KALAHEO — The late Tommy Nakamura, former site manager for Kalaheo Neighborhood Center, and mayor Bryan Baptiste must have been smiling in the rays of the warm sun that basked the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center, Saturday.
County officials, including Kaua‘i Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. and Parks and Recreation Dept. director Lenny Rapozo led the dedication of the new athletic floor at the popular facility that had restricted use during the two weeks the floor was being installed.
“This floor has been a long time coming,” said Rapozo, noting how he was one of the young people who grew up playing basketball on the concrete floor. “When Maxine Correa was in the Kaua‘i County Council, there was talk of getting a new floor for this gym. When Bryan Baptiste was the mayor, he pushed for the floor. Bernard Carvalho was the head of the Parks division and he pushed for the floor. Today, he is the mayor, and we are dedicating it.”
Karen Matsumoto, one of the coordinators for the Kaua‘i Youth Basketball Association that assists with scorekeeping chores for the county’s 11 and Under basketball program, said she remembers when Nakamura and she would go out into the community to get petitions for the new floor.
“This floor is long overdue,” Carvalho said. “But it’s here and this is a great day for all the young students that are here because it’s for them. I’m hoping that this facility will open up to volleyball and other sports.”
Rapozo said the project involved numerous people, but most notably, Denny Sadowski of Applied Surfacing Technology who did the work over a two-week period for about $120,000.
The floor is almost identical to the flooring surface used in the Island School gym and those involved in the planning of the project included Mel Nishihara and William Trujillo of the Planning & Development side of the Parks dept., Cindy Duterte, Executive on Recreation, Sam Arashiro, West Recreation Coordinator, and Clyde Vito, site manager of the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center.
Rev. Christine Kube, who also teaches yoga at the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center, got the young players involved as she utilized two “Ha!” breaths and two “Sigh” breaths to cleanse and purify the facility, the “Ha!” breaths breathing out
the negative and the “Sigh” breaths breathing in the positive.
Following a friendly
free-throw contest
between Carvalho and
Rapozo, the students took to the floor to resume their 11 and Under play that was interrupted during installation.
Curren Dillberg sank a dozen points, Kamea Palama-Alquiza followed with 11 points and Nate Herbig
finished with 10 points to lead Papalina, Vito sharing coaching duties with Sean Andrade, to a 55-16 win over Team Central which got eight points from Travis Ornellas and six points from Ian Pikini-Villon.
That was the first of three games played. Chavis Garma finished with a game-high 19 points to lead Westside Basketball to a 37-24 edge over G Unit in the second boys game. Tyler Fernandez and Michael Booth led the G effort with seven and six points, respectively.
Kristin Kawamura finished with 10 points to lead the Lihu‘e Extremez to a 20-11 showing over Westside Basketball that got six points from Alyssa Pigao.
Games continue Monday night with three games on tap starting at 6 p.m.
“At least now, the kids can’t get hurt,” said Guy Higa, one of the coaches for Team Central.
Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or pcurtis@kauaipubco.com
