Preps navigating logistical nightmare

By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer

Picture Ala Moana Center two days before Christmas.

Or Times Square on New Year's Eve.

Everyone's cooperation has helped, says Keith Amemiya. Advertiser library photo

The 20-day Hawai'i State Teachers Association strike forced state tournaments to be revised, resulting in four tournaments being squeezed into the same weekend. Superintendent of Schools Paul LeMahieu announced that students would not be allowed to miss class time for sporting events, so the tournaments could not start until Friday evening.

As soon as the strike ended three weeks ago, officials scrambled to come up with a viable plan to hold the state tournaments without encroaching on class time. After a day and a half of frantic patchwork, they came up with a proposal that was approved by LeMahieu.

"In retrospect, that was the easy part," said Keith Amemiya, executive director of the Hawai'i High School Athletic Association. "The much more difficult part was to implement the plan and deal with all the logistics of it. These state tournaments usually take months of planning. Now we had to do it in a few weeks."

The tournaments were saved, but only by holding most of them this weekend.

Heavy traffic expected

Friday afternoon already is a heavily trafficked time for traveling among the islands, but with track athletes from more than 25 O'ahu schools heading to Maui for the state meet, about 100 tennis players bound for the state tournament on Kaua'i and eight baseball and basketball teams from the Neighbor Islands flying into Honolulu for tournaments, this Friday will be extra busy. And don't forget family and friends who also will be flying to watch them play.

Coaches and administrators making travel plans faced logistical challenges just to make sure their athletes can get to sites on time. For Mililani's track team, which is expecting a travel party of about 20, getting to the airport after school and making it to Wailuku's War Memorial Stadium in time for the 7 p.m. trials posed a big problem.

"Fortunately, we have a really good principal (Robert Ginlack) who supports athletics a lot, and he helped us out," Trojans coach Shane Akamine said. "Wednesday is normally a short school day for us, so he flip-flopped the schedule (Friday-for-Wednesday) this week so we could get out early on Friday and not miss any class time."

Mililani, which also is expected to send a tennis team to Kaua'i that afternoon, now has its track team scheduled to leave on a 2:20 p.m. flight.

"It's still going to be a hectic day, but if we couldn't get out of school early, our window of time would have been really small," Akamine said. "We were thinking of not going."

Hawaiian Airlines marketing administrator Liane Komatsu said no additional flights have been added to its Friday afternoon schedule, but the airlines has made special arrangements to make seats available for all the athletes.

"It's basically a shuffling game, trying to assess and accommodate large groups traveling together," Komatsu said. "Friday afternoon is a very busy time, and the flights have been full, but we realize the athletes need to get to their tournaments. It's all been done within our groups department.

"So far, so good."

Komatsu also said Hawaiian's customer resource managers are ready for the onslaught at ticketing counters and the gates.

"They're accustomed to stuff like this," Komatsu said. "They're well prepared."

Hawaiian is an HHSAA sponsor and handles much of the interisland travel for high school athletics.

Juggling schedules

Amemiya said that Maui Interscholastic League officials have reserved buses for shuttle service between Kahului Airport and War Memorial Stadium on Friday, to expedite ground transportation once teams arrive.

On O'ahu, baseball doubleheaders have been scheduled for 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. at Aloha Stadium and Hans L'Orange Park in Waipahu.

Amemiya made "every effort" to place Neighbor Island teams in the 8:30 games, but seedings forced the Kaua'i Interscholastic Federation champion into the 6 p.m. slot at Hans L'Orange.

For basketball, doubleheaders have been scheduled for 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. at McKinley High School and the Kamehameha Schools' Kekuhaupi'o Fieldhouse.

On Kaua'i, preliminary rounds of tennis will start at 6 p.m. at Kiahuna and Po'ipu Kai Tennis Centers, according to Agenhart Ellis, the HHSAA tennis coordinator.

Cooperative spirit

Amemiya, who has been working late into the nights making arrangements, said cooperation has been the key to navigating the logistical maze.

In addition to Hawaiian Airlines, for example, Waikele Shopping Center has made its employee parking lot available due to the limited amount of spaces at nearby Hans L'Orange. McKinley and Kamehameha agreed to serve as host sites, even though their teams would not have been allowed home-court advantage if they qualified.

This past weekend, Kapalua Village and Ka'anapali South on Maui closed all public play in order to host the boys and girls golf tournaments.

"That's almost unheard of, for a resort course to do that on a Saturday," Amemiya said. "It's been very hectic, but everyone's been bending over backward to help us secure sites at the last minute. All the sponsors have honored their commitments despite the modified schedules. Everyone's gone beyond the call to ensure that the state tournaments will go on.

"Overall, things are working out as well as you could expect — under the circumstances," Amemiya said. "That's still the operative phrase."