• Sports around town Sports around town By Duane Shimogawa Jr. – The Garden Island An eventful Saturday of sports kicked off with a lacrosse clinic held at the Waimea Canyon Ballpark at 9 a.m. by Ken Gilstein and company.
• Sports around town
Sports around town
By Duane Shimogawa Jr. – The Garden Island
An eventful Saturday of sports kicked off with a lacrosse clinic held at the Waimea Canyon Ballpark at 9 a.m. by Ken Gilstein and company. Ken said that there was a pretty good turnout with participants from Kekaha, Waimea, Hanapepe, Kalaheo, and Kapa‘a. Beau Acoba, son of Edmund “Muscle Man,” and Holly “Ms. Central” Acoba was in attendance along with mom. Also at the clinic were Mario Rivera Jr., Erik Cannon, and Dylan Gilstein, just to name a few. Helping out as always were Aaron Uyeda and Ku‘ulei Takashima from the County’s Department of Parks and Recreation Division.
Ken brought a bunch of his players from the mainland earlier this year to play exhibitions throughout the state, which included one here at Vidinha Stadium. Lacrosse is an up and coming sport on Kaua‘i and if you’d like to get involved, give Ken Gilstein a call 652-9422. On my way back into Waimea town, I stopped by the Ed Ho Swim Meet at Waimea High School’s pool. The West Kaua‘i Lions Club did an excellent job once again with coordinating the event. This year’s meet was moved up to December instead of August to accommodate the swim teams. Charlie Ortiz, a long-time West Kaua‘i Lion was helping out with the meet dressed in a bright purple WK Lions shirt. Oritz, unlike his brother Randy, who’s a county lifeguard with the department of ocean safety, enjoys out of the water activities, but nonetheless he had a lot of good words for the continuation of the Ed Ho Meet that has been going on for almost 40 years. Instead of swimming, Charlie is a gym rat. He can shoot the lights out of any gym and you can see him do it at Kalaheo Gym on Sunday evenings as the men’s hoops league got underway about a couple of weeks ago (Thanks for the call, Chip). Bob Long was also on hand to watch his daughter, Kelsey, who is a member of Mokihana Aquatics. Coach “O” had his troops ready for the meet with their Mokihana swim caps at their disposal. Long is a big sports fan and mentioned that he’s excited about Jordon Dizon and his spectacular season.
Right next to Long and also helping out with the meet was Mr. Kobayashi, who is Tyler and Torrey’s (Mokihana swimmer) dad. Tyler was a former standout athlete at Kaua‘i High School in basketball and baseball. Tyler is now working in Beaverton, Oregon, right outside of Pacific University, the school Tyler attended, but he’s not done yet, according to papa, Tyler is going after his master’s degree in teaching, but he wants to come back to Kaua‘i to work (Way to go Tyler!). After the Ed Ho Swim Meet, it was off to Pop Warner at Hanapepe Stadium for East vs. West action. These games are highly competitive and not to mention, gives bragging rights to the winners. More importantly though, this great event is highlighted with proceeds benefiting the Kaua‘i United Way. Hats off to Leon Gonsalves Sr. and the Kaua‘i Pop Warner Football League for keeping the community in mind! After Pop Warner, it was KIF soccer openers at Vidinha. Manny Henriques was on hand with his steady camera. Exciting news for Manny, because this year, he will get the ultimate Christmas gift, a new baby! His wife Sam, Kapa‘a High School’s trainer, is supposed to give birth on Christmas day (what a treat that would be)! After all of the events, I forgot one thing, sunscreen, so now it’s time to feel the burn, but it’s okay, because I’d do it all over again!
