America's bloodiest day
Activities at public schools called off for weekend
By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
Co-curricular activities at Hawai'i's public schools scheduled for today through Sunday have been postponed or in some cases canceled out of respect for those affected by Tuesday's terrorist attacks, the state Department of Education announced yesterday.
The directive by state Schools Superintendent Paul LeMahieu affects interscholastic sports at public schools in four of Hawai'i's five leagues — O'ahu Interscholastic Association, Kaua'i Interscholastic Federation, Maui Interscholastic League and Big Island Interscholastic Federation — DOE spokesman Greg Knudsen said.
Meanwhile, Interscholastic League of Honolulu principals will meet today to determine the league's course of action, executive secretary Clay Benham said. ILH president Tony Ramos, principal at Kamehameha Schools, said last night he will propose that the ILH follow LeMahieu's directive.
"Our kids are disappointed, but they understand," 'Aiea football coach Wendell Say said. "It kind of puts things in perspective with the things that happened in New York. I told the kids what happened 60 years ago with Pearl Harbor, when they shut down all athletics."
(The OIA, then called the Rural O'ahu Secondary Schools League, canceled the 1942 football season because of World War II).
"You have to be sympathetic to the tragedy," Say said. "The game is a small thing. The kids understood. Since the incident, the kids have prayers before and after practice. They prayed for the people."
LeMahieu added in a press release that he hopes some of the events are rescheduled. But football would require adjusting the schedule because there are no open weekends, said OIA executive secretary Dwight Toyama.
In 1993, when the opening weekend of OIA football was postponed because of Hurricane Iniki, the games could be made up because the league had a built-in bye the week before the O'ahu Prep Bowl. Each weekend was pushed up, bumping the bye week.
OIA football coordinator Richard Townsend said last night the league will meet next week to see if an adjustment can be made to make up the nine games. One possibility would be to cut the quarterfinals from the playoffs. That would mean only four teams, presumably the White Conference champion and the top three Red teams would advance to postseason. With the quarterfinals, the top five Red and top three White advance.
Toyama said it is possible to reschedule volleyball matches because multiple matches can be played in a week.
LeMahieu's directive affects football, volleyball, cross country, bowling, air riflery and soft tennis, although some leagues do not start some of those sports until next week.
For football, the OIA will lose nine games, the BIIF four, the MIL two, and KIF one. The MIL has the best chance at making up the games because of a bye week Oct. 3-5, which coincides with the Maui County Fair. Because the fair is at the War Memorial complex, the games are likely to be moved to King Kekaulike, where games were relocated the last two weeks to keep the War Memorial field fresh for the University of Hawai'i-Montana game.
The OIA will lose several key matchups, such as defending Red champion Wai'anae (1-2) against defending OIA and state champion Kahuku (3-0) at Aloha Stadium, as well as 'Aiea (3-0) at Roosevelt (3-0).
If the ILH follows the public schools, it will lose a doubleheader scheduled for Saturday at Aloha Stadium — Damien vs. Pac-Five and Punahou vs. Kamehameha.
The ripple effect of the attacks has forced Iolani School headmaster Val Iwashita to cancel the varsity girls' volleyball trip to California this weekend, coach Ann Kang said.
The Raiders were scheduled to leave tonight for matches tomorrow and Saturday in Huntington Beach, Calif., for the David Mohs Memorial Tournament. The Raiders were one of 32 teams in the Division I tournament and one of two teams from out of California (the other is from Utah).
A number of factors led to the decision besides the possibility that flights would not be available because of airport closures. The school district superintendent where the tournament at the host site canceled tomorrow's activities, forcing matches to be moved to Saturday and Monday. Iolani had to return home by Sunday, unless it made the Monday finals.
Obviously, the players were disappointed, "especially the seniors," Kang said.
Other concerns were that the team would add to a backlog of flights and some parents were worried about their daughters traveling in wake of the attacks.
