KAPA‘A — State senator Derek Kawakami was doing work surrounded by about 40 young girls, Thursday morning. “My daughter is taking part in there so I thought I would do some work while waiting,” Kawakami said, peering from his laptop
KAPA‘A — State senator Derek Kawakami was doing work surrounded by about 40 young girls, Thursday morning.
“My daughter is taking part in there so I thought I would do some work while waiting,” Kawakami said, peering from his laptop computer.
Mark Ozaki, Kaua‘i Police Activities League coordinator, said about 40 elementary students, or youngsters 5 to 10 years old, signed up for the free one-day cheer and tumbling camp led by Heat Athletics cheer instructors from Wisconsin, including lead instructor Karen Welch and assistants Courtney Joers and Cassie Stack.
“We didn’t know how many to expect,” Ozaki said. “But we have had some people coming in throughout the morning.”
More than 20 youth pepsters between the ages of 11 and 18 turned out for the free afternoon sessions with the Sussex, Wisc. leaders, who captured the Firestorm Worlds 2011.
Ozaki said the turnout was good and he was happy some of the high school cheerleaders from Kapa‘a High School, as well as the Warrior cheer coach came out to help the Heat Athletics staff.
“We also have the Kapa‘a Eagles Pop Warner cheer coach helping and there are cheerleaders from the Lihu‘e, Kapa‘a and Koloa programs taking part this morning,” Ozaki said. “We also have a few people who want to see whether or not they like cheering.”
The Heat Athletics program is one of the donors for the K-PAL Youth Center, he said.
“When they learned of what we were trying to do with the building, they asked us if they could help,” Ozaki said. “Getting cheer instructors here was no problem since we live in paradise. And having a state senator here, too? Wow!”
Visit www.heatathletics.com for more information on the cheer program.
