KAPA‘A — The Kaua‘i Police Activities League hosted about 60 young wrestlers and their families from the eastside district on Sunday, May 28, 2023, for the spring season’s fourth tournament at Kapa‘a Youth Center adjacent to the Samuel Mahelona Memorial Hospital campus.
Coach Mac Pigott, the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation tournament director, assisted K-PAL staff with directing the tournament and coordinating training of the new software tracking system.
“We’re going digital,” Pigott said. “As we embark on our second decade of wrestling, major structural changes to tournament directing are coming. Over the last 10 years, our wrestling community has become accustomed to paper brackets taped on the wall, and each match called to report over the microphone. Hello, Trackwrestling.”
He added, “The Kaua‘i wrestling community, including the KIF, is going digital, and the Sam Silva (Memorial) Tournament this weekend, June 3, starting at 8 a.m. at the Clem Gomes Gym, will be our test run. All the major Hawai‘i High School Athletic Association tournaments, including the state championships, use Trackwrestling software to manage the events. Now, the KIF will follow suit.”
A coordinated effort with the HHSAA, the Hawai‘i Wrestling Officials Association, the Hawai‘i Federation of U.S. Amateur Wrestling and the KIF will offer introduction and training in Trackwrestling at the Sam Silva Memorial Tournament.
“Frank Fillippi, the head KIF official, will have his scoring table staff, and will be joined by HWOA officials from O‘ahu and Maui working together to help us learn. Myself and Julie Matseshe will be learning the digital tournament directing method taught by Mike Chang and Ku‘u Robinson,” Pigott said.
”Mike and Ku‘u helped the other leagues learn about Trackwrestling, and served as tournament directors for all major HHSAA tournaments. The league has invited each KIF member school’s coaching staff to attend the introduction and training in Trackwrestling. We encourage anyone interested in being part of this major structural change to come out to the Sam Silva Memorial Tournament, Kaua‘i USAW Championships, Saturday.”
Pigott said the K-PAL-hosted fourth spring tournament featured three hours of wrestling with 35 matches in four divisions from ages 5 through 45, and weight divisions from 30 to 230 pounds.
The 5-8, and 7-9 age divisions featured six-wrestler brackets. In the 5-8, 47-pound division, Keawaihi Armitage claimed the crown over Keahonui Mori and Anyachi Matseshe.
Ulu Sproat-Itoe was tops in the 7-9, 70-pound division over Brody Aceret and Kane Taniguchi-Butler.
Pi‘ilani Taniguchi-Butler claimed top honors in the 9-10, 80-pound division over Ola Sproat-Itoe and Akahani Armitage. Heanu Sakamoto emerged tops in the 10-11, 94-pound division over Kalinaray Aceret. Kaiwaihie Sakamoto-Flores topped the 12-13, 105-pound division over Koala Sakamoto-Flores.
The Sam Silva Memorial Tournament will have wrestlers weighing in at 8 a.m. with freestyle, Greco-Roman, or folkstyle wrestling for the high school and open divisions. Youth wrestlers will be participating in folkstyle wrestling.
There is no entry fee to participate, but all wrestlers must have a current USAW membership.
• Info: westsidewrestling@hawaii.rr.com, 808-639-8858
