HBA is and should be a Division 1 team.
I don't want to say this as a complainer...because I'm not.
I don't want to diminish their win...because they are a stellar team.
The cream of the crop.
One of the best.
They won Punahou in regular season play, so that counts for everything.
The past two years they've met up with Hilo High School in the final division 2 match, however, and it's evident. The cards are stacked in their favor. Well, actually, height is stacked in their favor.
It seems to me that any private school offering scholarships or tuition in exchange for the best athletes coming to their school should automatically be required to be a Division 1 team. It's not the count that matters when a school can hand a gifted and talented player a berth on their team. When they take a student from another district, they are, in essence, stripping that team of a potentially winning season. They've taken from their "natural" pool. In the process hey've weakened the opposing team and, in the process, taken the top grade players from the island. This may be rumor, but I hear the private schools from the island go to other places, away from Hawaii, to scout and entice top-seed players to come to the islands to play on their team.
That leaves the local schools at a serious disadvantage to ever topple these teams. It's a near impossibility for a Division 2 school to compete on this level, as they have to rely on students in their district to field their team.
I am respectfully asking the Hawaii State Association to reconsider the rules and to change them to make the playing field more equitable. It's time. It needs to happen.
There, I've said it and it wasn't so bad.
With that out of the way, I want to offer a heartfelt congratulations to Punahou, HBA, Kamehameha (Palama Campus) and Hilo High School for a memorable night of championship sport. Best wishes to all the athlete's futures!
I don't want to say this as a complainer...because I'm not.
I don't want to diminish their win...because they are a stellar team.
The cream of the crop.
One of the best.
They won Punahou in regular season play, so that counts for everything.
The past two years they've met up with Hilo High School in the final division 2 match, however, and it's evident. The cards are stacked in their favor. Well, actually, height is stacked in their favor.
It seems to me that any private school offering scholarships or tuition in exchange for the best athletes coming to their school should automatically be required to be a Division 1 team. It's not the count that matters when a school can hand a gifted and talented player a berth on their team. When they take a student from another district, they are, in essence, stripping that team of a potentially winning season. They've taken from their "natural" pool. In the process hey've weakened the opposing team and, in the process, taken the top grade players from the island. This may be rumor, but I hear the private schools from the island go to other places, away from Hawaii, to scout and entice top-seed players to come to the islands to play on their team.
That leaves the local schools at a serious disadvantage to ever topple these teams. It's a near impossibility for a Division 2 school to compete on this level, as they have to rely on students in their district to field their team.
I am respectfully asking the Hawaii State Association to reconsider the rules and to change them to make the playing field more equitable. It's time. It needs to happen.
There, I've said it and it wasn't so bad.
With that out of the way, I want to offer a heartfelt congratulations to Punahou, HBA, Kamehameha (Palama Campus) and Hilo High School for a memorable night of championship sport. Best wishes to all the athlete's futures!
Ok... just to give you something to chew on though...
ReplyDeleteI think Hilo is out of the League of Pahoa when it comes to many things.
Economics and the high school athlete has been studied.
I'm not gonna go into it too much... but if you break down the family income of the players between the Hilo teams and the Pahoa teams "In General" you may find something interesting.
Although there were a couple exceptions I can say there were MANY boys on the HHS team who couldn't even afford their airfare. They went to Oahu on the cheap, rented the smallest economy cars, and slept on the hard floor of a halau the entire time, as they could not afford a hotel. In any case, each team had a lot of obstacles and overcame them...and they were playing w/ boys in their community. AND, they were all great!
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm even more glad my son is now accepted to Kamehameha as a Kindergartner and no one can tell me down the road that my son got into a private school on favoritism.
ReplyDeleteThe testing they do for Kam Schools is pretty rigorous and I'm very proud that my son is one of only 20 kids to get in from the Big Island as a kindergartner this year.
Sports is important to me as a father and wanting to see my son gain confidence... but what is even more important to me... is that my son gets a great education...
Something that I can say from working the last 10 years at a State level w/ OCISS and now dropping down to the school level that the Public Schools are lacking.
We are so lucky Karen that we have kids that are sucessful and we have raised them the best we can...
Unfortunately... for many big island kids... they don't have as good as parents as us.
SORRY TO BURST YOUR BUBBLE BUT YOU ARE TOTALLY WRONG. HBA HAS NEVER RECRUITED ANY PLAYERS. ASK ANY OF THE PUNAHOU, IOLANI, KAMEHAMEHA OR OTHER ILH COACHES AND THEY WILL TELL YOU THAT HBA HAS NEVER RECRUITED ANY PLAYERS. HBA IS REALLY GOOD BECAUSE THEY HAVE SOLID CLUB PLAYERS WHO ALL PLAYED FOR HBA SINCE THE 5TH GRADE BEGINNING IN THE INTERMEDIATE VOLLEYBALL PROGRAM. AND, THEN YOU SAY HEIGHT IS STACKED IN THEIR FAVOR? EXCUSE ME? HBA HAS ONE PLAYER AT 5-9 AND EVERYONE ELSE IS UNDER 5-7, MOST AT 5-2. THE JOKE IN THE ILH IS THAT ILH IS MADE UP OF A TEAM OF LIBEROS! KEEP IN MIND THAT HBA HAS UNDER 400 KIDS YET PLAYS PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN THE PLAYOFFS WITH OVER 2000 KIDS. IS THAT FAIR?
ReplyDelete