Inside Sports for Sunday — February 13, 2005

• Kaua‘i teams rise to the occasion

Kaua‘i teams rise to the occasion

By Duane Shimogawa Jr. – The Garden Island

I like what I see out there recently with Kaua‘i teams representing the KIF with respect and dignity. How-ever, there are some disturbing instances that happened recently, which I will get into later on in this column, but I want to reflect on the positive, first. My parents taught me the “Sandwich Approach,” which means to use the positive first as the top bun, the contructive criticism in between as the meat, and finish up with the positive again, as the bottom bun!

The Waimea Menehune soccer squad is definitely the talk of the town and the rest of the state with a third-place state finish, last night over Kealakehe of the Big Island, in dominating fashion, 5-0, after a stunning win over Mililani.

Talk about dynasty, the Trojans haven’t lost a match in over five years, stringing off over 60 wins in that stretch. And to think, our Menehune ended that historic streak! Head coach Mark Kennett has said in interviews that the boys accomplished a lot just by beating Mililani and the last thing they will do is hang their heads because of falling short of the state title game. Even though they fell to Kamehameha in the semis, Waimea will still feel the buzz of beating the mighty Trojans. The Menehune reached uncharted territory with their three state tournament wins. But most importantly, they put the KIF on the map, at least in boys soccer. The next time the HHSAA is in the process of seeding teams for the state tournament, they’ll definitely remember the Menehune run and without a doubt, the historic win over Mililani. The KIF has been snuffed year in and year out for a seed in the state tournament, but the fact that Waimea was unseeded might’ve planted a fire in their hearts during their three wins against Kaiser, Mililani, and Kealakehe. On the other side, we have teams who win, that don’t display humility and sportsmanship and we have other teams who lose and show that they can’t handle the loss.

Something’s wrong here, when players are calling out other players in the stands. If coaches can’t control their players, then they should not be coaching at all. I won’t mention the teams in question, but one team won the title and another team lost the title. If you’ve won the KIF title, you deserve to celebrate, no matter what anyone says, but when you gloat about it and flaunt it in the other team’s face, it’s going against the very reason most of us play sports: to learn the lessons of sportsmanship, to have fun, and become better people.

And when a team loses the KIF title, there should be no reason not to feel bad or get down on ourselves, but don’t spoil it for the other team, who won the title. This is their time, your time will come, so be courteous, because when it’s your time, you’ll hope that people will respect you too! On Friday night, head coach Ed Phillips and his Kapa‘a Warriors basketball squad won a very big game against the Menehune in the final contest of the KIF season. It was the first win in three seasons for the Warriors and the first this year as well. What really made the moment sweet was the many players coming up to Phillips after the game and hugging him, with tears in their eyes. Phillips made a difference in their lives, not only on the court, but off the court as well. He has harped over and over again that basketball is just an avenue for young people to learn lessons on life and Friday night was just one big lesson for Kapa‘a. The team came full circle under Phillips, who mentioned that his team didn’t quit throughout the season and the win reflected hard work and perseverance. One week ago, Phillips and the Warriors suffered a heartbreak loss to the Menehune. After the game, the Kapa‘a coach lost his composure and tears flowed down his face. It was a tough loss, but Friday night’s win may have just been a product of the loss. There’s a saying that goes: You have to lose in order to win and I think the Warriors represent that to the fullest, not only on the playing surface, but on the surface of life too.