Paddling, cheerleading events need further study

Advertiser Staff

Don't dip that paddle into the water yet.

And cancel the special order for pompoms.

After giving its blessing to state championships in outrigger canoe paddling and cheerleading yesterday, the executive board of the Hawai'i High School Athletic Association took it back, and instead referred the proposals "for further study and research."

The sports still could be on the state schedule next year as the executive board promised to take another look at their next meeting Sept. 6 on Kaua'i.

The problem, pointed out by Kaua'i's Brent Mizutani, is that no format has been developed for either event. The HHSAA is in favor of the concept of paddling and cheerleading championships but the devil may be in the details.

For example, O'ahu's public schools paddle short races and the private school races are several miles.

"The sprint format is not agreeable to our canoe paddling experts," Interscholastic League of Honolulu executive secretary Clay Benham said yesterday.

Even if the concept of state championships is approved, three of the state's five leagues must sanction a sport before a championship is held and all three of the Neighbor Island leagues are taking a wait-and-see attitude.

"We have to see whether we can support the state format before we decide to sponsor the sport," Mizutani said. Maui and the Big Island are waiting, too.

The state board, whose voting members are one principal from each of the five leagues, were acting on recommendations made by athletic directors in their annual meeting two weeks ago in Kona.

The ADs had recommended adding paddling and cheerleading to the roster of 25 state championships by votes of 54-7 and 57-0 with 2 abstentions. Cheerleading was approved last year also, but never got off the drawing board because only the two O'ahu leagues sponsored their own championships, one short of the three-league requirement.

The board also sent back for clarification a change in the makeup of the golf tournaments, which would have had half the state field determined by handicap rather than by finish in league tournaments.

Now it will be up to sport committees, mainly consisting of athletic directors, to bring acceptable formats to the executive board in September.

The paddles and pompoms might still make it into the state spotlight next winter.