Dennis Fujimoto – TGI Photo Editor KYBA’s only all-girls 10-and-under team happy to be playing KALAHEO – “Go, Mele, go!” The young basketball fan was obviously older than the 10-and-under Mele Yama who used her body as a shield and
Dennis Fujimoto – TGI Photo Editor
KYBA’s only all-girls 10-and-under team happy to be playing
KALAHEO – “Go, Mele, go!”
The young basketball fan was obviously older than the 10-and-under Mele Yama who used her body as a shield and her free arm to try and stave off the close-quarter defense exerted by the male Lihu’e defender.
“Go, Mele, go! No stop! No stop!” The fan was joined by another spectator as the petite Na Hoku guard tried to inch her way in from the half-court line.
But, the gallant effort fell short as the swift-moving defender gained control of the ball for a bucket and Na Hoku fell victim, again. On the bench, coach Jason Sahara, a KIF basketball player for Kaua’i High School, smiled, his clipboard clutched in one hand. Sahara was joined by Tyler Tsuyama, Kamo’i Refamonte, and Eric Tanimoto, all Red Raider athletes.
“Just go out there and have fun,” Sahara told members of Na Hoku during a time out.
Na Hoku is the only all-girl 10-and-under basketball team playing in the Kaua’i Youth Basketball Association (KYBA) league that started earlier this summer.
“They (KYBA) didn’t have a girls’ league for the 10-and-under group,” Cherish Yama said. “So, Karen (Matsumoto) let the girls play with the boys. Karen said that KYBA should be opening up that age group to girls next year.”
The 10-and-under program touts a total of four teams including Na Hoku. Two of the teams are from Lihu’e and sport all-boy rosters. The third team hails from the Westside, and according to Matsumoto, they didn’t have enough boys interested, so the coach formed a co-ed team with girls outnumbering the boys.
“We won by having fun!” said Jessie Nakamoto, a Na Hoku member, who smiled proudly as her team trooped out of the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center after being handed their fifth defeat in six outings.
“We lost! Hello!” interrupted Rachel Hamamura.
“Oh yeah. But, we lost and had fun,” Nakamoto corrected herself.
“Just have fun,” coach Sahara said of their game. “We tell the girls to just go out there and have fun.”
Sahara, who will be a senior, said he and his fellow coaches were recruited by Yama, a teacher at the high school.
“She asked if we could help out after she found some girls who were interested in playing,” Sahara said with a smile that reflects the lessons the coaches learned from the girls during their two-month tenure.
“They’re really good,” Sahara said. “They actually listen to us when we say something. This has been a really good experience for us. And, the parent support has been really good.”
Na Hoku meets for practice twice a week, and sometimes on Saturdays if there are no games scheduled, said coach Sahara.
“They (the coaches) have been really good,” Yama added. “The girls really like them. They practice hard. They play hard. And they have a lot of fun.”
“Many of these girls have never played before,” Yama explained. “These coaches had to teach the girls the game in addition to skills. They are very positive and have great patience.”
In preparation for the season that lay ahead of them, two of the girls, Maegan Pable and Mele Yama, were in attendance at the 2001 Kapa’a Warriors Basketball Camp, led by Kapa’a basketball coach Michael Ban earlier in the summer.
Na Hoku’s only win in the season, which started a week after school let out for the summer came, on a 4-2 score over the Westside Hornets, the co-ed team sponsored by the Boys & Girls Club, Waimea Clubhouse. Earlier in the season, the Hornets had taken a win over Na Hoku.
“The coaches are giving the girls a gift they’ll have for the rest of their lives,” Yama said, as the girls of Na Hoku were already fully engrossed in enjoying the post-game camaraderie of the potluck amidst the laughter of parents, coaches and players.
