LIHU‘E — The Rainbow Warrior Youth Skills Camp Kaua‘i was sold out Saturday morning at the Vidinha Stadium baseball diamond.
“We were sold out at 120 players within eight hours of posting,” said Laurie Yoshida, one of the coordinators for the visiting University of Hawai‘i baseball coach Rich Hill and the Rainbow Warrior baseball team. “The clinic was free to the first 120 kids from kindergarten through the eighth grade, and included a special training shirt as well as autographed memorabilia from the team.”
Dallas Correa, the UH director of player development and a Kaua‘i native, was the key Kaua‘i connection to get the team to host a clinic for aspiring players from all parts of the island.
Correa, who has been with the Hawai‘i program for about a year, said the team also has sophomore Nainoa Cardinez, a graduate from Kapa‘a High, on the roster. Hill confided that his family on the Crawford side were regular visitors to Kaua‘i, and liked the island enough to have a subscription to The Garden Island newspaper sent to California.
“This is a fundraiser for the UH baseball team,” Yoshida said. “Dallas called and asked for help from the Westside agriculture people, and others such as Sen. Ron Kouchi and the Kaua‘i Economic Development Board. We end up with the clinic, a meet-and-greet Coach Rich Hill at the Puakea Grill, and a golf tournament Sunday that benefits the Hawai‘i Rainbow Warrior baseball program.”
The Saturday clinic that opened under the sounds of Kaua‘i Youth Football games being waged in the neighboring stadium also attracted the attention of Lt. Gov. Josh Green, Mayor Derek Kawakami and other VIPs like Kapa‘a High football coach and UH grad Mike Tresler, whose son was a participant in the Rainbow Warriors clinic.
Parents filled the bleachers to watch their respective youngsters go through the paces with the collegiate players.
“What’s done is done,” said Tresler, whose defending KIF champion and Hawai‘i High School Athletic Association DII champions were scheduled to face off against Waimea High School at the Mayor Bryan J. Baptiste Sports Complex in Kapa‘a. “I can’t do anymore today, so I might as well take a couple of hours to relax.”
Tresler was a walk-on football player at UH, leaving as an All-WAC player following his college tenure. He joins other Kaua‘i residents with strong UH ties, including Kaua‘i County Councilmember and former Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr., former Councilmember Ross Kagawa, businessman Dr. Larry Sherrer and more.
Hill, like his fellow coaches in basketball and volleyball, said he would love to have a scrimmage game here on Kaua‘i.
