Association events since 1996, according to Kahaulelio.
Instead of riding under the banner of the club teams (some which had official school status and some which didn't), surfers at the schools choosing to offer the sport on the varsity, junior varsity or intermediate level will now be riding officially under their school's name.
Many decisions are yet to be made, including which of the three seasons it will run, who will officiate and serve as lifeguards, which of Hawaii's five leagues will add it to their official schedules, and which formats and rules will be used.
"Eventually, there's potential for interscholastic athletic surfing competition," OIA executive secretary Dwight Toyama said. "We don't have a formal position on it right now. Guidelines need to be put in place first, but we (the OIA) will be part of the planning process."
Toyama said he knows of two leagues -- the Maui Interscholastic League and the Interscholastic League of Honolulu -- that are against formal interscholastic surfing competition at this time.
In related news, Toyama said he's aware of survey results that show "some interest" for starting girls flag football on Maui. "So far, there's not much interest for that on Oahu," he added.
A different route: The Nissan Hawaii Hall of Honor isn't likely to be affected by changes to Nissan Motor Corp. in Hawaii Ltd.
Instead of being a wholly owned subsidiary of Nissan North America, Inc., the Hawaii company will become part of the mainland-based parent company within a year.
In the past, Eric Miyasaki, the president and CEO of the Hawaii subsidiary and the chairman of the Hall's board of governors, didn't have to go outside of Hawaii for Hall of Honor funding approval. Now, funding must be approved by Nissan North America.
"We're deeply committed to keeping the Hall of Honor," Miyasaki said. "And I'm optimistic that we'll secure the funds to continue on. We're proud to have done this for 22 years and we don't want to walk away now."
The Hall of Honor awards scholarships to 12 Hawaii senior student-athletes each year.
Falcons coaches retire: Norman and Willy Chung are retiring as Kalani High School air riflery coaches.
The husband and wife coaching team started the Falcons program nine years ago.
"We had lots of fun and we couldn't have done it without the support of the students, faculty, athletic director and assistant coaches," Willy Chung said.
Under the Chungs, Kalani won one boys OIA championship, one girls league title and numerous East Division crowns. They were also named OIA East coaches of the year nine times and they coached five different OIA individual champions.
In addition, Kim Galase won't be back as head coach of the girls soccer team, according to interim co-athletic director Greg Van Cantfort, who said Galase is leaving due to personal reasons.
Van Cantfort plans to officially post the soccer and air riflery openings in the near future.
All in the ohana: Talk about a close-knit group. Kahuku's two-time state runner-up girls basketball team has a bunch of players related to each other.
Sisters Latoya and Artevia Wily are first cousins with Karla Tailele, while sisters Mona and Aisha Ale are first cousins with Camilla Ah-Hoy, according to coach Wendy Anae.
Tina and Anny Soliai make up another sister combination.
In addition, the Wilys are related to the Ales and Ah-Hoys, but not as first cousins, Anae said.
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