Mark Arima remembers Cooperstown well.

When he and Sheri Arima went with the Waves baseball team to a youth tournament played on the hallowed grounds of the Baseball Hall of Fame, they didn’t expect a lot of fireworks from son Daniel, a two-sport athlete who had just completed sixth grade.

“He actually hit a home run there. That was pretty exciting,” Mark Arima said.

Dan also recalls that home run, his first ever.

“It was crazy,” Dan said. “I was definitely not supposed to do that. I hit near the bottom of the lineup. I was up there just trying to get a hit. I hit a homer and everyone went crazy.”

He never picked up a bat or glove again. And baseball’s loss became ‘Iolani soccer’s gain.

“Baseball was really boring,” said Arima, an outfielder. “Center field and right field. The games were a little too boring. Soccer has the high speed and how much I can be involved in the game.”

The starting center defensive mid is a key part of ‘Iolani’s 9-0-1 ILH mark and league championship. The Raiders are seeded second in this week’s Motiv8 Foundation/HHSAA Boys Soccer State Championships. They play the Castle-Campbell winner at 3 p.m. Thursday at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex.

‘Iolani last won the state title in 2023 under co-coaches Travis Watanabe and Grant Fukuda. Prior to that, current coach Christopher Lee guided ‘Iolani to the crown in ’09 and ’14.

The fast-striking Raiders are a slight outlier of sorts with an attack capable of racking up quick scores early, unlike traditional, conservative, small-ball ILH powerhouses of years past. With more attacking comes more challenges for ‘Iolani’s defense. That is where Arima and his teammates have been up to the challenge.

“Going into the season, I thought we’d have at least one loss. The team chemistry, our starting 11 is really tight,” Arima said. “Our outside mids, Brody Awaya and Asa Hironaka, throughout the season, they were able to create more opportunities to score by beating their man down the sideline.”

It’s entertaining, to say the least, for longtime Raiders fans. ‘Iolani averaged a whopping 3.9 goals per match in ILH play. Defensively, almost air tight at 0.4 goals per outing. The Raiders can win playing fast, and they can grind it out. In two matches against Kamehameha, they had a 1-all tie and a 2-1 win. Against Punahou, 5-1 and 2-0 victories. No other team in the state’s toughest league scored more than one goal in any match.

The Raiders are not about sheer numbers. They take pride in defense, but even stellar long-timers like Arima know it can’t be one-dimensional.

“We’ve been playing our best recently, scoring a lot of goals this year. If we go down early, I know we can come back,” Arima said.

Being seeded behind defending state champion Mililani hasn’t distracted ‘Iolani. It has only been two years since the most recent state title. Mililani blanked ‘Iolani in nonconference play, 2-0. The time for redemption is nearing, but still so far away. Playing with an edge hasn’t hurt the Raiders.

“Are we underdogs? I feel like we still have kind of a bull’s-eye on our back, especially the bracket we’re in,” Arima said. “Teams really want to beat us. For us, it’s just getting goals to the back of the net early, try and get them out of the game. Staying engaged and focused. The longer we keep teams in the game, the more dangerous it gets.”

The ceiling was very high back in December. Some teams peak early. Some teams play their best in their last match.

“We’ve figured out how to really play with each other,” said Awaya, who leads ‘Iolani with 10 goals scored. “The goals are just coming in now.”

Wendell Look has seen all kinds of athletes in every sport over the decades as a teacher, coach and athletic director. He doesn’t hesitate when he thinks about the Raiders boys soccer team.

“Dan Arima. Blue-collar player. He worked his way up through his career to starter. Captain,” said Look, ‘Iolani’s longtime football coach. “Dan does the dirty work that goes unnoticed.”

The value of a defensive-minded player who picks his spots on offense has off-the-charts value. Lee knows the intricacies of each position to the nth degree. He played on the 1987 and ’88 state-championship teams under then-coach Bob Barry.

“I probably started to notice Dan around his freshman year. He was a pretty technical player. His footwork and what he was able to do with the ball. He was and still is on the smaller size, but he’s grown a bit stronger,” Lee said of the 5-foot-5, 127-pound Arima. “What’s gotten him to his point is his knowledge. Not only his technical ability, but his soccer IQ and his understanding of the game. He doesn’t put himself where it’s a physical battle. He uses his skill and IQ to be in the right position. That’s taken him a while and that’s why he didn’t play more until this year.”

Lee draws a comparison between Arima and the center defensive mid of the 2014 state-title team.

“Dan kind of reminds me of Will Kawahara. Not the most athletic guy, but just good, solid technically. A good understanding of his role on the team. The glue guy. A very important player to our team,” Lee said. “And how we want to play.”

The value isn’t measurable in goals and related metrics.

“He’s one of our captains this year. The interesting thing about him, his group of friends he used to hang around with were seniors who graduated from the team last year,” Lee added. “They had a positive effect on him and his maturity, his ability to communicate with the team. He’s the guy I go to if the players aren’t getting the message from us coaches. He’s someone we can depend on.”

While Arima had a busy summer, it was different. He got some soccer in, but there was a trip to Japan, an internship at Pacific Shipyards, and a week-long Society of American Military Engineers Camp in California. Arima is currently carrying a 4.1 grade-point average and is taking calculus, but his favorite class is AP 3D Design.

The common thread through his adventures and achievements has less to do with his mathematical abilities and more to do with something he was born with.

“Daniel is really active and he’s very social. He always wants to be included in something and moving around,” Sheri Arima said. “He has grown. Junior year, he found he’s got to buckle down and now he knows he can do a lot more than he thought he could.”

Like Arima, Awaya played junior varsity soccer in the 2021-22 season, and when it was over, they joined the varsity team as practice players.

“I feel like I always knew Dan, but I got to really know him in eighth grade. He has a love for the game and is an overall solid guy. You can always count on him to step up. He puts the team before himself and embodies the “One Team” spirit at every practice and game.”

There’s always a little margin for a breather in the heat of battle.

“We’ll just joke around on the bench,” Awaya said. “But Dan is not funny.”

Perhaps. Arima has a sterling GPA, but he says Aaron Ching is the smartest player on the team. Ching has known Arima since sixth grade. He believes Arima has something that every teammate appreciates.

“He helped me a lot in soccer by explaining drills and stuff when I didn’t understand them. He also is the one who encourages me when I’m feeling down or make a mistake,” Ching said. “He tells everyone that ‘We got this’ when something bad happens, and he also makes sure to say, ‘Good job,’ to everyone when we do good.”

If mom has her way, Arima might just stay in the islands for college.

Of course, the ‘Iolani senior with a penchant for math and a keen interest in engineering is willing to compromise — to a point.

“So far, I got accepted to five colleges. I’m waiting on a couple more,” he said. “My mom wants me to go to UH — she likes the lower tuition — but I want to travel.”

Wherever he goes, Arima will be the glue guy.

“Being a bridge guy, it’s kind of natural. I like making sure the younger underclassmen understand. I try not to be hard on them. Create a bond, and if they’re not really understanding coach’s message, he can reach out to me and I can connect them,” he said.

Down the road, there’s one possible connection.

“It would be cool if I was able to eventually work with my brother at the same company,” Arima said.

Nicholas Arima, who ran cross country and track for ‘Iolani, is a project manager at Pacific Shipyards.

After the interview, Dan Arima was on the road again. Every Sunday is a session at Kenny Patton’s Speed and Quickness Clinic, even during the soccer season.

“ ‘Work hard in silence and let success make the noise.’ I got that from Coach Kenny. He lives by that motto and I learned it a long time ago,” Arima said. “I like the people there, too. It’s a positive environment.”

A highly sociable scholar-athlete might enjoy the company while training, but before, during and after the pandemic, Arima was often alone embracing the grind. Embracing the mundane. Accepting the necessity of repetition. Boredom for some, exhilaration for Arima.

“It was just myself at Kuliouou Park. It’s a small baseball field with a playground and two tennis courts in the front. There’s a small field in the back. There’s a small fence I can shoot at. I’ll bring 15 cones and I’m there for an hour or two hours,” he said. “Sometimes I add drills that Coach Chris recommended to me. Maybe I’m not obsessed, but I love the sport.”

DANIEL ARIMA

‘Iolani • Soccer • Senior

5 feet 5, 127 pounds

Favorites

Movies/shows:

1. “Suits”

2. “Outer Banks”

3. “Spider-Man”

“I watched ‘Suits’ in a good amount of time. Three weeks. It’s a long series. Ever since I started watching movies of Spider-Man, I liked it more than other (Marvel).”

Artist/song:

1. Warren Zeiders – “Pretty Little Poison”

2. Luke Combs – “Beautiful Crazy”

3. Pitbull – “Hotel Room Service”

Food/drinks:

1. Sushi (Kozo Sushi, Kapahulu)

2. Pepperoni pizza with garlic sauce (Papa John’s)

3. Strawberry banana boba – S7 Icy Bubble (Aina Haina)

Homemade food

1. Mom’s chicken tofu

2. Mom’s hot pot

3. Mom’s dinner in a dish

“She makes chicken tofu at least once a week. I tried making it, but it doesn’t taste as good. Dinner in a dish, my mom got it from my grandma. It’s beef, potatoes, carrots, corn. If you put it on rice, it’s really good.”

Funniest teammate: Austin Ancheta

“He’s pretty outgoing. It’s just the things he says, he gets everyone laughing. You wouldn’t expect it. He’s always so happy.”

Smartest teammate: Aaron Ching

“All the classes he takes. When report cards come out we compare and he just takes it to another level. He’s naturally smart and he tries really hard. And he takes more AP classes and he really puts in the work.”

GPA: 4.1

“Without soccer, it would be way higher. My freshman and sophomore year really screwed me up. When I started playing varsity, it takes more time. You can skip practice for academics, but you don’t really want to.”

Favorite teacher: Mr. (Ryan) Sasaki (calculus)

“The way he teaches and talks to each student, he tries to get to know them and start conversations. He makes sure we know the material. We do quizzes the day after we learn the lesson, so we can tell who knows the material and who doesn’t. Calculus is all the different formulas, when you get into derivatives and ways to understand.”

Favorite class: AP 3D design.

“It’s one of the easier AP classes. You have to make a portfolio out of projects. Images online and you make it out of wood, resin, paint. It’s been really fun. I was able to make a little mountain with a little waterfall coming out. About a foot by a foot and half a foot tall.”

New life skill: playing tennis

“The friend group I’m in they all play tennis. They’re all cool. They’re trying to teach me now.”

Bucket list: Go to Paris, visit all the different neighbor islands

Time travel: “I’d go to Qatar for the 2022 World Cup final when it was Argentina and France. I was cheering for Argentina because of Messi.”

Shoutouts: Mom (Sheri Arima), “Dad (Mark Arima), my brother (Nicholas). 14 strong, my friend group (now) in college. It’s kind of our own little name. And our current friend group at ‘Iolani.”