Teacher’s strike hasn’t interrupted practice for many KIF athletes
KAPA’A — The passion is evident in Waiala Quisano. Small as she is, at less than 5-foot and surely under 100 pounds, her heart clearly beats with purpose as she takes to the asphalt at Kapa’a New Park this Monday morning.
Quisano is one of the team captains on the Kapa’a Warriors’ basketball team. It’s a group, like many others on the island, forced to the playground — far from its coaching staff — to stay in shape and fresh. The ongoing strike between the teacher’s union and the state of Hawai’i has left young athletes little choice. All Kaua’i Interscholastic Federation athletics have been suspended.
“This is what we’re doing to try and stay in shape and keep all of our plays fresh in our heads,” Quisano said. “Once you forget the plays, they’re gone.
“In case they do end the strike, we want to be ready to go right away.”
In light of that, Quisano, along with co-captain Ashley Farias, continued Sunday night to work the phones like telemarketers with a quota to meet. As the Warriors’ senior leaders, the pair has assumed responsibility for gathering other members of the team to the park at 10 a.m. each day.
“We’ve been here every day since the strike started,” Farias said. “All the way back to Thursday, the fifth.”
And now, the strike is approaching its two-week anniversary. These captains are cognizant of what a prolonged absence from school will mean for their season.
“The longer it goes, the less chance for re-starting the season,” Quisano said. “We know that.
“But the thing is, no matter how this turns out, at least we came out here and did everything we could to be ready. We stayed together as a team.”
That inspirational attitude fades a bit as Quisano thinks about she and Farias ending their stellar high school careers running drills on the asphalt at New Park.
“It seems unfair,” she said. “I really don’t want to end my career without even having had the chance to win KIF and go to states. I don’t want to end it this way.”
Farias shared her teammates’ sentiments.
“It’d be junk to end this way,” said the postwoman, perhaps the team’s best player. “This isn’t how I wanted it to end, obviously.”
Both Quisano and Farias began playing on the varsity in their freshman seasons.
They have come up through the ranks together, and this year looked forward to leading Kapa’a to another KIF title. That the team is currently 0-2 does not seem to affect them.
“That’s why we play the whole season,” Quisano said. “The thing is, I’ve been to states before, won the KIF before, but Ashley and I wanted the chance to lead our team to that place.”
And so they continue pounding the concrete.
On this Monday morning, only six Warriors have shown for the makeshift practice. The captains attribute the low turnout to Sunday’s Easter celebrations and general Monday-morning grogginess.
In the absence of a full team, those in attendance run through offensive sets and out-of-bounds plays. Quisano and sophomore Kanoe Arinaga direct their teammates to the proper positions on the court, ensuring that the drills run smoothly.
With the technicalities out of the way, the girls begin a game of 3-on-3. They employ their skills effectively: screening, jump stopping, following through on jump shots. Yet there’s not an adult in sight.
“Coach Ban always talks about us being a team and sticking close together,” Quisano said. “This is one way we can do that.
“And after this we’ll all go cruising together or to the beach or whatever. We’ve been hanging out with each other a lot, just trying to get closer as a group so that when we get back to the season we’ll be ready.”
For the record, the Waimea girls also have been practicing and are keeping themselves sharp should the season resume. The Menehunes are 1-1 in the KIF.
Coach Ban always talks about us being a team and sticking close together . . . This is one way we can do that.
— Kapa’a Warriors
co-captain
Waiala Quisano
Sports editor Jason Gallic at 245-3681 or mailto:kauaisports@pulitzer.net
