For Kyren Ishikawa, Mahina Silverman and Jorden DeCosta-Caalim, Tuesday was a welcome date. The trio were part of eight Kaua‘i soccer players who, along with their chaperone Kevin Devitt, had just completed a three-week soccer exodus that took them to
For Kyren Ishikawa, Mahina Silverman and Jorden DeCosta-Caalim, Tuesday was a welcome date.
The trio were part of eight Kaua‘i soccer players who, along with their chaperone Kevin Devitt, had just completed a three-week soccer exodus that took them to Minnesota, Iceland and Denmark, before settling in Sweden.
For the players, this was the longest they’ve been away from their parents and home. But the yellow-ribboned silver medals made the experience all worthwhile, as the three girls were part of a team that earned second place in their age division at the Gothia Cup, an international soccer tournament that Devitt said had a field of more than 1,400 teams from around the world.
En route to the Gothia Cup, the Kaua‘i soccer players experienced a wide range of soccer — from 100-plus degree weather in Minnesota to rain and 55-degree weather in Europe.
Devitt said the players stayed with host families and trained twice a day for three days before entering a tournament in Minnesota.
July Fourth had the players working out in the morning before their host families treated them on picnics, swimming and fireworks, Devitt said.
“They know how to celebrate the Fourth,” he said in an e-mail.
From Minnesota, the group left for Iceland for a plane switch before landing in Denmark.
Following five hours of touring Copenhagen in a bus, the group boarded another bus for a 6-hour ride to Fredrickshaven where the students were housed in a city hall that was being used to dorm more than 1,000 kids, Devitt said.
“Believe it or not, all the kids from the different countries got along and learned from each other about their teams and ways and customs,” Devitt said, noting that in the city hall, one team stayed in each room.
When the games started, Devitt said, “It took a game or two for us to adapt to the way soccer, or football as it is called there, is played.”
Devitt said the games were a lot more physical and the speed of play is a lot faster than in America, but the game is played fair and no one plays to hurt anyone.
In the Dana Cup, Devitt said the Kaua‘i players were part of five teams entered with their Under 12 Boys team being made up of all girl players because there wasn’t a division for the girls.
“There was a Russian team that thought they would have it easy when they saw the girls, but after losing to the Russians, 1-0 with the goal coming in the final 30 seconds, the boys had a deep respect for them afterwards,” Devitt said.
The older girls played a stiff schedule, facing Norwegian teams, and had to learn how to play on turf which changes the game significantly because it becomes faster and you don’t want to fall, Devitt said.
“All this time, the kids from Hawai‘i had to deal with cold and rain,” Devitt said. “The temperature was around 55 degrees the first few days, and with rain.”
Despite these conditions, everyone made it to the playoffs.
From there, it was a four-hour ferry trip to Gothenburg where the Kaua‘i players would be housed in a small area with stores and restaurants nearby.
The games were about 10 minutes away by bus, Devitt said.
“It’s amazing that the whole city supports this tournament with special bus and free transportation for all players and coaches,” the KSA coach said.
During the tournament that followed opening ceremonies that Devitt described as on the same level as the Super Bowl halftime show extended to two hours, the players had already demonstrated their adaptation to game conditions and were playing hard.
“The NSA style, which recently held a week-long soccer camp at Island School, was working,” Devitt said. “The games were very close.”
Faced with stiff competition in the 12, 13, 15 and 17 division, the players were doubling up, playing on more than one team, Devitt said, pointing out that all the teams made it to the playoffs in either the A or B brackets.
“The 13 Girls had some tough games as they moved into the finals,” Devitt said. “And the next thing you know, we are in the big dance, playing in the Stadium.”
But an early goal, the only one given up by the 13 Girls during the week, given up early in the finals against the Arizona ODP team proved costly as Arizona went on to relegate the 13 Girls to a second place finish.
Devitt said his most enjoyable part of the trip was being surrounded by soccer.
“We all, players and coaches alike, had one thing in common — the game of soccer,” Devitt said. “We didn’t talk about politics or any other world situation — just the Beautiful Game!”
