Everything falls into place for MPI kayakers
By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer
About three and a half years ago, Brandon Woods' athletic career nearly was washed away, the result of a ruptured disc in his lower back suffered during weight training for soccer.
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The injury required surgery, and he spent the summer after eighth grade lying flat on his back. By the start of paddling season that winter, he was able to be join the team at Mid-Pacific Institute, but only as a manager.
Mid-Pacific won its first ILH kayaking championships since the sport began 1987. The members included (foreground) Bill Heilbronn and Mariah Dailey and (back row from left) Brandon Woods, Brian Lech, Chris LeFebvre, TC Southard and Mike Kinzie. Woods won the ILH sprint title and Kinzie won the distance title. The others placed eighth or better.
Finally, midway through the season, his doctor cleared him to paddle.
"That started my whole ocean career," Woods said.
His career now includes 12 individual kayaking victories in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu without a loss in the past two years, and MPI's first team championship won 10 days ago.
And Woods, a senior, is not finished. He has been invited to the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif., next month where he will be evaluated as a possible prospect for the national team.
"He's got the ability," said Mid-Pacific coach George Kissner, a former USA team assistant who helped introduce ILH kayaking back in 1987. "He's the best athlete we've ever had in the sport at MPI."
That praise takes on more significance when considering Woods never kayaked until joining the team last year. Before then, his paddling experience came from a summer with Outrigger Canoe Club, a stint with Waikiki Yacht Club and a couple years with the outrigger team at Mid-Pacific.
"One of my friends started (kayaking), and he told the rest of our group to come out for the team," Woods said. "We all fit into ocean sports pretty well, so it sounded like a good idea. I thought it'd be fun. The first time I tried it, it felt good. I liked it."
It felt even better after he won his first ILH race. Then he won another, and another, and another. He eventually finished first in all 12 sprint races the past two years.
William Lech photo
"To my knowledge, that's never been done in the 15-year history of ILH kayaking," Kissner said. "He's a blue-chip athlete."
Kayakers are off and paddling during the start of the ILH championship Nov. 10 in the Ala Wai.
This year, for the first time, MPI also had a blue-chip team. Races are held in two categories — sprint (250 meters) and distance (2 kilometers), with the top four from each team scoring points.
At the ILH championships on Nov. 10, Woods finished first in the sprint, with teammates TC Southard and Billy Heilbronn coming in fourth and eighth, respectively. In the distance race, MPI's Michael Kinzie came in first, and teammates Brian Lech and Chris LeFebvre finished third and fifth, respectively.
"Everything fell into place," Woods said. "We knew we had a real good chance of winning it, because everybody got better as the season went along."
Kissner said Mid-Pacific has had its share of quality individuals, but never quite enough to win a team title. The school's smaller enrollment (1,050 for grades 6-12) made it tougher for the Owls to compete against teams such as Punahou and Kamehameha, which sometimes draw 40-50 participants.
MPI had 19 on this year's boys team.
"We just never had enough people come out for the program," Kissner said. "And the ones that did usually had no experience. They were just hacking their way up based on strength."
Kissner said while there are many similarities between kayaking and outrigger canoe paddling, kayaking may be tougher to master because it is a one-person job. He added kayaking can be excellent preparation for the outrigger season.
"If I were going to teach someone how to paddle, I would put them in a kayak first," Kissner said. "You need more balance, and there's a lot of leg push. You're pulling your own boat, there's nobody else to help you, so it totally changes how you paddle. MPI was second in ILH paddling last year, and almost everyone in their first crew was a kayaker."
Since there is no intercollegiate kayaking or outrigger canoe paddling, Woods said he may try crew in college. But he's hoping he'll get an opportunity to try for the national kayak team first.
"It'll be tough, because I started so late," Woods said. "Some other guys there have been doing it for five to eight years, so they have a lot more experience."
No matter what happens, Woods is thankful the back injury in the eighth grade did not keep him out of the water.
"I couldn't play soccer anymore," he said. "But I think it turned out for the better."
