There are a lot of people in western Kaua’i who say the Waimea High School Junior Varsity basketball coaches got a bad rap. Members of the Waimea High School basketball program, some of them current players on the varsity team,
There are a lot of people in western Kaua’i who say the Waimea High School Junior Varsity basketball coaches got a bad rap.
Members of the Waimea High School basketball program, some of them current players on the varsity team, and members of the sports media in Kaua’i flooded the Garden Island sports department with emails and phone calls Friday morning in defense of recent allegations that the coaches are verbally abusive to the players.
“They were great coaches and were not at all abusive,” said one Menehune varsity player, whose name won’t be mentioned due to his age. “They taught me the fundamentals of basketball. Even if the coaches may have been hard on us, it was only because they never want us to be satisfied with what we are capable of.”
This was just one of the many comments this department received in support of the Menehune JV staff, saying emphatically the coaches use a traditional style of instruction that is not borderline abuse, but rather a constructive method emphasizing discipline and good sportsmanship.
“I love these kids…each and every one of them,” said junior varsity head coach Glenn Montemoyer. “I have cookouts for them, I give them rides to games…me and my son, we are always there for these kids.”
The Montemoyers, who took over the JV Menehunes four years ago, have won four straight JV titles and one Waimea girl’s varsity title.