If your daughter does summer polo, ODP and of course swim team (speed and stamina a must for field players) she should be a top tier player in the coming years. And hopefully, Pac5 will field a team next year.

Congrats to your girls on a great 2nd place finish. That was a good Kahuku team they beat in the semis and there’s no shame in losing the title game to Punahou. Unfortunately Punahou always reloads and should be strong again next year even without Emalia. I was looking at the Hawaii ODP rosters and over half the U16 team was from Punahou this year. They’re talented and well coached but hopefully someone can knock them off one of these years.

Unfortunately I didn’t get the chance to watch the state tournament this year. I did check out the OIA tournament and ILH tournament to get a look at the top teams. But I went ahead and looked up video on Mataafa. Wow she does have a cannon, and looks like a fantastic player from what I can find online. I saw one highlight of her scoring literally 5 seconds into the game. I never saw someone get a shot off 5 seconds in let alone score on a mid-pool shot immediately after the sprint. I’m sure she could play WP at the next level, but I wonder if she picks wrestling instead for college. For me, life as a college water polo player sounds more appealing than that of a wrestler so I’ll make a wild, uneducated (and biased) guess and say she plays water polo in college.

As for the Kahuku and Roosevelt rivalry, it makes sense for them to be on the top as they are the two OIA schools I know of who definitely have ties to club teams. With very few opportunities to play water polo prior to intermediate school, the learning curve is steep for water polo so I’m sure the extra work in the summer makes a huge difference. I’ll find out first hand this year as my daughter gets her first summer club experience this year.

I’d love to see the sport expand at other OIA schools and around the islands. Seems to me like if they can make it through the first couple weeks of pain, so many of the girls my daughter knows come to absolutely love the sport. My daughter finishes other sports seasons and is happy for the break until the next season, but as soon as water polo season was finished she said she missed it and begged me to get her an empty 5 gallon jug to work on strengthening her egg-beater.

As for going D1, I think it makes sense in terms of having the best chance at states, but LJA is such a small school it’s remarkable they’re able to field a competitive team in the first place. And with their numbers they’re justifiably proud at winning the D2 ILH title several times. I just recently began following the sport but looking back I see there have been times when Pac5 fielded both D1 and D2 teams but now the Pac5 team is in jeopardy as MidPac will be splitting off on their own next year leaving a big question mark as to where Pac5 will be able to practice. With UH Lab school making up a good chunk of the Pac5 teams I wonder if something could be worked out to hold practices in the UH pool similar to how UH Lab teams have sometimes used Klum gym.

Interestingly, it seems time for Le Jardin to move up to Vars I. They beat Iolani Vars I in the ILH consolation game although I am not sure how many starters were playing for Iolani. If Le Jardin continues in Vars II they will never make the State tournament. They will always play Punahou in the ILH semis (1 vs 4). If they move up to Vars I, they can possibly be a 3 seed and play KS for the second birth.

Yes I am a parent of a KS water polo player. The Punahou Program is exceptional and has been for awhile. Coach Smith seems to be a great guy and very competitive at the same time. He will often see him scouting other game to get a feel of the competing teams. Also, they practice more and harder than any other team in the state. Its not magic.

The Punahou Vars II program has been down for a couple of years now. Down meaning they are not undefeated. Le Jardin beat them twice this year and Scoringlive had Iolani II beating them soundly early in the season butI don’t believe that score was correct.

But even if I’m not a fan of Puhahou sports, I respect the heck out of their water polo program. From the first water polo match I watched where my daughter’s team was getting whooped by Punahou I knew just watching coach Smith that he was one of the greats. Before I really knew much about water polo that just seemed obvious to this outsider.

The Punahou water polo program definitely forces the rest of the ILH to raise their game. I’d love to see more competition from outside the ILH, but the sport is still relatively new for many schools.