Here’s a hat, and another and another — 11 in all. As well as three for each member of the coaching staff. All 14 hats are off from me to these core members of the Kapa’a High School basketball team.
Here’s a hat, and another and another — 11 in all. As well as three for each member of the coaching staff.
All 14 hats are off from me to these core members of the Kapa’a High School basketball team. The Warriors competed in last week’s Boys Basketball State Championships in Honolulu. As a whole, the tournament was a showcase of some genuine hoops talent.
Did Kapa’a get any wins at the tourney? No, it finished 0-2. Did the Warriors make fools of themselves on the biggest stage in Hawai’i prep hoops? Absolutely not. In fact, at times the Kaua’i Interscholastic Federation champions showed spurts of true belonging. Not only did the Warriors compete, but they also struck a bit of fear into their opponents.
But for this observer, whose eyes have soaked in nearly every Kapa’a contest this year, the accomplishment was not that the Warriors kept its games respectable, but that they played with respect. On the court, the team represented the island in a manner befitting us all.
A questionable attitude and general concern about their collective well-being plagued Kapa’a for much of the season. Two members were dismissed for undisclosed reasons and many wondered if others would meet a similar fate. Taunting and disrespect marred the program. Midway through the KIF season, the question was not whether Kapa’a would champion the league and head to states, but if it would win another game. The tires on the Warriors’ metaphorical bus were flat; even the rims were beginning to erode.
Senior Kapu Hendricksen committed the aforementioned offenses with the most consistency. His effort to pump himself up often came at the expense of injured opponents — he clapped at more than one ankle injury — and at his teammates’ integrity. Head coach Michael Ban — an aesthetic mess by season’s end — pulled Hendricksen from many a game for behavioral abnormalities. But he never kicked him off the team.
And if life, particularly during the teenage years, is simply a process in maturation, Ban’s refusal to can Kapu was a blessing in disguise. Because the Warriors’ guard came to life on the court at the state tournament. He put the pointing fingers he had used for taunting to use for basketball and spurts of beautiful play emerged. It could be argued that Kapa’a’s inclusion on the state’s biggest high-school basketball stage was enough to calm Hendricksen and the Warriors, but the team still played with fire. They just left the sour attitude at home.
Kapa’a’s encouraging play was certainly a collective effort, but Hendricksen shined the brightest. His passing kept the state’s fifth-ranked team, Leilehua, off guard for three quarters in the Warriors’ first-round loss. Then, trailing a talented Baldwin team by 12 at halftime, Hendricksen scored eight third-quarter points to pull Kapa’a within three.
“I knew that I needed to come to the state tournament with a better attitude,” Hendricksen said, acknowledging the abrasive style with which he played the regular season. “I talked with my coaches and just made the decision that I would be more valuable if I used my head out there.”
As a team, Kapa’a did the KIF proud — probably earned the league a bit of respect even — despite the agreement that 2000-01 was not a banner year for basketball on Kaua’i.
The teams the Warriors faced last Wednesday and Friday were better than Kapa’a. Of that, there’s little doubt. Where Kapa’a appeared more a group of athletes filling roles on the school’s basketball team, its opponents were basketball players who also were excellent athletes.
But the home team led Leilehua 12-10, and trailed the Mules by just seven at the half, before succumbing. And, as noted, at one point in the third, Baldwin led by a mere field goal.
“I see a team like Kapa’a come over here and understand that the competition around the state is really improving,” Leilehua coach Keith Spencer said. “They came over here to get some respect and did just that. I was impressed.”
The Warriors may not return to the prep hoops’ biggest stage next year — their starting line-up at the state tourney was comprised entirely of seniors — but their emotional turnaround and performance on the floor is something of which they can all be proud.
Team members: Seniors — Kapu Hendricksen, Rhyan Greenleaf, Kekoa Chun, Jeffery Giminez, Chris Lary; Juniors — Kaili Panui, Garrett Danner, Allen Iloreta, Ed Roessler, Asher Cole and Austin Alapai
Coaches: Michael Ban, Ed Phillips and Bryan Doo
