In an era when large rosters and immense depth of talent tend to rule the prep basketball universe, there’s Konawaena.
Coach Bobbie Awa’s Wildcats have proven, once again, that talent is great to have, but depth? The Wildcats may be the only program, boys or girls, that has demonstrated that it doesn’t take 15 or 12 or even 10 players to win a Division I girls basketball state title. Up to last Friday night’s clutch 44-34 win over a tremendously deep and young Maryknoll team, Awa and her hoopsters have captured seven state championships over the last 13 seasons.
The Wildcats meet almost no general consensus when it comes to the elements that make up the typical dynasty in Hawaii.
>> Consistency at the top
Awa has been at the helm of the girls hoops program since the mid-1990s, before any of the current Wildcats were born yet. Other programs that have reached the pinnacle in recent years like Kamehameha and Punahou have experienced turnover at the head coaching position. Even Hilo, which has been a force in the BIIF and statewide, lost its head coach, Ben Pana, who is now coaching the boys program there. The most consistent program at the state level besides Konawaena: Lahainaluna, which has a head coach (Todd Rickard) who has been in charge for nearly two decades. Like Awa, he has his imprint on the feeder program in the Lady Lunas’ district.
>> Administrative support
In an era when more and more parents locally and across the nation feel entitled to express their personal needs ahead of the team’s success, Awa has full confidence and backing from her administrators, as well as the community. Take one key piece of the puzzle away, and the challenges become supremely immense. Teamwork on and off the court has been vital.
>> Konawaena is not a large public school
Since Kealakehe opened in 1998, Konawaena immediately became one of Hawaii Island’s mid-sized high schools. Since the girls basketball tournament went to a classification format in 2003, Konawaena has stayed in D-I with the big girls.
>> Konawaena is not an elite ILH school
Time to time, I’ve heard rumors of players from other islands, not just within the BIIF, considering a move to the Kealakekua-based campus. It happened last year when the Bates twins (Lindsay and Taylor) and Aloha Salem relocated from Lahainaluna. But the rest of the time, it turned out to be nothing but chatter. Leave home to play with a group of dedicated, humble basketball student-athletes? It’s understandably tempting, but parents in the girls hoops universe generally gravitate more to Hawaii’s universally-known institutions like Kamehameha and Punahou, ‘Iolani and, in the new generation, Maryknoll.
>> Konawaena is not from the state’s largest (by far) public-school league
Though the BIIF has a fairly large contingent of public and private schools, the league has just two berths in the D-I state tourney. The OIA dwarfs the state’s other public-school leagues and has six state berths.
>> Konawaena draws from a small population in the South Kona District
Historically and currently, other sports like soccer, softball and volleyball draw larger numbers than Konawaena’s girls basketball program. That cuts severely into the talent pool available to Awa, but it also becomes addition through subtraction. The Wildcats are left with only the most dedicated players.
It’s a mix of blessings (talent) and devotion (work ethic) that have made the ‘Cats uniquely successful. Chanelle Molina has been a magical player (27 points in last year’s state final win over Lahainaluna, 24 points in this year’s title win over Maryknoll). Prior to her, Lia Galdeira was arguably the greatest female high school athlete of this generation, forming a potent 1-2 combination with point guard Dawnyelle Awa. But one or two players alone can’t do it all.
This year’s team suited up nine players, some of whom were on the JV team that actually didn’t exist at the start of preseason due to low numbers. Eventually, the team ran too low number-wise and closed shop. That’s a big reason why, in a slow-paced battle against Chico Furtado’s Maryknoll squad, Awa opted to play only her five starters: Ihi Victor, Mikayla Tablit, Cherilyn Molina, Celena Jane Molina and state-tourney most outstanding player Chanelle Molina.
Each year and certainly each specific state championship is different, as Awa, a former Hawaii Pacific College player, has said. Take one player away from those early Wildcat teams that were fed directly by Bobbie and Donald Awa’s Kona Stingrays club team, and the chemistry may have been altered. Maybe there would be no championship trophy in 2004 or ’07 or ’09. Add one more player and maybe the Mana Hopkins team in ’10 has enough to reach the final instead of falling in the quarterfinals with just seven players.
The past four title teams (’11, ’12, ’15, ’16) were loaded with individual talent on the court, not a lot on the bench. When the Wildcats last felt the sting of an upset loss, it came on Feb. 8, 2014 in a 54-51 quarterfinal loss to Mililani. Chanelle Molina, then a sophomore, had 27 points, four assists and five steals. Victor, also a sophomore, had 11 points. Beyond that, the team was young and relatively inexperienced compared to a Mililani team that featured transfer Sarah Liva (13 points, 13 rebounds) and sharpshooter Mikaela Limper (17 points).
Mililani went on to lose to eventual champion Punahou 53-48 in the semifinal round. Konawaena responded in ’15 by ousting Punahou in the quarterfinals 51-37 and Roosevelt 54-33 in the semis. The Wildcats then stopped Lahainaluna 51-41 for their first title with all three Molina sisters — point guard Cherilyn now in her freshman year — together on the varsity roster.
Simplicity is too easy an explanation, but it’s understandable. Awa’s teams always play man-to-man defense, though there have been some slight tweaks here and there. When the Wildcats arrived at the state tourney last week, their defensive prowess and flexibility were so good, they utilized a lot of jump switching. That played a role in their wins over Punahou (yes, they seem to face the Buffanblu almost regularly in the quarterfinals), Kaiser and Maryknoll.
Defensive versatility has been huge for Awa’s team. Victor is strong enough to stymie bigger post scorers, but nimble enough to cover the perimeter, and certainly fast enough to be a weapon in transition. Celena Jane Molina, who will return next season, is arguably the best defender in the state with her length, quick feet and ability to cover any position 1 through 5.
Awa’s teams continue to see man defenses in preseason, when the Wildcats won the ‘Iolani Classic against mainland competition and went 2-1 at the Title IX tournament in D.C., and in the state tourney. She and her staff have built Konawaena to execute against man defense with steady stream of backdoor cuts, but no key may be more important than the patience of all five players on the floor. Even the mighty Galdeira, now playing professionally in Europe, never dominated a game with shot attempts. She always preferred to stay in system, working patiently and precisely for the right shot at the right time.
There hasn’t been a program in the past decade-plus that engineers offensively with as much understanding of angles and spacing, boys or girls.
And now, the 2015-16 season is over. Victor and the oldest Molina, Chanelle, will graduate. But it was an unusual ride. Both seniors missed significant time due to injuries during the BIIF season, and the remaining Wildcats learned and evolved, and kept winning. It was a prelude to what the 2016-17 season will bring. There will be question marks, as always, about depth and size.
But the younger Molinas, crafty and uber-quick Cherilyn and rangy, tough Celena Jane, helped lead Konawaena through that injury-riddled patch in January. Awa still has the passion for the game and her knowledge is masterful. She was born to teach, and her players were born to be coachable. She will take the reins as coach of Team Aloha in the spring, and then she will take her Stingrays team to the mainland in the summer. The seasons change, but Konawaena girls basketball cycles through the same pattern and efficiency, young keiki filling their days with repetition of fundamentals.
It’s been no overnight miracle, but the results have been nothing short of miraculous.
Prior to her, Lia Galdeira was arguably the greatest female high school athlete of this generation, forming a potent 1-2 combination with point guard Dawnyelle Awa. But one or two players alone can’t do it all.
While I do agree that Galdeira was a great player, she was no where near the level of Shawna Kuehu until she tore her ACL multiple times. We saw Shawna-Lei play against arguably one of the greatest NCAA players in the summer of 2006, Maya Moore who ended up playing for UCONN. Moore also went on to win multiple WNBA titles. In the summer of 2006, Maya Moore played for the Georgia Metro.
The Georgia Metros went 73-6 in those two travel seasons, and Maya led them to four National Championships: The AAU 16U National Championship in Orlando (where she was the MVP, as a 15-year-old) in 2005; the US Junior Nationals Championship in DC, twice, in both 2005 and 2006; and the Nike Nationals Championship in 2006
In the Nike Nationals Championship in 2006, Maya Moore was named outstanding player in the Nike Tourney. However Shawna Lei outplayed her. Moore went on to win the championship in the tourney while our California Storm took 3rd. This is how Shawna Lei came to be on our California Storm team.
During that summer our club team traveled to Oahu for a vacation. On that trip our Coach George reached out and got 2 games against a local team called Kalakaua. Kalakaua beat us 2 times with Shawna Lei averaging 36 points and 20 rebounds. Coach George was so impressed that he talked to Dennis Agena and Mike Taylor and invited Shawna-Lei to play for our team.
We traveled to play in the Nike Tourney in Augusta, Georgia. Maya Moore averaged about 25 points and 12 rebounds over the tourney. She would have averaged over 30 if Shawna Lei didn’t shut her down.
She was unstoppable. In our game, Shawna-Lei (entering her junior season) and Maya Moore (entering her senior year) were matched up with each other the entire game. Shawna-Lei was a post in Hawaii, but Coach George allowed her to play her natural position of 2 and 3.
Shawna went for 26 points and 6 rebounds, and held Maya Moore to 8 points and 4 rebounds. It wasn’t even close. Maya couldn’t handle Shawna Lei’s athleticism, length, and strength. Maya Moore was held approximately 20 points below her tourney average. Shawna-Lei averaged over 22 points and 10 rebounds from the guard position for the tournament.
In this tourney, all of the Division 1 coaches were courtside for all of our California Storm games to watch Shawna-Lei. Shawna-Lei was voted to the all tournament team and was rated #5 overall player by Glenn Nelson of Hoopgirlz that eventually was taken over by ESPN for the Class of 2008. In 2006, Hoopgirlz was recognized as the most credible ranking for High School Girls Basketball. After her knee injury, she slid down the rankings and unfortunately was never the same.
After the tournament, Coach Geno of UCONN, Coach Summitt of Tennessee, and all of the top 25 schools were contacting Coach Mike Taylor (her High School Coach at Punahou) with offers for Shawna-Lei to play for them. No Hawaii Girl in history had ever had offers from all these top schools including Galdeira or Molina.
Unfortunately, Shawna Lei tore her ACL, but the schools were still interested. But with Coach Taylor telling the schools that Shawna-Lei was only interested in playing for a West Coast team, eventually all of them backed off other than the West Coast teams. USC and Cal made the biggest pushes and Shawna Lei signed with Cal.
Either Coach George of the California Storm or Coach Mike Taylor can verify the information provided above is accurate.
OMG! why are you comparing Shawna Lei to Molina or Galdeira? No body cares cause as of right now it seems Konawaena is just above everyone else. It seems so obvious with your jealousy on comparing this players. You actually need to get your facts straight California Storm because you don’t know that Molina did not receive offers from Top 25 schools. She’s humble and unlike yourself does not like to brag about getting all this offers. CALIFORNIA STORM is a club plain & simple who can’t handle the truth about the greatest player in Hawaii, so they end up comparing other players to put them down. JUST ACCEPT THE TRUTH which is MOLINA & GALDEIRA as being the BEST.
The information provided by Coach George or Coach Mike Taylor above was most likely written by them because of Jealousy towards the players. That really says a lot about what kind of club California Storm is. The fact is Mike Taylor tried to get Molina to play for him, but because Molina turned him down he has this hatred towards her. WOW!!! goes to show you why Molina turned this Club down.
Greg, there’s no reason to attack California Storm on this one. It’s perfectly reasonable to choose either of the 3 ladies as one of the best players. Shawna may have had the highest peak considering she was rated highest of the 3 during recruiting but Chanelle and Lia were able to stay healthy and put up more cumulative achievements. Really just a matter of preference here.
Greg, so when anyone makes a comparison then it’s jealousy? Are you really that naivve or just plain dumb? And what are these people jealous of? A girls High School State Title? Really? Let me repeat myself, a girls high school state title. And in a title game that barely got over 100 fans while the boys that were playing the same night (not in states) got more. Punahou vs. Kamehameha got over 600-700 fans and that was in a school gym. If it was so important you think more than 1300 fans would show up. And you do know of the 1300 that was reported they also count the fans that come to earlier games, haha. You are justs plain ignorant.
We all know I like to come from the point of academics. I may be wrong but didn’t Shawna graduate with her Bachelors and then Master’s from UH? And Galdeira started to skip classes, flunked out, never got her degree, and had to turn pro since she had no other options.
Yeah, I really would like to be Galdeira now. But I guess when your coach shows up in rubber slippers, t-shirts, and baseball caps, the bar wasn’t set really high. And Greg, stop getting your panties all ruffled, it’s just someone’s point of view. As for Molina, any coach would want to coach her she is very talented. Why would Coach Taylor be jealous of her? She is a kid and he is an adult?
And Coach Quintero from looking at their website has coached some fo the finest players in the nation ever: http://calstormbasketball.com/california-storm-cal-finest-alumni/
He also has a team called TEAM TAURASI which is sponsered by Diana Taurasi so I am going to assume he either coached her or worked with her.
Why would that kind of guy be jealous of a Hawaii Girl going to Washington State? That just makes absolutely no sense.
Regarding your comments about Molina being recruited by all the Top 25 schools, you have heard of Google, Bing, etc? She was not. Please stop making up stuff to make yourself look good, cause you are not.
Let me reiterate: Molina is very talented, but was not recruited by all the top 25 schools. Galdeira is talented in basketball but does not take academics seriously. The Kona coaches look unprofessional. Would you dress to an interview looking like that? It’s a disgrace and a disservice to the kids they coach. How had is it to wear a polo, some nice pants, and nice shoes?
Greg must be a mom pretending to be a guy. Dads don’t get this upset over girls basketball, but moms do, haha.
Greg February 17, 2016 at 12:03 am
The information provided by Coach George or Coach Mike Taylor above was most likely written by them because of Jealousy towards the players. That really says a lot about what kind of club California Storm is. The fact is Mike Taylor tried to get Molina to play for him, but because Molina turned him down he has this hatred towards her. WOW!!! goes to show you why Molina turned this Club down.
This is arguably the dumbest comment I have ever read. Maybe if she played for this club she wouldn’t have ended up at Washington State. If you look at the link I provided above their girls do to Duke, Cal, Yale, New York University, Stanford, USC, Columbia, and many other top academics and basketball schools.
Greg, you are one of the most ignorant and stupidest people I have ever met on this site. To assume that a High Profile Club Coach, and a Local Coach would come on this board to write what your infer they have is arguably the dumbest thing I have ever read. I feel for you that someone who I am assuming is an adult can be so naive, ignorant, and dumb.
Ram33 gets it. Someone made a remark based on Mr. Honda’s writing. In no part of the post did anyone say anyone wasn’t good. The writer even posted information and listed the two coaches to verify the story.
I vaguely recall ESPN and the Honolulu Advertiser (before the papers merged) writing a story about Kuehu’s travles that summer and I believe Wes Nakama (or another writer) mention that the most prominent coaches were contacting Coach Taylor.
I just googled Coach Taylor and it says that he coaches with one of the most prominent club teams in the nation, coaching kids that go to D1 teams and to the WNBA. Why would he be jealous of a local kid who does well?
It just makes no sense. Please reread the post, you are making something out of nothing and making ridiculous accusations. I bet the accusations wouldn’t be made if you had to use your real name.
All you jock-sniffing posters need to get a life and stop ragging on these women. Pathetic esteemed challenged losers. Let me know if you need a dose of reality.
I must say Ed First, that criticizing Awa for her dress or Galdeira for her academics is just tacky. As far as coach Awa’s dress, this is Hawaii and it’s not like there’s anyone wearing suits on the sidelines. Judging from the outside, coach Awa is having quite the positive influence on the ladies coming through her program so it makes no sense to nit-pick about something as inconsequential as her shirt.
As for Galdeira’s academic performance, it’s personal and unrelated to basketball in general and the Kona basketball program in specific so I don’t see how that discussion belongs on this site. But regardless of your insults, she had a very successful first year of pro ball in Europe and will be a high pick in the next WNBA draft. I think she’ll be just fine.
I am sorry, but I humbly beg to differ. Are you saying that since we are in Hawaii we should not hold ourselves to higher standards to set a great examples for children and teenagers?
Winning is nice, but there are way more important things. Look at Coach Lionel V. in Pearl City. He has never won a state title but he gets his kids to graduate, they stay out of trouble, and they graduate. That is a winner in my book and I would trade 100 titles for my kids to have an opportunity to play for that kind of person.
There a numerous coaches in Hawaii that never won a state title, but preach academics, follow the rules, and dress appropriately.
If this was Hawaii, then wearing slippers would be the norm. But, I have never seen it happen. I have seen games in Honolulu, Waianae, Waialua, and Kailua. The coaches dress appropriately.
As for the positive influence what is it? He sta player went to college and couldn’t hack it? She learned that from a combination of her parents, coaches, and community. To not hold her high school coach that spent so much time with her is not correct.
If I coached a team and some of my kids went to college after I coached them and flunked out, I would feel like I failed them. As coaches we need to embrace learning and set a standard of how important learning is.
As for Galdeira’s academic performance, it’s personal and unrelated to basketball in general and the Kona basketball program in specific so I don’t see how that discussion belongs on this site. But regardless of your insults, she had a very successful first year of pro ball in Europe and will be a high pick in the next WNBA draft. I think she’ll be just fine.
I once again disagree. Her academic performance ties into basketball. She was recruited to play basketball and part of that was the agreement that she would take her schooling seriously. She did not. If she was smart she would stay in Europe. They make way more money.
https://sports.vice.com/en_us/article/basketballs-gender-wage-gap-is-even-worse-than-you-think
Look at the amount these girls make to play in the WNBA. Diana Taurasi made the All-Women’s National Basketball Association First Team in 2014 and helped the Phoenix Mercury win the league’s championship. That season, she was paid the WNBA maximum salary of $107,500. I mean that is peanuts nowdays.
The average WNBA career is 5 years. So let’s assume that Galdeira plays 5 years for the league average of $75,000. In 5 years she will have $375,000 before taxes. After taxes let’s assume she has $225,000 or $45,000. That’s not a lot of money. Even if she can play 10 years, that’s not a lot of money making only that amount.
What happens in 5-10 years after her career is over or unfortunately get a career ending injury? She either better have some rich relatives or clout to get a stevedore job.
The smart play is to be like Taurasi, skip the WNBA and play in Europe where the lifestyle is better, many teams pay for housing, and the salary is higher.
Still, I believe that coaches set examples for kids from the way they conduct themselves, to the way they present themselves, to the relationships they build. If they cannot do all 3, I feel they are not successful. And no amount of high school titles will change my opinion of that.
As adult we should hold ourselves to the highest of standards to model for the kids. I cannot believe that anyone would think different, well unless you have low standards for your children.
Joe February 17, 2016 at 8:43 am
All you jock-sniffing posters need to get a life and stop ragging on these women. Pathetic esteemed challenged losers. Let me know if you need a dose of reality.
Jo can I PLEASE have a dose of reality? Can I buy it at a store? Can I order it online? Can I get it from your mama? Please let me know. Aloha!
Nobody here is arguing that winning is more important than anything else in life. But this is a sports site so it’s logical that people want to discuss athletic performance here.
What is illogical is most of the conclusions that you are drawing. All of the below are logical fallacies you have been making.
– Awa wears t-shirts, thus she is ruining her players’ chances at being productive, working adults.
– Even though Galdeira is successfully making a living doing what she wants to do, she didn’t finish school, thus she won’t be a successful adult.
– Galdeira will be playing in the WNBA thus she will forgo other opportunities abroad .
– Galdeira is no longer in college, thus we should blame Awa, or Kona, or anyone else we feel like blaming.
Anyway, the massive problem is you drawing faulty conclusions. The secondary problem is you trying to turn a sports site into an academics discussion while inserting wild speculation without personal knowledge of any of these individuals.
I guess I was right, CALIFORNIA STORM won’t comment back but because Education First is together with that person or somewhat related he’ll do it for him. Way to back up Coach George & Coach Taylor. You just proved my point on Jealousy & Hatred. It’s nice & funny reading all your stupid comments & making everyone laugh. Stop Hating & move on please. LOL
EDUCATION FIRST this is a dose of reality that you can’t seem to accept so you running your mouth & all your negativity towards this players makes you look like someone who can’t take the heat of always being a loser. I hope I’ve upset you more so you can write more negative comments & entertain us once again.
I am sorry but I have a job and unfortunately have to work. I feel I have the right to voice an opinion. I didn’t insult anyone. I was just stating facts about what happened. Greg, please don’t accuse me of being Coach George or Coach Taylor.
I stand by what I said. I’m neither jealous not do my thoughts reflect anyone’s but my own.
Let me ask you Greg, why are you so angry? Do I not have the right to voice my opinion? Isn’t this a blog to share opinions?
The writer made a statement and I offered my opinion to counter it. I feel I have that right as much as anyone else.
So if I say that Steph Curry is better than LeBron, that means I am Cosch Steve Kerr and I’m jealous of LeBron?
I stand by what I said very respectfully. No Hawaii girls accomplished those things while in High School.
I’m sorry you have such a pessimistic view on life Greg, I feel for your soul.
Greg, I said Lia was great but didn’t accomplish during her high school career what Shawna did. I provided factual evidence of events that occurred. I never insulted anyone.
How does that make me jealous? Isn’t this a forum to share ideas and opinions.
Greg February 17, 2016 at 10:07 am
EDUCATION FIRST this is a dose of reality that you can’t seem to accept so you running your mouth & all your negativity towards this players makes you look like someone who can’t take the heat of always being a loser. I hope I’ve upset you more so you can write more negative comments & entertain us once again.
Greg, so your definition of a winner is a kid who does not go to class, wastes the time, money, and resources of a university, does not get a degree, and has a High School Girls (not Boys) state championship in Hawaii?
Rams33, the massive problem is that you are defending these actions. But I guess you are one who sets the bar low.
– Awa wears t-shirts, thus she is ruining her players’ chances at being productive, working adults. (No she is setting a poor example. Anyone with half a brain knows that role models set examples for children and teenagers to model themselves after, especially parents, teachers, and coaches. Do you read any professional journals? If dressing appropriately wasn’t necessary, why do people often wear suits and ties to interviews or slacks and blouses for women? You dress for success.)
-– Even though Galdeira is successfully making a living doing what she wants to do, she didn’t finish school, thus she won’t be a successful adult. (Wants to do or has to do? When you are not able to go to school you have to do something. Please tell the whole truth and don’t leave out certain pieces of evidence. She has to do that since she is unable to go back to school this year. That’s a HUGE difference)
– Galdeira will be playing in the WNBA thus she will forgo other opportunities abroad. (She is for now, making not that much money, $75,000 per year).
– Galdeira is no longer in college, thus we should blame Awa, or Kona, or anyone else we feel like blaming (Yes Awa, their community, and the parents are all variables in this equation).
If you are going to quote me or say I am illogical, at least put in all the information I provide. I like how you “conveniently” leave out bits and pieces of what I say to strengthen what you see as a solid argument.
The truth is Kona has some of the worst academics in Hawaii. Sure it’s nice to win a basketball game, but these numbers show in the long run they may be losing in life, where it really counts,
http://www.hawaiipublicschools.org/Reports/StriveHIKonawaenaHigh15.pdf
People will bash me since I tell the truth. But since 2002 when Kona started to be really good in bball, where are all these players now? I wonder how much they are making now? I bet not that much.
Like I said to California Storm & Education First keep explaining yourself if that makes you feel good . California Storm don’t be sorry because you’ve already exposed yourself by putting down this girls. As for you Education First keep putting down this girls cause at the end they will prove you wrong & you end up looking like dumba__s
(No she is setting a poor example. Anyone with half a brain knows that role models set examples for children and teenagers to model themselves after, especially parents, teachers, and coaches. Do you read any professional journals? If dressing appropriately wasn’t necessary, why do people often wear suits and ties to interviews or slacks and blouses for women? You dress for success.)
** Look around the state, there are tons of coaches dressing casually. My daughter plays for one and I have no problem with the example he sets for his players. Do I read professional journals? Yes, I happen to have 4 different ones in a stack next to other office resources below my professional license but I fail to see my reading habits factor here.
(Wants to do or has to do? When you are not able to go to school you have to do something. Please tell the whole truth and don’t leave out certain pieces of evidence. She has to do that since she is unable to go back to school this year. That’s a HUGE difference)
** She wasn’t kicked out of school and could certainly be going back to school if she chose to do so.
– Galdeira will be playing in the WNBA thus she will forgo other opportunities abroad. (She is for now, making not that much money, $75,000 per year).
** Nope sorry, she’s not forgoing overseas opportunities. She played in Europe this year and there’s no reason why she couldn’t continue to play in overseas leagues as do many other WNBA players during the WNBA offseason.
– Galdeira is no longer in college, thus we should blame Awa, or Kona, or anyone else we feel like blaming (Yes Awa, their community, and the parents are all variables in this equation).
** She has a summer job that will pay her $75,000 a year plus overseas opportunities and we should assume that anyone failed her? I’d say there’s good reason for the Kona commuity to be proud of her. And you make the assumption that she won’t go back and finish her degree either between seasons or after her pro career is over. You have direct knowledge of the situation that allows you to make that assumption?
** By the way, your linking the Kona school stats doesn’t help your argument against Bobbie Awa. If only 44% of Konawaena students end up going college, then Awa should be commended for each student she helps prepare basketball-wise to have the chance at a college education.
I’m all for getting a great education, but education alone doesn’t make you successful. Countless athletes and individuals work outside of what they went to college and earned a degree for. BIll Gates dropped out of Harvard but I think he did pretty good with his life. Who are we to judge what success is to any one particular individual or if that individual will be successful just by looking at their education? My grandfather had an 8th grade education, but turned out to be one of the most respected cattle ranchers in the state. I guess in your mind he was a failure, or his 8th grade boxing coach failed him…see how dumb that sounds?
It’s Education “first” not “frist”, genius. You must be one of the mercenaries they admitted to Punahou to bolster their Hawaii Select-type athletic teams and not because of your brain, test scores, money and/or social standing. Let me know if you have any questions.
Many here seem to think that how you dress, or the level of education will eventually be what others judge you by.
If you wore slacks and a blouse and went into Oshima store, or just roamed around there, you would be out of place, As to her choice of dress, I am sure she wants to project how she feels about the love she has for her home town and people. More power to her. Her attitude is, this is me,,,,,accept or not…I not care what you think. Even the bank manager there does not wear a suit to work
You really not need an education to be successful in your endeavors, but it sure helps.
IT IS THEIR CHOICE.
The lifestyle in Kona is different, can’t compare it to one in California or Oahu.
If the girls on her team just wants to play BB and is their passion…so be it. They maybe end up working as a clerk in NAPA auto parts, Oshima store, etc. They will probably end up happily married and enjoy a lifestyle that they truly enjoy. While most will envy and only dream of,while stuck in traffic for hours on end.
Nah, sometimes I like to change my usernames 210,410 times. And since your guys stupidity is rubbing off on me I never do a good job of proofreading.
Joe February 17, 2016 at 2:52 pm
It’s Education “first” not “frist”, genius. You must be one of the mercenaries they admitted to Punahou to bolster their Hawaii Select-type athletic teams and not because of your brain, test scores, money and/or social standing. Let me know if you have any questions.
WOW YOU REALLY GOT ME! HOW IN THE WORLD DID YOU COME UP WITH SUCH AN ORIGINAL AND AGGRESSIVE POST! YOU REALLY GOT ME GOOD!
Wow how do you do it. You ability to catch a typo is amazing! You must be a teacher at Kona who wears slippers and a backwards hat to school, haha.
And for the record I went to Kona. But they kicked me out because I was testing too high and I was messing up their program. I also got busted for wearing a polo shirt and covered shoes. They told me, “Hey don’t you know, we do rubber slippers out here!”
“And while we cannot win any real sports, we must put all of our attention on girls basketball! It is the only thing we are good at”
The Rim February 17, 2016 at 1:59 pm
I’m all for getting a great education, but education alone doesn’t make you successful. Countless athletes and individuals work outside of what they went to college and earned a degree for. BIll Gates dropped out of Harvard but I think he did pretty good with his life. Who are we to judge what success is to any one particular individual or if that individual will be successful just by looking at their education? My grandfather had an 8th grade education, but turned out to be one of the most respected cattle ranchers in the state. I guess in your mind he was a failure, or his 8th grade boxing coach failed him…see how dumb that sounds?
So your argument is to pull out 2 stories out of what, 12 millions? Great ratio and way to play the law of averages! So I am guessing the Kona girls are going to start companies worth 10 billion? Even if they barely can read, write, or count. Good comparison!
I am going to tell all my nephews and nieces to drop out of school, wear rubber slippers, and you can be rich like Bill Gates and a cattle rancher! CHEE-HOO!
You guys should write a book on how to be successful and become a billionaire!
I love this! Only on this blog can I learn such wisdom!
Hey…the Rim. Are you above the rim or below. What was the name his boxing coach ?
Cuz me work Ulupalakua ranch b-4 time.
I remember Shawna Lei playing against Lia Galdeira (UH vs Wash St.) And they matched up quite a few times. Very interesting match up. Lia is a one on one type of player. Where as Shawna plays more team ball, picks, cuts, passing. You would think Lia would be more successful in the pro because of her style. As for Shawna, Just watch the wahines this year. They miss her big time. Her Basketball IQ was way above the rest of the team.
Funny how Punahou recruits local mokes, titahs and assorted polys who have no business being at the school other than their impressive height, weight and 40 times, give them free tuition (i.e. “diversity scholarships” since athletic scholarships are banned by the ILH)….then have message board nerd supporters like weeping “FRIST” call out public school athletes for being “dumb” and “poor”. LMFAO!!
Joe, Punahou has always since its inception wanted at least 20% of their student body to be Hawaiian. If some were great athletes as well, that was a coincidence. Looks as if they have a lot of Poly recruits on the football team. But blame St Louis for that. That’s what you gotta do it you want a competitive football program that can compete with St Louis and their win-at-all-costs mentality and all-out recruiting of football players. Easy to tell football recruits: Samoans and Tongans that are Div 1 material. Most are recent arrivals to the islands, not been long enough in the islands to have secured a good paying job. Most have large families so no way can send them all to private schools. Hawaiians are hard to gauge. Many have money, many don’t. Whether or not they are willing to pay private school tuition is hard to tell. Samoan and Tongan recruits are easy to pick out. Oh by the way, that great bastion of education, Stanford, has numerous Samoan football recruits who also have no business being there if they were not star football players. Cal-Berkeley too. Michigan recruited a Samoan football player this year from De La Salle. .
Education Frist/First- obviously you have issues. Try getting help from a highly educated psychologist.
Konawaena had a chance to move forward in the boys tournament to win a “REAL” state title and the OIA 5th place team pounded them by over 30. It must suck to not win any real titles and can only win a girls basketball title. And it’s so unimportant, that the game can only draw 1300 fans, many of which stayed from the previous games.
Joe, Punahou would have recruited you, but they don’t offer jacks for boys that play with dolls. You talk big on this board but I guarantee you would never say it to my face you computer wimp, lol.
Hey Rim, former Kahuku football player Tanoai Reed went flunk out of UH TWICE. He now making the big bucks working as a stuntman in Hollywood. Got plenty other college dropouts who became billionaires, not only Bill Gates. Larry Ellison, co-founder of database giant Oracle, dropped out of the University of Illinois and is now worth $16 billion. Fellow billionaire John Simplot, inventor of the frozen French fry, never even finished high school. Neither did Alan Gerry, who built the first cable television network in upstate New York and then sold it to Time Warner Cable Cable for $2.8 billion.
You want to meet up and have a face to face? Shoot me your email address.
@Mahatma we could go on and on with that list……that was my point, many individuals are very successful without a college degree. Unfortunately trying to justify or convince an individual who has hatred for a girls basketball program from a small school like Konawaena, difficult. The very individual who rants about being educated and how education is “first” sounds the least educated of them all. Or his hatred for little girls basketball program just got the best of him. I feel sorry for the guy, life goes on.
You can easily post your email. Interesting how I call you out and you fail to post it….hahah coward!
My email is joeisamahu@cowards.com
Big bucks? I guess our opinions of what big bucks differ. Try and google how much a stuntman in hollywood make. It’s not that much.
Education First is so entertaining that his home all alone in his computer still trying to think of more to write about of how to put down the Konawaena program. Why don’t you ask your buddy’s Mike Taylor or Brian. You say such great things about ILH & California Storm Hawaii so you must belong with them. But oops sorry that they lost both to Konawaena. Why don’t you just get over it because your making yourself look like a crazy person trying to justify yourself & I would hate for you to lose more sleep on Konawaena’s success. Instead of praising & Congratulating the team here you try to belittle them & compare them to others. At the end of the day this Wonderful article is All about the amazing job that this Konawaena team has accomplished & Education First you’ll still just be a little wiener in the pod. As for California Storm or should I say California Storm Hawaii you say you were giving your opinion, but by the looks of it you were doing exactly what Education First is doing which is putting down the program & writing unnecessary things that nobody cares to read. California Storm Hawaii you recruit girls from around the island so I would recommend for you to be professional, it really does not look good on your Basketball Club.
“frist” has shown us ALL the true message board coward that he is. Challenges someone to a face to face then refuses a request to reveal himself and give out his contact info. How’s it feel to be outed, Julie? Not good, huh? My work here is done. I DROP THE MIC AND LEAVE THE ARENA VICTORIOUS. Live in shame, fool. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Education First I forgot to also say that if you love the Konawaena girls & boys team & coaches why don’t you go & ask them all for an autograph. It looked like at first you were only interested in the girls program, but by the looks of it here you also like how the boys team made it to states. You can say & tease them on how they lost, but like I said nobody cares because their are a lot of school who didn’t even make it to states & so families, fans & people back home are definitely proud of them. As for you Education First your like a little bug that can’t seem to go away & your hatred & jealousy towards Konawaena girls & now boys program is really entertaining because it’s killing you inside & knowing that a person like yourself can’t handle the truth. I was feeling sorry for you at first, but now I’m afraid that you’ll be jumping of a cliff soon, lol
I love them as much as you love little boys. And if I wasn’t on here, what would you do with your miserable life? Accuse coaches of writing on here?
And I was reading the UNC and Duke Basketball Blogs. There are many debates between posters about who are the all time greats. I guess using your logic, Coach K and Coach Williams are the ones posting, HAHAHAHAHHAHAHH!
That is so stupid how you think the California Storm Coach or Coach Taylor are writing things here. Only on here can we find such dumb people. I love it!
C’mon Joe, stop being scared behind you mommy’s computer. I will be having lunch today at Wolfgang Steak in Waikiki at 12:30pm. I will be wearing the yellow aloha shirt and khaki color pants. It is easy to find me. I will meet you there if you dare.
Greg February 18, 2016 at 7:37 am
Education First is so entertaining that his home all alone in his computer still trying to think of more to write about of how to put down the Konawaena program. Why don’t you ask your buddy’s Mike Taylor or Brian. You say such great things about ILH & California Storm Hawaii so you must belong with them. But oops sorry that they lost both to Konawaena. Why don’t you just get over it because your making yourself look like a crazy person trying to justify yourself & I would hate for you to lose more sleep on Konawaena’s success. Instead of praising & Congratulating the team here you try to belittle them & compare them to others. At the end of the day this Wonderful article is All about the amazing job that this Konawaena team has accomplished & Education First you’ll still just be a little wiener in the pod. As for California Storm or should I say California Storm Hawaii you say you were giving your opinion, but by the looks of it you were doing exactly what Education First is doing which is putting down the program & writing unnecessary things that nobody cares to read. California Storm Hawaii you recruit girls from around the island so I would recommend for you to be professional, it really does not look good on your Basketball Club.
Who is Brian? Is that you young lover?
Nobody cares to read about? This string has like 35-40 replies. Go and look at the other strings, there are no replies at all. Could you imagine if I stopped writing Greg? What would you do with your life other than following little girls playing basketball.
Honestly if I was the parents of these young ladies, I would be a little frightened right now that you are watching them. You are a grown man and that is just sick! She said STOP and STOP means STOP!
Whoever said winning isn’t everything probably never won in his or her own life. I read half the posts to this story and they are all comical. We live in paradise braddahs, so hang loose and let these girls just celebrate their moment. Aloha. JWB
The official diagnosis for Education First is Grandiose. It is treatable.
Here is an interesting note that no one mentioned. And I’m not her Aunty, her coach, or went to Punahou or Kona.
Shawna never lost a game in the State tournament while winning 3 state titles and setting the scoring record of 37 or 39 points playing less than 3 quarters vs. Roosevelt. The only year she didn’t win, she was out for the season with an ACL injury.
Galdeira lost to Lahainluna and I believe has 3 state titles. Molina has 2 state titles. She lost to KS as a freshman and didn’t make it to the finals her sophomore year (Lahaina lost to Punahou that year).
Education First is the insane computer geek who’s as smart as a “bag of rocks”. You ain’t eating steak in Waikiki, you be eating “Dainty Moores” in the jail cell buddy!
Education First is such a cry baby & running out of hatred words to say. Go play with your Hawaii Cal storm coaches & stay away from players because you seem to love all the wonderful articles written about them that I’m afraid for their lives because it seems you can’t stop whining about them. Now you want to call people out to meet you. Oh! Please your definitely a no-show hiding behind all those jealous fan club of yours. Oh by the way I do have a lover name Brian, but you definitely know who he is. You definitely can keep writing because I’m really bored at work right now & it’s keeping very entertained. In fact keep writing so that my day goes by fast. If you love it, I love it even more reading you make an A-s of yourself.
Thank you for the input Eva- let’s just say all 3 girls are wonderful players wether they’ve won games throughout their high school years. let’s All give them credit for representing Hawaii the way the have. Shawna, Lia & Chanelle are all talented players in their own ways & we definitely are all proud of them. Hawaii is very lucky to have such talented players here.
Action Jackson February 18, 2016 at 11:40 am
Education First is the insane computer geek who’s as smart as a “bag of rocks”. You ain’t eating steak in Waikiki, you be eating “Dainty Moores” in the jail cell buddy!
Would that be next to your mama? I miss her!
The Rim February 18, 2016 at 11:30 am
The official diagnosis for Education First is Grandiose. It is treatable.
You are very correct! I am getting treated, by your mama! But the funny things is your mom won’t accept my HMSA. She prefers I work it off. So I do, and she loves it if you know what i mean. I might get to be your daddy one day! Hooray!