KALAHEO – As the clock wound down the final minutes of the County of Kaua’i’s mini basketball tournament for 14-and-under girls at the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center Sunday, it was evident that the tourney had accomplished more than just hosting a
KALAHEO – As the clock wound down the final minutes of the County of Kaua’i’s mini basketball tournament for 14-and-under girls at the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center Sunday, it was evident that the tourney had accomplished more than just hosting a team from Maui.
Lorna Santos, of the County Parks and Recreation Department, started planting the seeds during the last convention of parks and recreation personnel after coaches from the Kaua’i Youth Basketball Association’s girls’ teams expressed an interest in hosting off-island teams.
The inquiry came on the heels of a successful 14-and-under boys’ tournament last spring break.
Teams from O’ahu and the Big Island descended on the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center to play their counterparts from Kaua’i.
Dean Pigao, coach of the Run ‘N Gun team that dropped a three-point squeaker to to Maui Saturday morning, was on hand for Sunday’s finale against Brian Inouye’s 12-and-under Kaua’i Fire Protection Raiders.
As the seconds ticked away, Pigao was obviously pleased with the opportunity to have played and interacted with the Maui visitors, who spent their weekend residing at the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center.
“But, they’re going to have to let me know early,” Santos laughed, “so I can block out the Hanapepe Neighborhood Center.”
“They don’t have as strong a girls program as Kaua’i does, so the coach played the girls in the boys 14-and-under program,” Pigao said. “They (Na Wahine) ended the season as consolation champions.”
Santos noted that Kaumakani Supersonics coach Fran is definitely excited about taking her girls to an off-island game.
Santos also explained that during the parks and recreation convention, when she put the word out about having an off-island team play Kaua’i teams, she also got interest from a Kona team.
Due to the short period of time before tip-off, however, the team opted to come back another time.
Santos, who got some help running the officials’ table Sunday from Melanie Okamoto, said all the referees for the tournament, including Gene Padilla, Robert Ishikawa and Steven Carvalho volunteered their time for the games, allowing the cost to run the tournament to be kept low.
The Kaua’i teams also hosted the visiting Maui teams to potluck on each of the three game days.
An unexpected surprise to the tournament came in the form of Kristen Shim’s cousin, Kimber Fong, whose family was heading back to Marin County following a series of basketball games at the Shinzen Goodwill Games in Japan.
Fong, upon deplaning in Lihu’e, discovered her cousin was due for a game, and begged her parents to take her.
Coach Inouye allowed Fong to play with the Raiders in the tournament.
Fong did not disappoint, as she sparked the Raiders’ scoring in almost all of their tournament games.
Fong’s parents explained that Kimber is still 13, so was lucky that she could play with the 14-and-under team that went to Japan.
