It’s game day at Makiki District Park, and the mighty RavenHawks of the i9 Sports soccer league are in fine form.

Granted, it’s been at least five minutes since little Gavin’s last Lionel Messi-like scoring scamper, but there has been plenty to cheer about in the interim. Brothers James and David have each broken up scoring attempts by the other team, Tailea chipped in a fine kickoff before exiting the field for a quick hug by mom, and Ty executed a picture-perfect throw-in — to one of his own teammates, even!

In the midst of it all, coach Sean Slentz, 39, keeps his tiny charges engaged with a steady stream of encouragement and instruction. In a league where scores go untallied and everyone wins because everyone gets a high-five and a snack pack in the end, Slentz and his fellow parent volunteers try to keep things simple and in perspective.

"The focus is boosting self-esteem through sports," says Slentz. "It’s about having fun, working together and starting to learn ideas of teamwork."

In coaching the RavenHawks, Slentz, a nurse practitioner in pediatric and general surgery at Tripler Army Medical Center, brings together his love of sports, his affinity for children and his lifelong commitment to community engagement.

Slentz was born and raised in Arizona and spent his early years playing soccer and basketball and fostering a love of the outdoors through Scouting.

Slentz later attended the University of Arizona, where he met his future wife, Michelle, who is from Hawaii.

Despite his initial intentions to pursue a career in health care, Slentz spent his first years out of college doing Web development and design for a California-based company.

"Then we experienced a series of brownouts that made me reconsider what I was doing," Slentz said. "I thought it would be good to develop a skill set that would still be applicable when the lights went out."

And so Slentz went back to school, earning accreditation as a registered nurse in 2004 and completing a Master of Science in Nursing degree two years later.

Slentz spent five years as a nurse practitioner in the emergency room at Scripps Memorial Hospital in Encinitas, Calif., before he and Michelle decided to move to Hawaii.

Slentz’s schedule at Tripler leaves him ample time to spend with Michelle and their two children, Zoe and Zane. He’s also looking forward to joining the local Rotary Club, an organization with which he has had a long association.

"I’m not especially religious, but I am sort of a Golden Rule kind of guy," he says. "I just try to put out there what I want to get back."

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Check out @IncidentalLives on Twitter. Reach Michael Tsai at mtsai@staradvertiser.com.