A leaked press release dated Jan. 5 — today — includes football along with fall and winter sports as being cancelled by the Oahu Interscholastic Association.
Coaches were informed by administrators about the cancellation of fall and winter sports, but football had been postponed until spring season, or “Season 2.” On Saturday, shortly after the Hawaii High School Athletic Association announced the cancellation of all winter sports state championships (scheduled for March), OIA winter sports coaches were informed about the cancellation of their seasons.
“It looks like there’s a date on (the press release) and it was posted prior to the date,” Moanalua football coach Vince Nihipali. “I’ve seen stuff on it (online). The impact just in general is big, yeah. It affects the seniors a lot. That’s a tough thing for them. As a coach, all you can do is have some kind of contingency plan, what can you do to help these kids with recruiting and contacts? That’s all we can do. If it’s canceled and we can’t get it reversed, there’s nothing literally we can do. Numbers seem to be rising, so it’s tricky.”
“We’ll have to see what the superintendent will allow when sports return. Will we be allowed to condition the kids? Who knows, maybe the superintendent will tell us when we can get back and work with the kids in some capacity,” Nihipali said. “Whatever COVID protocols need to be done, if we’re allowed to do that, that’ll be a bonus. Hopefully, a spring season and something to look forward to.”
Kaimuki football coach David Tautofi looks at the example demonstrated across the nation and wonders aloud why Hawaii isn’t willing to test the waters.
“I’m not surprised, but I am disappointed by it. I expected us to do something, understanding the importance of this to these kids. Especially the ones whose lives depend on it and how much sports influences their well-being in the classroom,” Tautofi said. “We have numbers about how many kids are failing since we went to (virtual learning), and I think those numbers aren’t even close. A lot of it has to do with the political setup of our state.”
Tautofi will talk with his players today, if not Monday night.
“I don’t even know what to say to them. I can only pray about this and seek wisdom to somehow use this as another life lesson and give these kids a way to work against adversity. It’s a heartbreak. Koby (Moananu) is one of the top 10 players in the state and he still hasn’t been offered, and he won’t have his senior season. A lot of kids like him might not get their opportunity. It comes down to priorities.”
Kahuku girls volleyball coach Tuli Peters Tevaga believes more input from coaches would have made a difference.
“I was hoping that coaches could sit in on these meetings and share our concerns and vouch for our players. I feel like we’ve been following protocols and rules up until now.
“For me as a coach and especially my seniors, you’re just saying there’s absolutely no way that we could’ve worked something out for them to play, even if it meant empty gyms, testing right before games or anything like that. We weren’t involved in the conversation,” she said. “We just don’t know how to address our girls. We feel for them. It’s definitely heartbreaking for us, not just as a coaching staff and a program.”
Longtime Moanalua girls and boys volleyball coach Alan Cabanting was speechless for a moment.
“I’m hearing it for the first time. I’m shocked right now. I think girls volleyball is one of those sports where you can isolate the teams. They’re playing across the net. You have the opportunity to have safety like they have on the mainland in Nebraska, California, where they’ve had the ability to play the volleyball season. They’ve shown that they’re able to do these seasons. Literally, I’m just shocked.”
He hopes the decision by the OIA isn’t permanent.
“It’s disappointing, especially for the seniors who had really high hopes for this coming season,” he said. “I think one of the other things that they weren’t thinking about is there’s so many things being taken away from the kids, if we’re really thinking about them, we can try to salvage this for them.”
