Nanakuli running back chasing football dream

By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

NANAKULI — In a dream world, Nanakuli High tailback Chelsey Ann Kaimi would follow a block by her father, 1983 all-star guard Dennis Kaimi, to the end zone for the touchdown that would give the Golden Hawks the state championship.

Chelsey Ann Kaimi, a senior tailback at Nanakuli High, believes her team can win a championship, as her father's team did in 1983. Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser

But there's nothing wrong with dreaming, as long as it instills confidence.

"I admire girls who have the courage to try things people say they're not supposed to do or can't do," Dennis Kaimi said. "It will only make them stronger."

Senior Chelsey Ann Kaimi is not the only girl playing varsity football this season. She wasn't the first when she played last year. But she is the only girl to start at a non-kicking position.

Chelsey Ann became the first girl to score a touchdown in a Hawai'i high school game last season.

But her dream isn't to break barriers for girls playing in the male-dominated sport. She plays for the love of the game.

"Cheerleading got boring," she said of her decision to switch from cheering football players to playing with them in Pop Warner when she was 9.

Her dream, she said, is to follow her father. Not through the line of scrimmage on a trap play, but to the O'ahu Interscholastic Association football championship.

It would be Nanakuli's first league title since 1983, which ended with a 15-12 loss to St. Louis in the O'ahu Prep Bowl.

"We can do it again," she said last week.

But after a humbling 42-0 loss to perennial state power St. Louis on Friday, the dream needed a little reassessment.

"They play their game a lot faster than how we play our game," Chelsey Ann said of the Crusaders, ranked 25th by USA Today.

The Golden Hawks (6-2 in the OIA White last season) missed making the playoffs by one game. They are hoping to be in contention again.

Dennis Kaimi shares in his daughter's dream.

"If she holds that dream, that's good enough for me," he said. "At least she has goals. If you have a goal, just go for it."

Kaimi reaped the benefits of playing sports and feels his daughter can do the same.

"Playing team sports helps you in the real world," he said. "After school (or college), you have to work with fellow employees. You have a boss; he's like your coach. You have rules (to abide by). Work is just like football."

And Chelsey Ann works at football, along with soccer, basketball and track — the other sports she plays at Nanakuli.

At 5 feet 3 and 159 pounds, Chelsey Ann isn't big by football standards. Even her younger sisters and 10-year-old brother are as tall or taller than she is, her father notes.

But Chelsey Ann worked out in the weight room, increasing her weight by nearly 30 pounds since last season. Her arms toned, her calves and thighs solid.

That kind of work ethic, also reflected in a 3.2 grade point average, provides her father a sense of relief.

"I'm kind of proud that she can handle herself because it's real demanding physically and mentally, so I'm sort of proud of that," he said.

Chelsey Ann said she has yet to suffer a major injury while playing football.

But for her to fulfill the dream of a championship, the Golden Hawks have a lot of work to do. It wasn't just the lopsided score that showed Nanakuli is far from where it needs to be. St. Louis, which could have scored more had coverages been read correctly, exposed all of Nanakuli's shortcomings.

"We need something to gauge ourselves," Nanakuli coach Al Beaver said after the defeat. "Teams the quality of St. Louis, they're going to expose everything. We got a lot of things to work on."

Beaver said his players weren't well-conditioned, partly due to the lack of two-a-day workouts because of the modified school schedule.

"But that's no excuse," he said. "I'm the head coach and I have to do a better job."

Other teams expected to contend for the White Conference title are the teams that dropped down from the Red Conference: 'Aiea, Waipahu and Roosevelt. 'Aiea and Waipahu each beat a Red team in last weekend's openers; Roosevelt lost to the Red's Campbell by one point.