KOLOA — Garret Tehero, newly elected president for the Koloa Pop Warner Association, smiled as he watched three teams and two cheer squads go through various drills Thursday. “We were worried for a while,” Tehero said. “A couple of weeks
KOLOA — Garret Tehero, newly elected president for the Koloa Pop Warner Association, smiled as he watched three teams and two cheer squads go through various drills Thursday.
“We were worried for a while,” Tehero said. “A couple of weeks ago, we only had eight, or nine players signed up for the Pee Wees.”
But on Thursday, the second day of practice for all the Pop Warner teams on the island, there were 18 boys working through the drills.
“This is thanks to all the coaches, parents, and most of all, the players,” Tehero said. “Monday night we had a meeting for the Pee Wee team coaches, parents and players where we explained the situation. Today, a whole bunch of kids came out.”
Sean Andrade, former KPWA president was also on the field watching the drills. “We’re almost there,” he said.
Despite sluggish registration numbers that were being shared by several other districts, Koloa was able to pull together their program as practice went into full swing Thursday.
Tehero said Kyle Linoz, head coach for the co-champion Midget team in 2005, accepted the head football coach for Waimea High School and in his stead Herbert Callejo will be heading up the Midget coaching staff.
There are 21 players who turned out for the Koloa Midget team and the biggest turnout was in the Junior Pee Wee team where 31 young players were divided up into smaller squads spread out over the Anne Knudsen Park.
“They have an incentive,” Tehero said. “This year, the JPW winner of Kaua‘i will play the JPW winner of the Big Island for a berth in Florida.”
Tehero said their last JPW championship came in 2003 under head coach Cory Aguano who still remains at the helm of the young team.
However, players interested in turning out can still check with KPWA officials who are present during the practices.
On the other side of the field, Tehero said applications for coaches of the Koloa JPW cheer squad are still being accepted.
As of the second day of practice, Koloa fielded eight pepsters in the JPW squad and a dozen spiritsters for the Midget team. There will be no Pee Wee squad this year, Tehero said.
The Kaua‘i Pop Warner Association tackle football season will kickoff Sept. 2 with the annual Jamboree at Vidinha Stadium.
In the meantime, Tehero will be juggling the Koloa schedule between preparing for the season, as well as the annual fundraising effort which involves manning one of the food booths at the Kaua‘i County Farm Bureau Fair, starting Aug. 24.
“We’re almost there,” Tehero said with a smile.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com.
