KAPAA — Eighth-graders Hero Raza and Chasen Tumamao were hanging out Saturday morning while the Bernice Hundley Gym resonated with between-game music. “Today is our first game in the Eastside Basketball League,” Raza said. “We play our last game Tuesday
KAPAA — Eighth-graders Hero Raza and Chasen Tumamao were hanging out Saturday morning while the Bernice Hundley Gym resonated with between-game music.
“Today is our first game in the Eastside Basketball League,” Raza said. “We play our last game Tuesday at the Kilauea Neighborhood Center as Hanakila, so this is good because we can continue playing. We just came early to check out some of the games since we don’t play until later this afternoon.”
Raza and Tumamao are just two of the more than 300 students participating in the Eastside Basketball League which inaugurated its 2016 season Saturday at the Bernice Hundley Gym on the grounds of Kapaa High School.
“There are a total of 27 teams playing from kindergarten-aged students through the eighth grade,” said Dominique Matayoshi, the league coordinator. “We have eight teams in Division I, or kindergarten and first grade; five teams in Division II, or second and third grades; seven teams in Division III or grades four, five and six; and eight teams in Division IV, or seventh and eighth grades — the division Raza and Tumamao are playing in.”
Games are played Saturdays at the Bernice Hundley Gym until April 16, Matayoshi said. Additionally, there are occasional add-on games on Tuesday and Friday nights for the older divisions.
Hailey Overmyer, playing in the county’s youth basketball, Division I, for the Kauai Ballers, is another player who will come over to the Eastside, extending her basketball playing season.
“My niece, Hailey Overmyer, just played her last game with the county’s program Thursday night,” said Michelle Jenkins, a coach for the Eastside Red Dragons, Division I team with her husband, Christian. “She’ll just come over with her team and continue playing. This Eastside Basketball League is a lot of fun for the young children. They gotta have exercise, and they run around a lot. They also learn the basics of basketball, like the difference between offense and defense, and they learn what they need to do in the different positions. The finer points like dribbling and ball handling comes later. This gives them the basics.”
Landan Summers, 7, was one of the players on the Red Dragons. His face flushed from his game, he was practicing his dribbling.
“We have one more game,” he said. “I think we tied the last one. There was a lot of action out there.”
John Kaneholani, the Kapaa High School basketball coach, was watching Summers between filling out plate lunches as a fundraiser for the Warrior basketball’s upcoming trip to the Hawaii High School Athletic Association state basketball championships.
“This is a really great program,” Kaneholani said. “I have seen it grow over the years. It is so big now that even some Lihue teams are joining in. This program is a great thing for the little ones. A lot of them won’t continue playing basketball, but the program gives them focus on what they want to play, and it helps them play better. It gives them the same values I stress to the high school players — education first, and attitude.”
