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Brandon Ching | ScoringLiveFebruary 6, 2021, 8:36am
The planning and preparation came to fruition as the Spartans held inter squad games for the girls and boys varsity teams at Clarence T. C. Ching Gymnasium to celebrate Stay @ Homecoming 2021.
After the Interscholastic League of Honolulu canceled the winter sports season to the dismay of many, it took a collective effort to make sports possible for the Maryknoll student athletes.
"It was a long process. Once the ILH canceled the season, the idea was to do it safer and better. I appreciate the ILH giving us that chance. We looked into it with other schools. Working with our school doctors and COVID team here, we just felt the safest thing to do was to keep it as an inter squad game. We wanted to do something for the students and I'm glad we pulled it off tonight," Maryknoll Athletic Director Ben Valle said.
"The kids were happy. It was difficult to practice for two months with nothing at the end of the road. When I told them we had a game they were excited," said boys basketball coach Kelly Grant.
The intention to get student athletes playing again was great, but having it come together was not easy and it had its challenges.
"There were tons of moving parts. All the up from school president, Father, principals, down to the COVID team and working with them. Our coaching staff and kids and meeting with our parents to tell them what we're doing. There were several points in the process I thought, ‘Are we going to get this done?' Also to tie it into a theme. Homecoming with basketball for us is huge here. We wanted an event with this pandemic that would be something for the whole community. We tried to tie in as many seniors as we can. The seniors had their posters up today. We wanted it to be more than a basketball game," Valle said.
No fans were in attendance, but the games were streamed online.
"With the whole thing putting it together, Ben, Blaine, and Ally were super to get something going. They've been battling to get something going. Even when it canceled our goal was to get opponents, but we couldn't. They had an idea of turning it to an inter squad and making it a homecoming and stream it so it has a professional edge to it. They've been unbelievable. The COVID task team, Ms. Tong, we crossed all the T's and dotted the I's to get this happen. Our heartfelt thanks goes to everyone," Girls basketball coach Chico Furtado added.
To make it feel like a league game, the girls and boys teams wore their game uniforms and there were three game officials. Players were spread out throughout the bleachers and had to sit on a marking with their jersey number. Players and coaches wore masks as well as the officials. Despite the modifications, it was competitive for both squads.
Aloha Akaka (25 points) and Mahealani Choy Foo (13 points) powered the Gold team past the Maroon team, 59-48 in the first game. Choy Foo and Akaka combined to sink six of their team's eight 3-pointers.
Mahalo Akaka scored 14 points to lead the Maroon team and freshman guard Kiani Hoolulu chipped in 11 points and a pair of 3-pointers in the loss.
"I thought the kids played hard. I was happy with the underclassmen, they played hard and didn't shy away from taking open shots. They felt comfortable playing and I think it has to do with our group being inclusive and not having an ego," Furtado said.
Assistants Aris Perez and Crystie Wong served as coaches for the Gold team (they wore white) while Tony Hoolulu and Shanadee Kekauoha coached the Maroon team.
"They've been doing all the blue collar work to get the kids ready. It was easy to throw in the towel when the season was canceled. The kids and seniors were coming out and working on their stuff as if we had a season," Furtado said of his assistants.
Senior Serenity Moananu injured her left knee and could not play. However, it was her teammates' idea to let her to score the opening basket off the tip and come out of the game.
"This team the last two years, we didn't win an ILH championship, but I really enjoyed coaching this group. It has to do with the senior leadership with the Akaka twins and Serenity. They make everyone feel comfortable and involved. Serenity has been the glue and she's a liaison between coaches and players," Furtado said.
In the nightcap, four players scored in double figures to help the Maroon team rally from a halftime deficit and pull away from the Gold team, 66-55. Junior Micah Sakamoto led Maroon with 15 points, seniors Noah Furtado and Irvin Lin added 11 points, and Kahaweo McGee rounded the double-figure scoring with 10.
Kalia McGee and Matt Loa coached the Maroon team while Ryan Chong and Tyler Tsukazaki coached the Gold.
Sophomore guard Justin Yap led the Gold team with 15 points, junior Logan Dias had 11, Parker Grant with nine, and Jaren Kaneshiro with eight in defeat.
"We have a lot of competitive workouts and the kids are going a 100 percent in practice. It's really difficult to go around with COVID. The kids had nothing to work for. When they found out there was a game it gave them something to look forward to. I appreciate what Ben did to get this going. He's very thorough. They had to look at the other programs. We have to be creative. The seniors want to live this out before it's all said and done and to make it fun to come to practice," Grant said.
This was the first time the teams ran up and down the court.
"From my standpoint and we talked about it on the broadcast, I thought the games were going to be way more sloppy. It was just individual drills. In the past two or three weeks we started to do more team stuff. I haven't seen them go live in a practice. Given that, the game was competitive and it wasn't as sloppy," Valle said.
Could this be done for other sports impacted by COVID-19? Only time will tell, but for now, pulling off two games was a win for everyone.
"We showed some resiliency to overcome this. No one pouted or complained. I am thankful that it went smooth," Valle said. "We have a blueprint to do other sports, I had a lot fun tonight."
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