Since the Kauai Interscholastic Federation made wrestling a sanctioned sport eight years ago, the sport has grown significantly.
The proof of the KIF’s success is in recent results at off-island tournaments.
Kapaa girls wrestler Jolette Miner-Ho is the island’s most recent example of a success story.
What Miner-Ho did at the recent Official Scholarship Tournament was unprecedented for the KIF.
She placed second in the tournament in the 168-pound bracket Friday and Saturday on Oahu.
Though she placed second, she became the first wrestler to make it to the finals in one of the most prestigious wrestling tournaments in KIF history.
The preseason tournament featured over 500 wrestlers and is one of the most significant events in Hawaii or the mainland, to put her achievement into proper context.
Warriors’ teammate Tessa Jensen also shone, with both wrestlers qualifying for the second day of the tournament.
Getting to the second day of the tourney was no easy task considering Hawaii boasts some of the top-caliber female wrestlers in the country.
Building herself into a champion (SUBHEAD)
Miner-Ho’s path to becoming one of the top-tier wrestlers at 168 wasn’t easy.
Between her junior and senior season, Miner-Ho rehabbed a knee injury, and also transitioned from the 138-pound weight class to 168 pounds.
Not to mention Miner-Ho started her wrestling later than most wrestlers start in their career.
Her father, Arlen, said the transition to the sport was natural.
“She’s improved 100 percent, and she’s gotten even better every year she’s participated in the sport,” Arlen Miner-Ho said. “When she got into high school, it came down to she wanted to do something more, and she didn’t pick up any sports when she first entered high school. Wrestling is more of an individual sport, and what you do off the mat dictates what you do on the mat.”
A whole new world (SUBHEAD)
Wrestling coach and KIF sport coordinator Mac Piggott introduced Miner-Ho to mainland wrestling as a sophomore when she went to the Cadet and Junior National Championship in Fargo, North Dakota, in 2017.
“Being in that tournament was actually more of an eye-opener, because some of the best 5,000 wrestlers in the nation were there,” Piggott said. “We came back with a sense of what we had to do if she wanted to transition from high school to college.”
Miner-Ho can spout off a bunch of prospective NCAA schools interested in bringing her aboard their programs. Arkansas, Georgia, Missouri, Nebraska, and even schools on the East Coast have all taken an interest.
“She has the opportunity to make this a reality to be a wrestler in college,” Arlen Miner-Ho said. “Sometimes being in the middle of Kauai, where wrestling seemed so brand new, getting a wrestling scholarship seemed so out of reach. We would like to see where everyone else is, and going to this made the dream more obtainable, and that is something that she knew she could do.”
The experience was eye-opening.
“She got to travel with a lot of state champions. She got to experience different coaching styles, and her work ethic is good,” her father said. “She came home and improved on what needed to be improved on.”
Between her junior and senior years, she obtained 25 pounds of muscle and transitioned from 138 to 168 after rehabbing her knee injury.
“It’s been an adjustment,” Jolette Miner-Ho said. “That is just different types of styles, and I think we adjusted well. I can adapt to a specific situation in this weight class. I am comfortable with the position and how I performed.”
A family affair (SUBHEAD)
One way to cultivate a scene in a new sport is to get the families involved.
When athletes see their parents, older brothers or siblings who can live
vicariously through and aspire to be like them, this is how the foundation of tradition is built.
Arlen Miner-Ho, along with wife Latia Miner-Ho, son Lincoln Miner-Ho and youngest daughter Faith Miner-Ho, have all devoted time to wrestling and contributing to her success in different ways.
Arlen Miner-Ho knows his eldest daughter has what it takes to hoist a state-championship trophy.
“She has everything,” he said. “We have to make sure her mind is right because wrestling is a lot with the mentality. With her being in her senior year, she has kept everything in perspective, and we want her to have fun doing this.”
Still, with the KIF scene only eight years old, it has room to grow, he said.
“It’s a slow pace, and it helps our athletes that do come back with medals to have recognition,” he said. “Right now, we are pushing for wrestling to be a bigger part of Kauai sports. The biggest thing with wresting is that you need to be healthy. In other sports, you don’t have to monitor what you eat quite like in wrestling. In wrestling, you have to watch the whole year.”
As she continues to navigate through the competitive world of wrestling, and as they watch the sports scene grow in the KIF, her father is reminded of an old cliche.
“I always say when life gives you lemons, take it into the ground, slap it and pull out an apple,” he said. “You have to tell the ground what you want, and that is the life of a wrestler. As a wrestler, you seek out gratification for hard work because, in this sport, you get what you put out. That says a lot.”
Right now, Jolette Miner-Ho is creating the foundation for future wrestling on Kauai.
Talk about turning raw ingredients into something tangible. Her success is a memo to the rest of the world that indeed the KIF has arrived.
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Jason Blasco, sports reporter, can be reached at 245-0437 or jblasco@thegardenisland.com.
