LIHUE — Representing one’s country is a dream for athletes and sports enthusiasts alike.
The Olympic Games, the FIFA World Cup, the Little League World Series, the World Baseball Classic, the FIBA Basketball World Cup, the Rugby World Cup — the list goes on. To take part in international competition on the grandest stages would be one of the highest honors an athlete can achieve.
One of Kauai’s own got that opportunity to represent the United States and coach some of the best high school football talent in the country.
Mike Tresler, defensive and special teams coordinator for Kapaa High School’s varsity football team, joined the staff of the USA Under-19 National Team and took part in the International Bowl last month.
His Kapaa defense went through the past Kauai Interscholastic Federation regular season without being scored on, and also got another shutout in the following state semifinal game.
Tresler, a Kauai High alumnus and former University of Hawaii defensive back, was the defensive backs coach under head coach and fellow Kauai native Shaun Aguano.
The American team defeated Canada in the International Bowl, 33-0. To top it off, the game was held at AT&T Stadium — home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, of whom Tresler is a fan.
Tresler sat down with The Garden Island at Hokuala Kauai – A Timbers Resort in Lihue, where he works as the director of finance development, and talked about his time in Texas.
“They were very supportive of me. It was prearranged, me going to Texas for the International Bowl,” Tresler said. “Shoutout, ‘Mahalo,’ to the company. Just a lot of new things happening this year for me.”
Before we go into it, by chance did you catch the KIF boys basketball playoff game at Kapaa?
No, unfortunately. I had planned to watch it, but I was here at work until 8:30. But I caught it on livestream, and I listened to the radio on the way home.
I texted (Kapaa High senior Mosese Fifita) congratulations. Big congrats goes out to them. That was a big game. Shucks, I missed it.
And since we’re going to be talking about football, what did you think of the Super Bowl?
Oh, I loved it. Because I’m a defensive guy. A lot of people kept asking.
I thought Denver had the edge on special teams, which to me is significant. Shoot, they’re the No. 1 defense. What they did to Pittsburgh, to Tom Brady and New England, it was pretty amazing. You’re going against a team that only had one loss, and their defense is really good. And the x-factor is the quarterback (Cam Newton). He can run the ball and he’s big. But shoot, that defense was just awesome — fast and responsible. They just got to him.
Were you rooting for a team, or did you just want to enjoy a good game?
Well, I wanted to enjoy the game. I kind of wanted to see Peyton Manning win and go out that way. One for the old guys, man.
And the best part of it was a defensive player got MVP (Von Miller). Finally. It was either the kicker or him, right?
Also, I wanted to talk to you about the Division II football championship game (Kapaa lost to Oahu’s Radford, 30-16). What can you say about that game?
Just as a coach, you got to re-evaluate everything — after it happens and what you could have done better. And prepare a little more, at least, for the weather that was there.
We lost the game on just mistakes. They made less mistakes than us. Special teams killed us. That blocked punt which really should have never happened. And then opening the kickoff. We set something up for the return because they kept squibbing the ball. Our guys didn’t execute. Then our D had to stop them, and they ended up with three points. So, that’s a 10-point swing. That’s the game right there.
We had 40 yards of offense, or 35. You can’t win games like that as well. Our defense had, I think, two bad plays. One was an early touchdown, which we put the guys in a really good position, but we made some mistakes. Those are two plays that you really wish you could take back. But sometimes, in big games, that’s all it comes down to — a few plays like that that determines the outcome. They were good. They were big and athletic. And, again, made less mistakes than we did.
Bummer. I mean, I’m not happy about it, you know? I thought our defense dominated in the first half. Just they were on the field a long time. That was tough.
So, the championship game was in November. Then the International Bowl was in January. Not a whole lot of time to rest.
Yeah, no. Right into the holidays. It gave me some time to get over it, the loss. Yeah, it’s still there. But I got my family. Got to spend time with them. And then start the new job here. So, yeah. No real downtime. But I’m excited. Just so much going on.
So what was it like hooking up with Coach Shaun again? You said you’re old buddies.
He came a couple of times and helped us here. Shaun is just a great, great guy. Great person. Great coach. I felt pretty comfortable. I was pretty nervous, you know? But I knew some of the guys on the staff who were also there coaching defense. Had spoken to the D coordinator, who is Shaun’s friend, too.
Great guys. We just had a great bunch of coaches that bonded well and had good synergy. That really helped. Yeah, it was great catching up, just spending time and being around good guys and great coaches. It was a great learning experience for me.
Coaching football in late January, really? And coaching those type of athletes. All D1 players headed to Division I schools — Alabama, Oklahoma, Oregon, SMU, Boise State.
This wasn’t an all star game by any means. This was a football game. What I mean by that is — you know like the Under Armour or Army games, these all star games you have — you can’t blitz, or you only play these two coverages in defense. It’s really like that. In this case, it was a full-blown game against Canada.
You’re there. You meet. You only have a day and a half with coaches. Then you have your players for three days. We were in two-a-day practices. The whole deal was trying to line them up, yeah? Assignment and alignment.
So, you were the DBs coach. What was your job exactly?
I had the corners and safeties. We were in a Cover 2, Cover 4 look. It was a 4-3 defense and I had four guys. I had like nine DBs to coach up.
Coach Shaun had it really structured and all planned out. There was hardly any downtime. That was work. That wasn’t a vacation by no means.
The schedule was really good because it kept everybody busy. To install a defense, get that bonding, get a good understanding in three days and a one day walk through, it’s pretty intense. You got different coaches that don’t know each other. Players that don’t know each other. It took a tremendous amount of organizing and just intense cooperation.
These kids, they were great. They played all the defenses that we had. So, they’re very skilled. And great attitudes. That really helped.
I think that part — the kids and the coaches understood — that kind of helped us focus a little more. Knowing we had a task, and a real football game to represent your country against another country. American football, you don’t want to lose that game. That’d be embarrassing. We all had that motivation.
It’s Team USA. I think that’s pretty, it’s special. That’s a big deal.
That was one of my questions, too. To represent, not just your town or state, but your country — that’s awesome.
I think that’s part of the attraction for some of these athletes to come. I questioned, “Why would you come? You already got your scholarships. Why would you?” But the kids, they get it. It is a big deal. I wish it was on ESPN2 or something rather than online. It deserves it.
Yeah, Canada. But they got professional football. It’s a big deal there, too. If it’s hockey, then it would be a different story. They get it. I think we all got it.
When you’re there, you meet up with people and have speakers. They have functions and activities that remind us why we’re there, and why we live in the best country in the world. Why we’re so proud to be there representing our country. That really helps, I think, in the whole scheme of things.
Another shutout. Got to be happy about that, right?
Yeah. Another donut, huh. That was great. It was great to be a part of that. That was a good streak, except for the (Division II) championship game. Oh, my goodness.
That was the first time they got shut out. That’s why at the end of the game, they tried to kick a field goal — a long field goal — just to avoid the shutout. Our guys up front did a heck of a job. They got after it. Those kids are long, and they could run. They did a great job. It made our jobs easier on the back end.
Our kids were fired up. 33-0 wasn’t enough for them. That was good to see. They weren’t like, “Ah, another game. And it’s an outside game.” They were competing.
I remember stopping by to one of the practices at Kapaa. Talked with you a little bit. I asked you about the shutout steak. You said, “That’s the point of defense. That’s the goal.”
Exactly. If they don’t score, you win. You know?
It’s super hard to do. We had some turnovers in that game. But, shoot, those guys fought. They had a lot of pride. That’s what I try to instill, and we all do at Kapaa. When you instill that, then the kids start believing in it. And they start living it. It becomes contagious. I think it’s a positive thing for the whole team and our whole program there.
Truly, you need those expectations. They’re there to compete and achieve excellence, right? It’s a complete team thing. You don’t get a shutout unless special teams score, or offense. So, it’s a team thing, like I tell our defense.
It’s one thing to teach them the stuff. But when the team actually executes and it’s working, how exciting is that for you?
That’s part of the reward, and why we do what we do and spend the amount of time that we do. To see that. When they start buying in and believing, that’s just a magical thing. That’s what keeps me going. It’s a thing of beauty.
I also want to shout out Coach Aguano. Thank him again for making that dream come true. And I’m a Dallas fan. Being in the stadium, just so fortunate and so blessed. And (I want to) thank my family again. I was away eight days. Being away from the kids, that was tough. My wife was a trooper.
You’re a big Dallas fan. You were there on the field. It’s one of the grandest football stadiums in the country. The big monitor up top. How great was that?
That was, again, part of a dream come true. Not only to visit the stadium and watch a game, but I was coaching on the field.
That screen is distracting. It’s huge. But when you’re on the sideline, it’s kind of at a different angle. It was pretty distracting, but it’s cool. Watching replays and trying to see what happened, because you can’t see everything. It’s like having a film replay, which is pretty cool. It just added to the whole experience, the whole deal of representing the US of A.
Did you get to meet Jerry Jones? Anybody from the Cowboys?
No. We were in the locker room. We didn’t get to meet (anybody). That would have been great if someone was there. To meet with the kids, more so. But we had an unveiling of the uniform that the kids wore. Then they had all their stuff in the lockers — in the Dallas players’ lockers. That was neat for them.
Will there be other opportunities with USA Football, or is this a one-time deal?
I thought we did a good job. I’m not sure. I mean, I would like to think we did a great job, and that would be something pretty fun.
Another thing you said you hope to have gained was more knowledge. What’s something new you learned that maybe you could apply here?
I’ll tell you, I picked up a bunch of stuff from Coach Shaun — organizing these types of things, and practices. That was a good thing.
A lot of defensive stuff that we did differently that I never do here. That was, not that I would want to play that type of defense, but just to run something different, that was great to learn some new stuff. Some different things from the guys from defense.
My roommate was Cody Hawkins. Cody played at Colorado. He was Jordan Dizon’s teammate. And his dad was a really good coach at Boise State and at Colorado. He was an offensive coach. He’s a young guy — great.
So besides the experience, I got to learn some Xs and Os. Sharing different things and different techniques, and listening to different perspectives. It was very informational.
So being part of this, how much of a better coach have you become do you feel?
I think it has made me a better person, and for that, a better coach. Appreciating our players here and just the passion and the love for the game. To know why we do it. How important it is to me and to a lot of people and kids. The opportunities it provides. Life lessons. All of that. I think that’s probably the most important impact this has had on me. Definitely.
When you came back, did you have a lot of friends call you asking about it? Even try to pick your brain about football?
Oh, yeah. Everybody was just really supportive. “Hey, congratulations,” before I went and then when I came back. Just, “Oh, how was it?” This and that. It makes it, it adds to the excitement. People are really supportive. Yeah, it’s exciting for everybody. But it was just a tremendous experience. I’m blessed.
