Although pompom-waving cheerleaders remain a fixture on the sidelines at football games, whipping up fan support for their teams, cheerleading at the club level is all about competition. And Keali‘i Molina of the Kahului-based Hawaii All-Stars is among the best in the 50th state when it comes to coaching winners.
The former St. Anthony High School cheerleader started the club in 2012, and under his stern leadership, Hawaii All-Stars have become the preeminent cheerleading club in the state, with 31 national championships, 29 regional championships and five national runner-up finishes.
All-Star cheerleading competitions for males and females, starting at age 5, are widespread across the country and feature thousands of teams performing fast-paced routines, synchronized stunts, pyramid formations and expert tumbling passes to music.
“We don’t train to win and I barely ever talk about winning,” said Molina. “It’s more about creating an atmosphere where they are pushing themselves. We just don’t talk about (winning); we talk about getting on the floor and hitting zeros and perfect routines.
“That’s because our favorite number is zero — for zero deductions and zero mistakes.”
Molina was the only male cheerleader in the Maui Interscholastic League when St. Anthony won the first of its two national titles under head coach Jo-Ann Yap. After graduating in 1996, he left for college and performed with several major All-Star teams in Southern California.
Molina worked as an acrobat at amusement parks and on cruise ships before suffering an injury. He returned to Maui, introducing All-Star club competition here and winning at every level, including high school cheerleading.
While he was on the mainland, Yap had moved on to coach at Baldwin High School, where her cheerleaders won 10 consecutive MIL titles. Their title streak ended when Molina took over the cheerleading squad at Kamehameha Maui, beating Baldwin and his former coach in 2011 for the first of the Warriors’ five MIL titles.
But he wasn’t done. Molina began coaching at Baldwin for the 2016 season and has won four consecutive MIL titles and last month claimed the Hawaii High School Athletic Association crown.
LOOKING AHEAD to the close of the 2020 club season in the spring, Molina is continuing to blaze his own trail. Instead of heading to the prestigious Summit or World championships in Orlando, Fla., where the Maui club placed 22nd earlier this year, Molina is taking his All-Stars to the Canadian Cheer All-Star National Championships, April 3-5, in Niagara Falls, Ontario.
“We will be the first cheerleading club in the state to take a team to international competition,” the coach said. “Instead of chasing banners and trophies, we want to focus on an awesome and amazing adventure.
“It’ll be fun doing something that we’ve never done before. They have pretty good teams over there, so we’re excited about it.”
Exploring Japan and other Asian countries could be future destinations for the club, he said.
Meanwhile, six Hawaii All-Star teams — made up of 108 club athletes — are preparing for the Jamz All-Star Nationals, Feb. 15-18, at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.
“We’re still ridiculously competitive, but winning isn’t everything ‘cause I feel they learn more when we lose,” Molina said. “When you win all the time it feels like the same thing. Sometimes I like it when they get a swift kick because you’re not always going to win, and losing builds that fire within.”
The club’s most noteworthy victory was the Senior Level 4 squad’s epic first-place finish at the end-of-season Summit Championships in Orlando, Fla., in 2017.
Several former Hawaii All-Stars members have gone on to earn college scholarships and join the best competitive college teams in the country.
Nohea Ledesma, 16, is among the most decorated current members of Hawaii All-Stars. The seven-year veteran is the Senior Level 4 “flier.” At 5-foot-1, 107 pounds, her petite stature makes her ideal for the position, which involves being lifted into the air by teammates.
“It’s a lot scarier because you have more potential of getting hurt,” said the King Kekaulike High School junior, who has a 4.0-grade-point average. “It’s a big trust thing with your base (the teammates who hold the flier). I mean, I trust them and I’ve been with them the last three years.”
Ledesma, who hopes for a career as a physical therapist, loves the All-Star competition.
“I’ve always been into gymnastics since I was 2 and 3 years old, so it’s kind of thing I just enjoy doing,” she said. “I love the tumbling and the adrenalin rush, and being with people that I love keeps me going. I like showing the nation and the world that coming from Hawaii doesn’t mean we can’t do big things from a small island.”
IN 2018, Molina made two significant changes to the club. He moved to a bigger practice facility in Kahului, utilizing an old Maui Land & Pineapple Co. building. The spacious, 5,500-square-foot facility fits a nine-panel spring floor and a 30-foot tumbling track with crash mat.
In addition, the club became an official nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, using the name The Hawaii All-Stars Rainbow Fund, under the umbrella of the Amateur Athletic Union.
“There’s a little more room now and that makes it a little more comfortable,” he said. “Plus there’s good energy here.”
To experience that good energy, everyone has to show up to practice, according to Molina.
“You can’t be successful if you don’t show up for practice. If one person is missing that affects five others … . Then your whole team is off; so attendance is big, it’s a huge thing and we stress it a lot.”
Assisting Molina at Hawaii All-Stars are coaches Halia Kekuewa, Michelle Sniffen, Kayla Sniffen, Keisha Takamori, Kaimana Copperfield and Abraham Garcia-Beteran.
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CONTACT HAWAII ALL-STARS
>> Address: 106 S. Kane St., Suite 103, Kahului
>> Phone: 269-1066
>> Email: cheerhiallstars@gmail.com
>> Online: hiallstarcheer.com
Rodney S. Yap has been covering Maui sports for more than 30 years. Email him at ryap2019@gmail.com.
