The Kapa‘a High School varsity football program has a new Warrior at the helm. A four person committee selected long-time Kapa‘a assistant coach Sia Salausa to be the personin-charge on the gridiron. “It hasn’t sunken in yet. I’ve done a
The Kapa‘a High School varsity football program has a new Warrior at the helm. A four person committee selected long-time Kapa‘a assistant coach Sia Salausa to be the personin-charge on the gridiron.
“It hasn’t sunken in yet. I’ve done a lot assistant coaching but I’m excited and a little scared at the same time, now I have a lot more responsibilities, but I’m ready for the challenge,” Salausa said.
Although Salausa hasn’t selected his entire panel of assistants, he has said that he will utilize Steven Kaui and Solomon Torio on the defensive side.
“I’m still kinda feeling it out, looking for people to put a positive aspect on the kids and who can also motivate the kids as well,” Salausa said.
The four-person committee, which included Kapa‘a athetics director Greg Gonsalves, Todd Harrison, vice-principal, Gordon Bonilla, head custodian and longtime Kapa‘a athletic supporter, and Bob Kubota, a renowned Kapa‘a community person, interviewed six men.
“It was a tough choice, but we had some very qualified candidates, but at this time we thought Sia was the best person for the job,” Gonsalves said.
The former Nissan Hall of Honor winner thinks Sia has built some very good relationships with the existing players, which is one of the reasons for the selection.
“The kids respond well to him and I think he has the skills to work with our parents and with our kids; he’s a motivator competitor and he can inspire these kids to play hard and come together as a football team and be competitive in our league,” Gonsalves said.
Salausa’s main reason for applying dealt with more than just football issues.
“Football is number two, the kids are the number one reason and I told the committee if you can instill discipline and focus on what’s important in life, that’s the main thing; it’s definitely a challenge and I’ve never backed out of a challenge,” Salausa said.
The 14year KCCC corrections officer thinks his life’s experiences will play an important role in his new job as head coach.
“Ive learned a lot and I’ve become open minded, but most importantly, I’ve learned a lot about dealing with people and their attitudes,” Salausa said. Salausa takes over the reins from Wes Kaui, who got the ball rolling in his three years as head coach.
“I think Wes did a great job and the number of kids that came out doubled since he was the head coach; Wes paved the way and he gave me the opportunity, stepping in will be easy, because they (the players) know me,” Salausa said.
The Radford graduate takes a lot of attributes from his very strict coach and also credits KCCC warden Neal Wagamatsu for always being there for him. Salausa also works in the renowned lifetime stand program.
Salausa and his wife, Shelley (educational assistant at Kapa‘a, specializing in hearing impaired work) have two children, Coty (Kapa‘a High School freshman) and Fiona (Kapa‘a graduate and brown bags winner, finishing second at states to Jasmine Trias).
Salausa’s philosophy is strict discipline and learning the basics from the start.
“A lot of the kids last year didn‘t have the basics down, so we’re going to start off with agility and weights at first, we’ll take things slow and see how it goes, but I want our kids to start peaking when the season starts and not before that,” Salausa said.
With Kapa‘a having the most turnaround as far as varsity football coaches go, Gonsalves hopes that Salausa will be around for a while.
“I think Sia has some longevity here and I’d love to see him 12 to 15 years here and just become the guy for us, I mean he lives right across the street from the school, so it’s hard for him to get the school off of his mind,” Gonsalves said.
Despite its 1-1-16 record in the past 18 games, the Warriors are looking to bring more wins and even something else to the Kapa‘a football program.
“I wanna get the families more involved in their kids’ activities. If i can do that, the communication between the parents and kids should improve and at the same time, hopefully I can bring the entire ohana out to the games to watch their kids play because I know it’s important for the kids to see their families in the stands,” Salausa said. Historically, Kapa‘a has won four titles in KIF history, but with Salausa at the helm, the sky’s the limit.
“If your gonna preach you better practice it and that’s the saying I live by,” Salausa said.
It’s a huge challenge for Salausa, but according to Gonsalves, looking at the glass half full is the way to go.
“We can look at it as if he’s taking over the sunken Titanic or we can look at it as if it’s a big challenge, and we have to think positively,” Gonsalves said.
