Hawaii Athletes Makes the Most in August

08 / 08 will be remembered in Hawaii Sports Lore for a long time. 08 is a good luck number in the Asian Culture. Hawaii being populated with more Asians than any other state made a splash of their own in some of the headline sports. In the Olympics, homegrown Brian Clay captured gold in the Decathlon, a phenomenal feat for any American. Natasha Kai and Clay Stanley also captured gold in Womens Soccer and Mens Volleyball. By the way all three are products of public schools. (Castle, Kahuku and Kaiser). Some former Hawaii and Rainbow Volleyball Wahines got silver for their accomplishments including Heather Bown, Robyn Ah Mow-Santos, Lindsey Berg, and Kim Willoughby. Let’s not forget Parker McLachlin’s legends Reno-Tahoe Mens Golf Title putting Hawaii on the Men’s PGA scene and the Hilo Juniors Little league title run coming one game within a championship. To top it off lets put a cherry on the Hawaiian Pineapple Sundae as the Waipio Little League 12 & under team won the Little League championship over Mexico before a national audience. Daryl Huff of KITV said it the best when he mentioned that the secret behind the Waipio Little League teams success was because of the team behind the team. The families and supporters (practically the whole state of Hawaii).

You could say that about Hawaii, It’s uniqueness of support for any athlete or team that competes away from home. We like to call it Hawaiian Pride. The pride of coming from a small island. You know, the us against the world attitude stemming from humble plantation beginnings. The prejudice of being too small, playing against nominal competition, stuck in the middle of Pacific, and not having the tools, or passing the eyeball test.

On ESPN during the Little League 12U World Series Championship game, Georgia’s Dalton Carriker (2007’s LLWS hero) was to comment about the Louisiana’s shortstop Kennon Fontenot. This appeared when it seemed Waipio was going to lose 5-1 in the bottom of the sixth. Carriker quoted that Fontenot was a five tool player….. Now, if you know about the MLB scouting jargon, a tool is an athletic measurement. Tools such as Speed, Power, and Arm Strength and so on… are assessed on upper level baseball prospects. Wow, Carriker only 14 and already knows the jargon. BUT someone forgot the other five important tools that sometimes gets overlooked and not taught enough but usually determines a champion.

Attitude
Commitment & Desire to Accomplish
Hard work
Humbleness
loyalty

All tools the majority Hawaii athlete’s posses. If any college recruiters out there reading this try giving our Hawaii Kids a chance and you will see… That Hawaii has unique athletes. We might not pass the eyeball test or have all five tools but they will pass the heart test.