LIHU‘E — Three Lihu‘e Patriot football players have been selected as Pop Warner Little Scholars, and will be winging to Florida during the Memorial Day weekend where they will be part of the Pop Warner National All-American banquet. Travis Aribon,
LIHU‘E — Three Lihu‘e Patriot football players have been selected as Pop Warner Little Scholars, and will be winging to Florida during the Memorial Day weekend where they will be part of the Pop Warner National All-American banquet.
Travis Aribon, Matthew Koyama, and Lance Delos Reyes, all students at Chiefess Kamakahelei School were the three Kaua‘i scholar-athletes chosen for this year’s honors from a national field of about 360,000 Pop Warner participants announced Mel Rapozo, vice president of the Lihu‘e Pop Warner Association.
Aribon, an eighth grader, and Koyama, a seventh grader, were selected as members of the First Team in the 2003-04 Scholar All-American Team while Delos Reyes, a seventh grader, was named to the Second Team in the selections process.
Only two other Hawai‘i athletes, Bronson Ahakuelo of Waimanalo who played on Vidinha Stadium turf this past season, and Kainoa Gaddis of Honolulu joined the three Kaua‘i athletes in the national recognition.
Ahakuelo is an eighth grader and Gaddis is a seventh grader.
According to a press release from the national Pop Warner organization, over 360,000 youth athletes participated in Pop Warner including cheer squads, and more than 45,000 achieved regional pre-qualifying status for national recognition.
Of this regional pre-qualifiers, 229 First Team and over 3,800 Second Team members were named at the national level, including the three Kaua‘i players and two O‘ahu players.
In order to qualify for the All-American program, the Pop Warner participant needs to maintain a minimum 96 percent grade point average to apply. Once the application has been submitted, the Pop Warner organization determines the National First Team All Americans (35 per grade).
If an athlete is selected to the All-American First Team, he represents the top one percent of all Pop Warner participants.
The Pop Warner Little Scholars program is the only national youth sports organization that requires its participants to perform adquately in the classroom before permitting them to play. The program believes that the standards give the children a sense of responsibility and an appreciation for academics and athletics that will help them develop later on in life.
Additionally, the Pop Warner athletes need to be well-rounded by participating in other community activities.
Koyama is involved in community basketballl, the school’s band program, and is a Boy Scout in Troop 148 while Aribon takes part in baseball for the Lihu‘e Baseball League, is also a member of the Chiefess Kamakahelei School Band, and Delos Reyes rounds out his athletic prowess in the field of community basketball and canoe paddling for the Niumalu Canoe Club.
All three students maintain between 3.8 and 4.0 GPA at the middle school.
The threeå players are on the Lihu‘e Patriots Midget football team coached by Jon Takamura and finished the season as league champions touting an undefeated record before heading off to Las Vegas where they returned with the championship trophy for the Silver Bowl in the Midget Division.
Rapozo said the Lihu‘e association will pay for the player’s trip as well as one accompanying parent, and the association is accepting contributions to help make this trip to the national recognition banquet possible. The group is scheduled to leave on May 26.
Contributions may be made by contacting Rapozo at 245-3539.
