Petition underway against Hawaii public school sports delay

The postponement of fall sports by the public-school Oahu Interscholastic Association on Wednesday due to the surge in COVID-19 cases has student-athletes’ families taking action.

An online petition — “Allow Oahu High School Sports to be played” — was closing in on 5,000 signatures Thursday afternoon, just a day after it was posted by Richard Tuason on change.org, but the next step might be in court — and not the kind with a net.

In January, football parents in San Diego filed a lawsuit against California Gov. Gavin Newsom. By spring, as new coronavirus case numbers ticked lower, Newsom allowed the return of prep football in the spring.

“There’s actually people who are doing that, putting the lawsuit together,” said local promoter and marketer Al Medeiros. “I was up until 2 o’clock in the morning talking to people. That’s the biggest step. We can hold our signs on the side of the road, but we have to go through the court system. We need to get it done before September, before it becomes officially mandated. It might turn into a law and become permanent.”

The DOE announced Wednesday that players must get vaccinated. Even with a religious or medical exemption, players face twice-weekly testing — at their own expense.

Many are opting to get vaccinated.

“We have a handful of people (at Kahuku) not vaccinated, but I think most will get it to play football,” highly recruited junior linebacker Liona Lefau said. “I am vaccinated.”

Lefau said players are aware of the petition.

“That would be cool, too. We are just hoping for a full season,” Lefau added. “We are just hoping there are playoffs this year so that we can compete for the OIA (title) along with the state championship.”

Some players have moved to states such as Nevada and Utah, where restrictions have been less common and a fall season was more likely, but others have opted to stay put no matter what.

“I am not going anywhere,” Lefau said. “We made a decision as a team to stay at Kahuku in hopes for our season to not get canceled. My message to my teammates is to stay positive and use this time to work on themselves in the weight room and also on the field. Don’t lose hope!”

Medeiros has a daughter who plays high school volleyball. He has spent much of his time supporting causes close to his heart — he has signed the petition.

“I fought for the mauna, for Haleakala. I speak on a lot of different things. I compare this to Mauna Kea, and this is bigger. We had 20,000 marching then, so we should have more for this,” he said. “The youth shouldn’t be penalized or given an ultimatum. The majority of our student-athletes won’t get a scholarship unless they’re playing a sport. They’ve been training this whole time, and now they have to stop until (late) September or pay $100 a week to get tested.”

The next step, aside from filing a lawsuit, will be something that hasn’t happened since the pandemic began.

“I want us to stand at the schools and hospitals on Monday. I’m reaching out to everyone at the communities and schools on every island. We want the youth to be able to speak and have a voice,” Medeiros said. “All of us who impact the lives of our youth, whose jobs depend on them. I hope people keep coming together to fight this. It’s our time to fight for the youth. We’ve waited too long to fight for them.”

Meanwhile, Roosevelt standout linebacker Kaeo Akana and his teammates, who are gritting through yet another challenge brought about by this pandemic, are trying to stay positive.

“We had a meeting (Wednesday). There was some disappointment and some frustration but nothing out of the normal,” the junior said. “Nothing changed for me. We can have several ways to look at this. We’ve chosen to see this as an opportunity to get in better condition, get stronger, get better — a second chance to get into season shape. Since we have a choice on how to look at it, I think it’s the best way.”

Akana has scholarship offers from some of the top football programs in the country.

“Bubba (his brother, who plays baseball at the University of Hawaii) and I ran in the morning. I lifted with Marcus (Kimura, his trainer) at BodyFix, came to school, then we’ll train football stuff in the afternoon,” he said. “Business as usual.”

The private-school Interscholastic League of Honolulu also stands to be affected by the postponement, as the two leagues play interleague games. Its schools are prepared to play an all-ILH schedule, according to football coordinator Wendell Look of ‘Iolani.

“We have a Plan B schedule ready, if necessary,” Look said. “(‘Iolani) is practicing as usual.”

So are other ILH football teams.