State high school tournaments rescheduled because of strike
| • | Revised HHSAA tournament schedule |
| • | Chasm over teachers' pay persists |
By Dennis Anderson
Advertiser Staff Writer
Almost the entire schedule for next month's state championship tournaments was postponed yesterday at an emergency meeting of the executive board of the Hawai'i High School Athletic Association.
No athletic events have been conducted by public schools since teachers went on strike April 5.
Only the boys' golf tournament remains unchanged. Most championships were postponed one week, but girls golf was postponed nearly two weeks and will be held in midweek instead of Thursday-Friday.
In addition, all 14 losers' bracket games in the single-elimination baseball and girls basketball tournaments were canceled and the rest day between track and field trials and finals was eliminated.
"When they lose, we're going to send them right back (to school)," HHSAA executive director Keith Amemiya said. "They are going to have a lot of class time to make up."
He said the new schedules would be in effect "even if the strike were to end tomorrow."
And if it doesn't end?
"We'll continue to evaluate it on a tournament-by-tournament basis," Amemiya said. "A drop-dead date (for canceling all the championships) was not discussed."
Earlier, Amemiya had said that if it became necessary, as many as four of the six tournaments could be held the same week. Normally, no more than two are held in the same week. Yesterday, he said it was also possible that some tournaments would be held and others canceled, depending on how long the strike lasts.
Saving the state championships at the expense of full league seasons has been the focus of the state's five leagues as the strike reached the end of its second week yesterday. Maui already has canceled its regular season schedule and substituted tournaments with all teams participating to determine champions and state representatives.
The Big Island has tentatively canceled its usual post-season tournaments and plans to declare its champions on the basis of round-robin play. The O'ahu Interscholastic Association, with 22 members, has not decided on a contingency plan and the Kaua'i Interscholastic Federation, with just three teams in spring sports, can make up games quickly.
The Interscholastic League of Honolulu, O'ahu's private-school league, is not affected by the strike.
Amemiya said the leagues felt a week of practice would be needed after the strike ends before they resume playing games.
Yesterday's meeting was held at a downtown law office; the HHSAA office is behind picket lines at Stevenson Intermediate School and has been closed since the strike started.
