Wakida was devoted teacher to all

By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer

Shigesh Wakida is now hitting tennis balls to the angels. Expect the angels to be ranked soon.

Shigeto Wakida was known as the "Tennis Samurai of Lahaina." Advertiser library photo

He touched thousands of children's lives, inviting anyone old enough to hold a racket to what became the Shigesh Wakida Courts on Front Street. He taught them tennis, hitting millions of balls from a shopping cart. He also taught them values, ruling his courts with a velvet racket and a daily lecture that rarely touched on tennis.

Wakida produced many of Hawai'i's finest players, from Macario Pascual to Kennedy Makekau — his hand-picked successor at Lahaina Tennis Club — to Ryan Ideta and Jean Okada. University of Hawai'i rosters have long had Wakida's imprint, with players such as Karen and Kathy Felicilda, Mia Minami, Chris Ng, Diane Okada, Kula and Malino Oda, Steven Okada and Hiram Oyama.

Ideta, the UH-Hilo coach, and Jean Okada play professionally, and will always call Wakida "coach."

"His advice will always be welcome," Okada said three years ago, after she played in the U.S. Open. "He started me and he's still going to be my coach. He's the one."

Ideta was 9 when he met Wakida.

"He was pretty old already," Ideta said, laughing. "He was always yelling, scolding, being very strict. I remember him just feeding balls all day. That's what he did. He was always there for us. If somebody wanted to get good, we had a chance.

"The big thing he gave us was opportunity, which a lot of kids don't have in Hawai'i."

Wakida's impact on the sport here is indelible. His impact on "his" kids goes beyond. Wakida kept some in school, and helped others to scholarships.

"Ten years after high school," Wakida once said. "That's when you see what success really is."

He had an innate gift for teaching large groups and getting players of diverse talent to help one another.

"He had so many kids flocking all over the courts like sheep," recalled Bob Keaunui, who was Wakida's neighbor in Lahaina and now has his own hugely successful junior programs in Windward O'ahu. "Every spot was taken yet he had them controlled. No one ever got hit. He inspired me. How could he handle that many kids? The key was discipline. He was the man. He had a lot of respect and they all did what he told them."

There were no holidays in Wakida's tennis world. He was on the courts seven days a week, mornings and afternoons. When he wasn't, he could be coerced out by any kid who wanted to hit.

Wakida, a retired mill supervisor, taught nearly 50 years, finally leaving to take full-time care of his wife, Sumie, who has Alzheimer's.

He traced his start in the game to "playing paddle tennis with the ends of orange crates — it didn't go too well." But he loved it, teaching his children and grandchildren and, eventually, much of Lahaina. "He was just totally devoted to tennis," recalled Wailuku coach Stan Nagamatsu, who also based his program on Wakida's. "Anybody who had the right attitude and a good work ethic he was there for. He never let his kids down."

The cost for each child that could pay was $30 a year. Wakida, who became a certified teaching professional, also taught tourists. That money went into the club treasury.

It was never about money for Wakida. His payment came from the kids, who came to know this strict — some called him the Tennis Samurai of Lahaina — and passionate man as family.

Visitation is today at 4 p.m. at Lahaina United Methodist Church. Service follows at 5 p.m.