First state championship signals sport's growth
By Catherine E. Toth
Advertiser Staff Writer
It started as a club sport among O'ahu public high schools in 1999 with nearly 700 participants.
Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser • • • Championship regatta • WHAT: Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association State Canoe Paddling Championships; Hawai'i High School Athletic Association's first championship regatta • WHERE: Ke'ehi Lagoon • WHO: 24 teams each in boys, girls and mixed divisions. • WHEN: Tomorrow—Preliminary heats, quarterfinals and semifinal races, starting at noon. Saturday—Championship races, starting at 8:30 a.m. Opening ceremonies will start at 11:45 Friday and 8 a.m. Saturday • ADMISSION: Free • PARKING: Free, limited • Results on the Web:
Now, there are more than 2,000 students participating statewide.
Kaimuki High School paddlers carry their canoe to practice in preparation for tomorrow's state championships.
The interest in canoe paddling has grown so high that now all five high school leagues will compete in the first-ever state championships at Ke'ehi Lagoon tomorrow and Saturday.
"It's been long overdue," said Keith Amemiya, executive director of the Hawai'i High School Athletic Association, which didn't sanction paddling as an official sport until this year when at least three leagues agreed to add the sport to their athletic programs.
"This is a great thing for the kids," said Kevin Mokuahi, longtime paddler and coach at Roosevelt High School. "We're surrounded by the ocean. It makes sense."
Paddling also has provided more benefits to students than just upper-body workouts.
Besides attracting students who wouldn't normally participate in athletics, paddling has helped keep students focused on academics and helped them learn about the Hawaiian culture.
Though critics initially thought paddling would drain participation from other sports, paddling has actually attracted students who wouldn't play the more traditional sports such as basketball and soccer.
"It's not your stereotypical athlete that paddles," said Michael Viernes, coach at Kaimuki High. "You have a whole range of people."
It's not about memorizing plays or running fast or jumping high. Paddling is more about coordination, teamwork and communication, coaches say.
"The best thing about paddling is that any kid can do it," said Teddi Anderson, president of Na 'Opio Canoe Racing Association or NOCRA. "To paddle, you can be tall, short, skinny, overweight. It doesn't matter."
Many of the 40 paddlers on the Kaimuki teams were introduced to the sport through the school. Some of them don't participate in any other sport.
"You don't really need that much coordination," said 16-year-old Chastitey Morn, in her third year on the team. "You just stick the paddle in the water and pull."
Morn has benefited a lot more from paddling than making friends and staying fit. To compete she has to maintain a 2.0 grade point average, and her love of paddling pushes her to study.
"It gives me incentive because I really wanted to play," said Morn, who raised her GPA to 2.3 this year. "Normally, I would slack off. Paddling is the only reason why my grades are about 2.0 right now."
Sports has been a motivation for 18-year-old William Pauso, who lettered in football and paddling at Kaimuki.
"If I didn't have sports, I'd be failing," said Pauso, who maintains a 3.3 GPA and plans to study culinary arts at Kap'iolani Community College next year. "It's motivation to keep my grades up."
Getting the recognition for paddling at the high school level hasn't been easy.
For more than 20 years, NOCRA, a community-based organization that promotes paddling among Hawai'i's youth, has been struggling to get the sport recognized by the state.
In 1986, the Legislature designated outrigger canoe paddling as the state's official team sport. More than a decade later, the state urged the Department of Education to start a two-year pilot program within the public schools. NOCRA offered to supply the program with coaches and equipment at no charge, allowing the schools to race on the same day as the organization's events.
"There are people out there who want to perpetuate the sport and try to raise awareness of padding throughout the state," said Bill vonArnswaldt, HHSAA paddling coordinator and athletic director at Kaiser High. "After all, it is the state sport."
This year the state approved special appropriation of the athletic budget to be used for paddling. Depending on how each school spends its funding, each program has had to rely on local canoe clubs, fund-raising and community support.
Each school is sponsored by a paddling club, which provides the canoes, paddles and coaches.
Uniforms are not required until the state competition, keeping costs down for the program. (Most schools are making their own T-shirts or tank tops for the championship.)
Neighbor Island programs needed fund-raisers to make the trip to O'ahu to compete this weekend.
This kind of support makes sense for paddling, a sport associated with teamwork and community.
"It's about learning to work together, about camaraderie and communication," vonArnswaldt said.
Aside from learning the values of teamwork and fairness — lessons nearly every sport can offer — paddlers acquire knowledge about the Hawaiian language and culture.
They learn about Hawaiian history and the importance of community, about navigation and respect.
"It's one thing to read about your culture and your history ... but it's an even better thing to live it," said Alika Atay, president of the Kihei Canoe Club and coach at Baldwin High. "It's a constant thing with us."
Atay shares with his students the importance of ho'ailona (signs through nature) and mana (spiritual power). Be aware of the change in winds, the rain, the birds and whales, he tells his students. "It's a deeper spiritual thing, and I think those who paid attention are aware a part of their culture is them living it."
The Baldwin teams sold kalua pig and kulolo to fund their trip to O'ahu. And even that was a cultural experience for them.
"Some of them had never seen a pig go into an imu," Atay said, "and that's all part of it, that sharing."
After the season is over, Atay will take the varsity boys to Hana to pick 'opihi and catch crabs. Because the season never ends. Paddling, to Atay, is a way of life.
"Our goal is to pass along the knowledge, so they can pass it on to the next generation," he said. "It's much deeper than just paddling."
