LIHUE — One of Kauai High School’s longest-tenured coaches has stepped down.
Red Raiders cheer coach Carrie Nakaahiki-Young has decided to retire from the program after 16 seasons.
“Well, I had told them that I would stay until my grandson graduated,” Nakaahiki-Young said Thursday. “I think it’s time for me to travel and do more things.”
Nakaahiki-Young has spent the last two decades as a cheer coach. Prior to coaching at Kauai High, she was also the cheer coach for Lihue Pop Warner.
“I didn’t cheer in high school. I cheered back in the day for Lihue Pop Warner, but not in high school,” she said. “It all just started when my son started playing for Lihue Pop Warner and I would show up to practices every day. They needed a cheer coach. They said, ‘You’re here every day. Why don’t you become the coach?’ I thought, ‘OK, I’ll try it.’
“Then one year went by, and then two years. The more I researched the sport, it was interesting and intriguing. Next thing you know, I got asked (by former Kauai High School Athletic Director Charlene Quinones) if I would consider taking the head coaching position at the high school. And then from there, it was a 20-year ride. It was a long journey, but a very rewarding one for me.”
With Nakaahiki-Young in charge, Kauai High School won seven Kauai Interscholastic Federation cheerleading championships. The most recent was in 2016.
The highest Kauai placed at the Hawaii High School Athletic Association state cheer competition was third place in the large division during the 2003-04 season. Nakaahiki-Young said that team also won the National Cheerleaders Association (NCA) large division national championship the same year.
Recent placings at states were fifth in the medium division in 2016 and seventh in the medium division in 2015.
When asked what are some of her best memories as the Red Raiders cheer coach, Nakaahiki-Young said, “I don’t know if I can pinpoint just one.”
“I think just coaching the kids in general was, for me, the most gratifying. It’s awesome to see them capture a KIF title, but just watching them from when they start the season off at summer practice to how much they grow by the end of the season and just being with the kids, that was most gratifying.”
Kauai High Athletic Director Keli‘i Morgado hopes to find a replacement by the end of the month. Those interested in the position should submit resumes to the school’s front office.
“She’s one of the few veterans that I have in the department that have been coaching for 15 years at least,” Morgado said Thursday. “When you lose someone like that, you lose a solid foundation of one of the programs. Coaching is difficult. There’s so many facets.
“There’s the program itself, the coaching of the sport, the communication with the kids, the structure consisting of the rules and consequences and the followthrough, communicating with the parents and fundraising, there so much involved. She did all of that seamlessly. She did a wonderful job representing our school and the community, and she’s going to be sorely missed.”
The deadline to file an inquiry with the school is Friday, April 27.
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Nick Celario, sports writer, can be reached at 245-0437 or ncelario@thegardenisland.com.
