Recreation
Ringers always welcome
By Michael Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer
Kimo David, palm up and elbow slightly bent, raises his arm in a slow smooth arc.
Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser
"This throw right here," he says, empty hand still raised, "will reach 40 feet. It looks slow, but it isn't."
Calvin Rivera of Honolulu lets loose a throw at a pitch next to the Wai‘anae Boat Harbor. For those interested in pitching horseshoes, the simplest way to get involved is just to show up and start throwing. “Just come down, talk to us and start pitching,” says Myrtle May Kamoku, who runs the Kaua‘i branch of the Hawai‘i State Horseshoe Pitchers Association.
That simple controlled motion is what makes David one of Hawai'i's top horseshoe pitchers. It's what convinces him that anyone with at least one functioning arm can do very well at his favorite pastime.
For years, David pitched in his backyard for fun, but it wasn't until a neighbor with serious shoe skills stopped by that he got a real sense of what the sport entailed.
"It takes a good horseshoe thrower to show you how it's done," he says. "Watching him, I thought, 'Wow, that's amazing.' After that, I got more intense into it."
For David, there's beauty and satisfaction in the simple motion of the pitch. Like a fly fisherman, his love of the sport is rooted in a commitment to continual refinement.
"I throw a half-turn," he says. "But when I started I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't know how to flip the shoe."
To get a feel for what he wanted to do, David flipped the shoe over and over in his hand. Once he figured out the proper hand position, he started releasing it, a few feet at a time.
"I couldn't throw it (at the stake) because I didn't know how," he said. "So I just threw it four feet, then eight feet, then 10 feet. Eventually, I got to 40 feet."
The rules of the sport are fairly simple, but they provide a framework for pitchers to advance their skills and enjoy each other's company.
Most of the competitive pitchers in Hawai'i belong to the Hawai'i State Horseshoe Pitchers Association, which abides by rules of its parent organization, the National Horseshoe Pitchers Association.
NHPA-sanctioned horseshoes weigh 2 pounds, 10 ounces or less with dimensions that cannot exceed 7¥ inches in width and 7fi inches in length with an opening of 3fi inches.
Regulation courts are 6 feet wide and 46 feet long (including a 6-foot pitcher's box). Pitching distances range from 40 feet for men and seniors to 30 feet or less for women, juniors or elders.
The basic game is divided into innings in which each player throws two shoes per inning. When a pitched shoe encircles the stake without touching it, it's called a "ringer" and is worth three points. A "shoe in count," worth one point, is any shoe that falls within six inches of the stake.
NHPA rules include various provisions for the flow of the game and the position of contestants during competition. The game can be played in singles, doubles or triples formats.
"If you can bowl, you can pitch," says Hawai'i Horseshoe Pitchers Association president Warren Visher. "We get a lot of beginners, and they advance from novice to better than me really fast."
Myrtle May Kamoku, who runs the Kaua'i branch of association, says the best way to start pitching is to simply stop by one of the courses.
"Everybody is really helpful," she says. "Just come down, talk to us and start pitching."
Regulation courts are available at Wai'anae Boat Harbor and Waimanalo Polo Fields, as well as in Anahola, Kaua'i and Kailua Kona. The association offers a year-round schedule of events.
Kamoku and her husband, Howard, are active in state competitions but say its the camaraderie that keeps them coming back.
"It's an 'ohana thing," Howard Kamoku says. "Everybody have fun."
For more information, contact Visher at 678-1046.
