Comments on: Hawaii football needs some balance

By: Jay

Jay — Fri, 22 Nov 2013 10:51:35 +0000

Pun alum-
C’mon man, who are you kidding? I’ve noticed a couple of ILH schools that have been doing this for some time now. I personally know of four kids, all of which started and attended public school with my son at the same time from K-5th grade. Of the four kids, three of them are ALL older than my son and one is about 7 months younger. My son currently is in 8th grade right now, but the three older boys who attend Punahou are in 7th grade and the one younger boy is at Mid Pac and somehow in 6th grade? If I do the math, all four of these kids will be 19 years old in their Senior years of high school.
Now I’m not saying this gives schools like Punahou and Mid Pac some kind of athletic advantage, but to claim they don’t hold kids back a year or two is false. So what’s the purpose of holding back kids from their normal age/grade level? Maybe it ain’t for athletics, but for academic reasons?

By: Dave Reardon

Dave Reardon — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 03:11:02 +0000

To be clear, the Division I schools that are not in the same conference would still play each other in the regular season, regardless of being public or private schools.

By: Dave Reardon

Dave Reardon — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 03:03:25 +0000

Lots of stuff to talk about, but one thing that has caught my eye for which the answer is fairly simple. There are many ways to assure that at least one (some) public school teams get into states if you merge ILH and OIA. Oahu Division I can be divided into two conferences and you can make one conference only public schools. Conference regular season winners advance to states and runners up playoff for additional spots. (I’m also thinking 8 team state tourney).

By: tubby

tubby — Wed, 16 Oct 2013 22:07:42 +0000

Xaq, Mosi would have done that at age 17.

By: tubby

tubby — Wed, 16 Oct 2013 21:22:56 +0000

Kira, what rules are you asking the ILH to concede to?

By: PunAlum

PunAlum — Wed, 16 Oct 2013 17:15:24 +0000

It is not true that Punahou holds boys back a year. For grades K-3 boys have a 3 month earlier age cutoff than girls. Class size in high school is around 400, while kindergarten starts at around 150 and stays around there until 4th grade — at which point the age cutoff difference no longer applies.

To say that Punahou has this policy in place for the 75 or so boys that enter kindergarten in order to gain a competitive sports advantage a decade later is fantasy, especially when you consider that of those 75 maybe only 50 make it to senior year.

By: Kira

Kira — Wed, 16 Oct 2013 13:33:08 +0000

The OIA does not need the ILH. Should these two leagues merge, have the ILH concede to the OIA rules. If not, no need for a State championship. Rules must be the same to all teams else there won’t be a level playing field.

By: Ronald Rezentes

Ronald Rezentes — Wed, 16 Oct 2013 07:15:37 +0000

Division 1, St.Louis, Punahou, Kamehameha, Waianae, Leilehua, Mililani, Kahuku, Farrington, Campbell. Division 2, Iolani, Damien, Castle, Kailua, Kaiser, Mckinley, Moanalua, Kapolei, Waipahu. Division 3, Pac 5, St. Francis, Kalani, Kaimuki, Roosevelt, Waialua, Nanakuli, Anuenue, Radford. Each Division has nine teams and plays 8 season games. The top 3 teams from each Division plays in the State tournament. It just makes sense.

By: Xaq

Xaq — Wed, 16 Oct 2013 06:24:07 +0000

Punahou’s policy of holding boys back a year has clearly skewed athletic results in their favor. This bolsters their image, alumni support & endowments while giving them an unfair advantage that endangers their less physically mature competition. Player’s ages need to be a part of the discussion about balance. NFL Alumni Mosi Tatupu, born April 26, 1955, graduated from Punahou in 1974, at the age of 19. A friend, who played for PAC 5 said that after he shook off the cob webs after getting run over, looked up and saw several of his teammates lying on the field as Tatupu held his hands up in the end zone. Sports writers said he was a man playing against boys. Men should not be allowed to play against boys.

By: kanak

kanak — Wed, 16 Oct 2013 05:24:31 +0000

I agree with you that private schools have lost their way by using football recruitment to win championships. Other talented kids still have a chance to receive a decent education at the college level. Football is their venue. I agree, football is a dangerous sport, but the question is…what can the leadership and organizers do to make a more productive, positive and safer environment for the kids who are going to play ball anyway, as many of the players and families don’t see it as a extra-curricular activity, but it is a community and family life-style for them? Maybe a new, system can be put in place whereby there would be stricter academic requirements to play ball. We have so much talent here in Hawaii, both in players and in coaches. We, also, have some of the best academic schools in the nation. (Waialua High School won the International Robotics Championship:) Wouldn’t it be something if all could glean and learn from each other and not bicker over the manini stuff? The great leadership in the ILH and OIA have a lot to offer each other.