Elimimian is making the grade
Solomon Elimimian is working hard, and not just in preparation for the April 2 Pro Day in Carson, Calif. Elimimian, who is training in San Diego, is taking two on-line classes needed to fulfill his requirements for a bachelor’s degree. He is on track to graduate in May.
* * *
Don’t expect Blaze Soares to fully participate in spring practice. He still is recovering from a lower-leg injury. But don’t worry. The only thing that matters is that Soares is healthy for the start of training camp in August.
Paipai Falemalu, who underwent shoulder surgery in the fall, also will be restricted in spring training. Although he is involved in the offseason conditioning program, Falemalu isn’t participating in Super Games.
The coaches believe there are enough quality linebackers. Brashton Satele and R.J. Kiesel-Kauhane will enter spring ball as No 1 linebackers. UH also has high hopes for Corey Paredes, Mana Lolotai, Viliami Nauahi, Art Laurel and Jake Heun. Heun is expected to be medically cleared to participate in contact drills in spring training.
Waylon Lolotai was moved to defensive end, but he might be recalled to linebacker.
T.J. Alofipo and George Daily-Lyles join the team in August.
* * *
From Princess Leila:
The University of Hawai‘i Strength and Conditioning program is holding a
barefoot kickball tournament this Saturday, March 14.
Beginning at 9 a.m. at UH’s grass practice field, the tournament format is
double elimination, with a 45-minute time limit or a maximum of five
innings.
The entry fee is $200 per team (minimum of 10 players), and $150 for teams
made up of UH students and faculty.
For more information, contact Tommy Heffernan at 956-7882 or e-mail
theffern@hawaii.edu. All proceeds will go to the UH Strength and
Conditioning Foundation. Register by Thursday, March 12.
Aloha Kakahiaka!
WTG! Elimimian!
Good Job Sol!
Is El still on scholarship?
If he is, that will free up a scholie when he graduates.
Is this correct?
Thanks Solly!! Still showing leadership even if you are not here. It is important for the younger guys to see that getting the degree is essential, not only for themselves, but for the future Warriors. Not graduating affects the APR and scholarship reductions in the future.
Top Ten! 🙂 🙂 🙂
Solly is a solid guy.
top 10!
Congratulations to DPK on making the top ten.
Top 10!
Good job Solly!! Nice to see all the Warriors working hard towards their degrees, which will endure long past the end of their football careers.
top 10!
cheepono out.
Lot of tools to work with at linebacker.
Way to go Solly! Here’s wishing you success in all your endeavors. I for one know you’ll be playing on Sundays.
Same to you, Pride. Together we can! 😆
GO SOLLY!
hiho
Rest up Blaze…even if you can’t go in August, we’ll be behind you all the way. FBall is great, but stay healthy. God Bless.
DPK and Pride make a GREAT Team!!! in what I don’t know, but they belong together
Go get ’em Solly!
LB’s are looking good!
Stretch – I was going to say Pride. and DPK would make a great Laurel and hardy team…scratch that, a Hardy and Hardy team.
Wednesday, 12:00, Thelma’s, still on!
I hope Blaze can play, poor guy, so much tough luck. Wish him the best.
Is Alema Tachibana going to play LB? He seems to be a little too skinny to play defensive end.
A team is allowed up to 85 scholarships for active players, so Elimimian will come off the books even if he doesn’t graduate or if he chooses to remain in school (and on scholarship) for a fifth year. He never redshirted.
Because scholarships are good for a full academic year, a graduation is only helpful if it occurs in December. That way somebody else can take over the scholarship in January. UH only had nine 2008 scholarship players graduate in December, which is why it could only bring in five JC transfers in January. (The other four scholarships went to grayshirts.)
Justin:
For now, Tachibana is working out with the D-ends. You’re right. He does seem a little light, and he’d probably should be a linebacker. But right now he’s on the d-line.
Don’t forget that Kekoa’s recruit, Akoni Laconia of Saddleback, joins the team this summer. He’s a linebacker.
ST,
I realize this blog is mainly for football, but you’ve posted other topics in basketball and even some personal matters, which are great and make this sport blog almost unique. May I make a request, especially since it’s off season, that we get more info on the baseball ‘bows? They’ve been doing well and I’m pretty excited about the team, especially with Kolten Wong. With the issues going on with the Wahine basketball team, the MVB team and MBB not doing as well as expected, we kinda need a bright spot to hang our hats on nowadays. Thanks in advance.
hoohiki:
No prob.
Stacy is our baseball beat writer. I’ll tell him to post some info this afternoon.
Solly is a great player with an even better attitude. He’s the kindof guy that makes his own luck. I hope kids like Falemalu & Alofipo will push for good PT; they just seem to have the goods! I hope they can figure out a way to get Heun in there; I’d love to see what he can do at DE.
ST,
Any local high school LB walk-on prospects possibly joining the Warriors this fall? Is Castle’s KJ Aipia…who had a pick in the Hawaii/Poly VS. Mainland All-Star game….a possibility?
Mahalo!
Good morning everyone!
Great news for Elimimian — on track to graduate and a shot at the next level. Memorable times for him!
…back to work for me….
Note to ‘hoohiki’:
I’m also excited about the team, but I was already expecting great things since there were a lot of returnees this year with only a few pukas to fill in. By right, if they had even a half-decent showing by Slaats last week, they would’ve won the Dairy Queen Classic, beat Minnesota twice & would’ve been 7-5 right now. It doesn’t diminish my expectations of a great season, though. Wong, Johnson & others give me great anticipation for the rest of the season & they should be able to get some pay-back for last season.
Howzit good morning play nice
Enjoy esmeeeeeeeee outaaaa he’s
Good luck to Blaze. Injuries like that are tough. If he comes back we could see a truly “reloaded” linebacker corps, with great depth.
his = hea
ST:
What’s the possibility of Solly coming back for 1 more year even if graduates in May? How would this affect the coaching strategy?
Will he come back to “walk the walk”?
RE: Kolten Wong
He opted to play for UH rather than go pro. If he does really well this year, his first year, can he opt to go pro then, like in basketball, or are the NCAA rules different for baseball. Anyone in the know…
Kapakahi:
I’ll check today.
Re: Kick Ball
My offer is still good. If the Tsaikos want to put together a team, I will sponsor it.
A-House – if Solly gets drafted, signs a free agent contract, or plays pro elsewhere, I don’t think he would come back.
ST: Thanks for post #21. Clears things up.
Stretch:
On the Rob and Russ show last week, they suggested their team nickname: Team Bolla.
By “fifth year,” I mean that all players, in good standing, are eligible for a fifth year of school, even if they have completed their playing eligibility. Some are allowed to work off their scholarship, serving as student managers. Others just go to school.
A-House,
Sol played 4 seasons for UH…he cannot come back to UH to play anymore seasons.
Sol and Adam could have gone pro after last season (their junior seasons), but they chose to come back. That was “walking the walk” as A-House puts it.
Great job by Sol to finish up his degree. That is very important for him, and it helps UH with the APR.
I hope they use an extra big ball for the game so they will at least have a chance to make contact with the ball.
I hope that Blaze and Paipai are fully healthy in the Fall. UH has a *lot* of good LBs, with Brashton and R.J. leading the way this Spring, but Blaze bring experience (and awesome hitting power!) and Paipai is one of the future building blocks for the LBs (and the future could be starting this season). It is too bad that both will be missing out on going through the full Spring Practice, especially when the LB corps will be trying to come together as a new unit.
The positive thing is that there will be a lot of LBs who will see the opportunity for major reps in the Spring and who see the starting spots opening up with Sol and Adam leaving…there should be a fierce competition and the people who come out on top will be worthy of a lot of playing time whether or not Blaze and Paipai are ready for the Fall.
Well, teleconference starting…I’ll be gone all day unfortunately.
Just a thought, but could there be more GEICO savings if they ran fewer ads?
And isn’t that stack of moolah with the eyeballs kind of creepy?
Fine. But who’s gonna pay for all the pulled hammys; slipped discs; and assorted sprains?
Good morning, all!
Good morning Tsaikos….
Awesome news about Solly….good to hear it seems like we have another good linebacking corps…hope all the boys continue to work hard conditioning especially……
Kickball is hard to master because the ball moves.
Wow! Big C and (J)J are here…nearly the same time!
Okay, who is the wise guy that used my e-mail addy to subscribe to an ED product???
homey: re #50…yes….its bound to happen. Hence the word “KICK” …..
And, just fess up, no be shame about the emails you’re now getting. Being edu-ma-cated is a good thing!
Howzit, (J)J!
who were the 4 grayshirts that got scholarships in january?
tachibana, laurel, stutzmann?
OK, we might have to watch Coloma’s kids again.
Apparently some blog host invited her and hubby to a blog event … but I gave her the wrong date.
Good thing she doesn’t have anger issues.
Good Luck to Solly Elimimian on the pursuit of his degree!
Big C – I think I would have to use the kickball tee.
ST – When you mentioned Geico I thought of those commercials that use the line “certain part of a man’s body”. I’m thinking, just say it already!
There’s a lot of speed and power in the LB crew.
homey, Loa,
when are you going to practice?
Would an early admit also be classifed a grayshirt?
no make it too high or else you will be heading the ball…..
ST ~ Working a ‘heavy’ bag is all about anger issues!
jojo – That’s a good one! We’ll work our schedule to coincide with yours, how’s that?
homey: why? when you’re so closing to the ground as it is…..
BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Knowing you guys you would replace the playground ball with a 10 lb. medicine ball.
Bunch of comediennes! That’s it, back to the pink site for me.
omg, stretch…he’s on to us….dammit! WHO told him??!!
homey, Loa,
Wed or Thurs are good
Wait, there’s a blog event?
Speaking of events. Wednesday, 3/11, 12 noon, Thelma’s in *rooster crowing* Waipahu.
Oh howzit big ‘C!’ I’m not angry! I’m good, except maybe a bit worried about Homey being built so close to the ground. I’m always afraid someone might step on him.
Waylon Lolotai counts as a grayshirt.
And the broken toes… it’s local rules – barefoot only!!
Howzit, kekoa!
jojo – That good days for me. Just pick the date(s). I’m sure practice will be done early so you can be home by noon. 😉
5.2 earthquake @9:45am this morning off Hamakua. Anyone feel it? I was thinking that Al had a CC this morning merged with SteveM3K’s singers and dancers 🙂
ah ic. thanks, now it all adds up.
yeah yeah, keep it coming…at least Big C’s little ones can relate to me at eye level.
Hiya Big C…so what’s going on on the pinkside today…You had ’em going on Friday with your topic….someone’s comment got deleted by da boss…it was hillarious….
JJ – what was the comment that was deleted?? I guess I missed it.
homey…so, you are saying that you’re the little older brother that Big C’s little ones never had.???? mwahahhahahahaha
BTW, are you and stretch instigating on the pink side….I may have to jump over there later….Friday was a barrel of laughs for a short while that I visited….LOL
BIGWAVE96744,
USGS reporting it was 4.0.
Pretty close to shore
Stretch…I don’t know…gotta ask horney….ummmm, I mean homey about that one….LMAO
(J)J – I only go to the pink side to wish Esme a nice weekend, that’s all. What do you go there for?
I “think” he has to wait until after his sophmore year.
huh?? Fo’ real?? Oh boy…I better go check ‘um go check ‘um go….
See what you guys did?? Must have been one of YOUR comments, huh??
Did you guys to say good morning on the pink side yet? Geez…I’m starting to feel like I stay talkin’ to myself over there….But then again…its nothing new…there, at home, here at work, in my car….
i couldn’t resist this one….
homey ℞:
March 9th, 2009 at 10:36 am
Okay, who is the wise guy that used my e-mail addy to subscribe to an ED product???
…..your wife.
duffer – I thought it was after their junior year (4 yr college) or older than 21.
…or is it after 3 years. Also, D1 baseball right?
al – she doesn’t know my yahoo addy, only my work one.
Big C – Someone told me it was a pink side person’s comment that got deleted. Funny thing it was from Big C’s topic. Is she Stretch’s counterpart on the pink side? You know, da Instagetah.
Blog dead spot.
Bought our plane tickets to come home in July. $335 RT on Delta. 🙂 !!!
In order to be drafted a player must fit the following criteria:
Be a resident of the United States, Canada, or a U.S. territory such as Puerto Rico. Players from other countries are not subject to the draft, and can be signed by any team.
Never before been signed a major or minor league contract.
High school players are eligible only after graduation, and if they have not attended college.
Players at four-year colleges are eligible after completing their junior years, or after their twenty-first birthdays. The exception to this is Division III schools, where players can be drafted before their junior year.
Junior and community college players are eligible to be drafted at any time.
stretch….i have been working on this all morning.
finally, i have come up with an appropriate name for your kickball team.
STRETCH’S DARKSIDEKICKS
homey….then who is she?
you guys shouldn’t refer to esme’s as the pink side. it just doesn’t sound right. a lot of youngsters read this blog.
ST,
Thanks for checking. In addition to KJ Aipia as a possible OLB walk-on prospect, JMHO that his fellow Black Knight teammate Kawehi Sablan…who also played in the Hawaii/Poly VS Mainland All-Star game…is also a SS walk-on prospect to keep an eye on. IMHO Sablan is very similar in size & athleticism to former Warrior Brad Kalilimoku….when he came from your alma mater unrecruited.
Mahalo!
al – I think when they mean junior year it is after completing 3 years of school. Also, being 21 so many days before the draft. Something like that.
no can, I can’t afford to sponsor that team, it would be toooooo expensive.
No kickball for me….too embarrassing… I struck out the last time. 🙁
al – I’m sworn to secrecy…BTW, Esme referred her place as the pink side.
that is a great price!! maybe you should already make flights for the football season too
SteveM – Huh, struck out? That is chawan lame category! 😆
I think striking out in kickball should be at LEAST 2 cases of beer.
Stretch,
If only the WAC schedule was out! My dad even wants to go to the SJS game. I think I’ve finally convinced him it’s better in person than on TV (as long as he can watch his recording of the game later 😉 )
stevem….please tell us it was a handball that you were playing with.
hoohiki
baseball bows look good. pitching is pretty tough and their ace, alexander, is just now getting back to form.
lo0oks like we will have two alexanders leading two different sports.
Pink is the predominant color on Esme’s side of the web. There’s a lot of blue here. So, are we the “blue” side? 😕
homey must be out to lunch. I’ll check back later for appropriate “blue” observations. Hi ho.
i agree with kapakahi. aipia and sablan are good walkon prospects. castle boys at the very least, will excel on ST.
Blaze is just a hard luck kid. He’s a big time stud of a linebacker. I think he should sit out practice and just play to stay healthy. He’s that good! Of course he should still stay in shape and do his conditioning excercises. This guy is too important to the team. I can just imagine what the team would have been if he had played last year. It would have been a totally different story. Here’s hoping he can go out w/ a “Blaze” of glory this coming season!!!!!
Have they figured out for sure if Blaze has just this season or if he can play next season too? I remember this has been discussed a lot, but I don’t remember a definitive decision.
Ronnie,
I’m definitely going to be at the UNLV and SJSU games, and more if I’m lucky. I really want to see the WAC schedule because if the SJSU game is late enough in the season then I can take a business trip to the Bay Area that will “coincidentally” be during that weekend. The work project doesn’t start until about 2/3 the way into the WAC schedule, so my odds aren’t that good…but I can always hope.
Last year the WAC schedule was already released by now, IIRC. Hopefully the 2009 conference schedule is currently in its final stages and will be released soon, but who knows?
Ronnie,
Great price on your tickets to Hawaii! There are a lot of deals popping up at different times, and I’m glad you got a good price. Too bad for me that we’re leaving at least a few weeks before you get there.
I’m a lock for the UNLV game but all the others are up in the air. 80% chance I’m not going to be in Arizona much longer so wherever I end up moving to will also influence which other game(s) I’ll be able to attend.
SteveM – You have to ask Big C or Esme what they call us.
We talked about how few students vote in UH elections, but it seems that a group of Alabama students was able to elect a football player to the student senate despite how he never actually entered the election! This guy is a freshman at Alabama and he actually got votes in Alabama’s election last year when he was still in high school!
I wonder if the key to getting at student fee at UH would be to get a bunch of athletes elected…with the low turnout the athletes would have a high enough profile to win a bunch of elections.
no tell me HF works in the WAC office now….
homey….that’s easy.
homey ℞:
March 9th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
SteveM – You have to ask Big C or Esme what they call us.
tsicko’s
blaze would have to petition for a medical hardship next year otherwise he is gone.
abe, sol, just two amazing brothers. character guys, great students, over achievers on and off the field, believers of the Book, just can’t say enough about them.
it would be nice if kid brother isaac/db makes it three.
stretch….methinks that espn is involved in the delays.
HF works for ESPN?
I don’t think the word “Works” applies to HF.
“work” and “HF” do not go together in a single sentence.
I love Blaze’s intensity as a competitor as much as the next guy, but I have to question his know how on when to decelerate and accelerate to prevent injuries. I understand that things happen, injuries happen, but …Blaze has so much potential and talent, but he’s so injury prone. The other thing is, why are there so many rumours about his off field antics at the clubs and bars?
ST,
Is Makani Duhaylonsod-Kaleimamahu going keep her whole last name or is she going to shorten it to just “Duhaylonsod”?
I hope she keeps her full last name because it took me all of Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday to learn it and it invokes a reaction from the crowd at the games!
I’m sure Papa Leahey would say otherwise…
As hookiki said, blaze has the potential…but injuries have been a problem….he needs to stay injury free at least one season so that we can see the potential be unleashed….
How about “HF is not at work today”?
Kazz – In high school it was just Makani Duhaylonsod.
Medical isn’t an issue as to whether Blaze plays in 2010. What’s at stake is whether his bridge year counts as an actual season.
ST – Where did Blaze go his first college year? I forget.
I had the interesting experience of sitting infront of John Estes, Brashton Satele, Austin Hansen, Brent Rausch and another player I didn’t recognize at this Sunday’s baseball game.
Needless to say Hansen is an effective heckler. I felt a little bad for MSU’s 1st base coach… But not really… 😆
Bridge year is the year he spent at HPU, between his last year at Castle and first year at UH. I still think it’s a loophole, and that because HPU doesn’t field a football team, his clock doesn’t start. But the people who make the final decisions aren’t in agreement with that. Yet.
does that also apply to some government employees??
Homey,
Good thing their new UA jerseys don’t have their names on it… They might have charged the Wahine extra!
Thanks ST.
Hansen is always talking.
But he’s a good guy, and he has a bunch of the A-Joe/Stretch-produced UA stickers.
shhhh, no say that. administrators read this blog. it is not right to “taunt” the other coaches or players. that is very unsportsmanlike.
Is it better or worse to be a tsicko or a pinko?
Dang. Showing my age with the Cold War rhetoric.
Stretch – I think g-nalo works.
Kazz – Did you know she is a very good singer too!
Anyone know what wafan is talking about?
ahhh, sorry, nope
homey…shhhh…no tell wafan he is old…like KK….they still think they’re young….LOL
g-nalo is HF?
Wait, wait…G-nalo is a state employee??? I thought he worked for the federal government in international relations…???
….especially far east relations….
Doesn’t this apply to most Tsaikos in general?
Bwahahaha!!!!!!!!!
homey, i don’t think anyone is in my catergory.
d1, yes i packed my jacket. good thing. i think it was in the 20s this morning when we arrived. it snowed too. warmer now, but still cold.
g-nalo is like Liam Neeson in “Taken”?
True ‘dat, but is he EVER at work?
…..other than to pick up his paycheck, of course..
chawan – Your category isn’t mutually exclusive because I fall into a portion of your category. I just don’t make that public though.
Wait. I was saying something?
(J)J . . .
This is called Second Childhood. Wait a few more years and you will get here.
Homey . . .
Refering to #119.
ST- Allot of big newspapers either going all digital or shutting down completely. Spooky stuff happenin’ in scary times.
Can you tell us where does HA stand in all this nationwide upheaval of our printed media?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090309/us_time/08599188378500
A-Joe – Pretty soon gotta bring the laptop in the bathroom to read something. Don’t you just hate when you are in a rush and you have no magazine or newspaper to read so you reach for the closest thing that has words on it like the shampoo bottle or the liquid Drano…
when you are in a rush, hopefully you remember to raise the seat cover, or else get big mess…..
As I have learned in the past, I am no longer bringing electrical devices near a toilet.
BTW, what is Elimimian majoring in?
Stretch – …or make sure the seat is down.
Hmm, look what Tombo Ahi found:
http://uhfootball.blogspot.com/2009/03/2009-coaching-clinic-spring-schedule.html
Not only is there a coaching clinic coming up (which I’d love to attend, but cannot), it looks like Brian Smith indeed will be shifted to RB coach.
Be back later to make a RFL-related post.
For ST.
Bridge year is the year he spent at HPU, between his last year at Castle and first year at UH. I still think it’s a loophole, and that because HPU doesn’t field a football team, his clock doesn’t start. But the people who make the final decisions aren’t in agreement with that. Yet.
Was BS a full-time student? NCAA – full-time academic clock (12 units / or full-time status) his clock has started (4 to play 5) unless he goes on a church mission or into military service, which would “suspend” his clock while on mission or military service, clock would “re-start “upon return from CM or MS.
ST – So if a foreign player attended 2 years at a University in his country as a full-time student (no football at that school) and then transferred to UH, he would be considered a freshman if he plays football?
addahknowjoe,
Interesting blog from the Maui News about your question to ST.
http://mauinews.com/page/blogs.detail/display/1150.html
Many thanks to everyone who helped make Relay for Life 2009 at UH-Mānoa a success!
601 participants raised nearly $34,000 this year; considering the economy, I’d say that’s a pretty good amount for the American Cancer Society!
All of you, my friends, helped make my campaign this year as successful as last. Last year, you all contributed $2,066. This year, you all contributed $2,030 (and I think a few more donations are yet to be counted)! Preliminary reports indicate that I brought in the most for a second straight year, but in reality, it is YOU who did the contributing. So many thanks to everyone who donated!
Photos from the event are online, I hope you enjoy them:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jase0517/RelayForLife2009
any word if coach Mack has been in touch with Solly’s family about their youngest brother believe he’s a corner like Abe and Jacob.
Jason . . .
Thank you for sharing your photos of the Relay for Life. It really helps me feel connected to the event. I am sure all of the Tsai-ko’s who could not be there feel the same way.
It would be nice if the various sports teams organized teams, too. Maybe next year.
And, nice job! Will you plan on participating next year?
The various sports teams DO have organized teams!
http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?fr_id=16904&pg=teamlist
Let’s see, there’s UH baseball, two cheerleading teams, golf, sailing, two soccer teams, two swimming and diving teams, two track and field teams, women’s volleyball, two water polo teams, football, and women’s tennis.
Five of the top 20 ($300+) participants were UH athletes, and nine others raised at least $100.
Oh, and I probably will participate next year. Not sure where, though. I might crash the UH party every year! People from RAPS will ask, “Who is this guy? He’s old.”
Oh, I just realized that I didn’t get a picture of Cindy! She stayed until 12:15 am, hanging out and passing out candy while we played our game! I can’t forget to mention that!
Also, it rained as we set up for Relay, and it rained as Relay ended. But the middle few hours were awesome. Too bad my bag got soaked. Just like two years ago, I have to replace some stuff. My Bible, Sunday school lesson book, and another book got water damaged. And this time, I didn’t have a $50 Ala Moana gift card to help re-coup the costs. (Yeah, how come they didn’t have a poker tournament this year? I would have run that as our game if I had known the usual group wasn’t putting it on!)
I think it’s dry only during the even years, or something. 😀
Awesome that the sports teams have organized RFL teams. How about Mack throw in the RFL as part of the Super Games? Maybe more people would come out in support for various reasons. It might become the place to be and be seen!
Of course, what do I know since I am 2,500 miles away! Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha!
Jason,
Great job and thanx for the pics! 🙂
…..
……
…….
I hope you accounted for all the pins before you left! 😈
Not only that, we made sure not to leave any balloon fragments! Otherwise, Jim and Tracy might, you know, kill me.
Speaking of which, many thanks to the UH athletic department, which let us use the new Ching Field for free — if they had charged rent, that would have been a huge expense for the ACS. In return, I hope we took care of the field to your liking! 😀
Jason,
Thank you for the photos from the Relay for Life! It was great to be able to get a feel for the event.
Thank you for the photo of my parents. I think they just went there to support you, and am glad they were able to go after the game.
If anybody wants a real feel of what it was like, stay up all night and walk around the block every once in a while. I’m still sore …
Oh, two football-related things I learned at Relay:
(1) I can only throw a football 20 yards. Which looked absolutely pitiful considering there was some guy rocketing throws 50 yards down the field. If he’s not already on the team, he’s got a live-enough arm where he should try out.
(2) I’m better at making the acrobatic one-handed catch than catching a football thrown straight towards me. Running to my left, I had to stretch out and tip the ball back in order to make the catch. (That might have been the most athletic thing I’ve ever done in my life.) Meanwhile, throw the balls straight at me, and my depth perception goes haywire. 😀
Hello? Did I scare everyone away, or is there something funky going on with the blog? I did see a post disappear and then reappear earlier, after all …
Garret
I was wondering if you could use your outstanding research skills to try and gather some information on players that left UH for various reasons over that past five years. Most I believe left because they were home sick and others because they weren’t getting the playing time the expected. It would be interesting to know what kind of success they had after leaving UH.
What would Coolen do?
Much has been said about the plight of UH athletics in terms of financial issues and success on the field/court.
Having attended 90% of the softball tournament this past weekend in conjunction with the baseball series, I was thinking about how much Bob Coolen has done with the little resources he has been given, not to mention the minimal resources Division I softball across the country has.
Coach Coolen spreads himself pretty thin in terms of miscellaneous duties he performs on and off the field like. While it may be out of necessity considering the budget women’s softball has, he is able to perform maintenance work and his coaching duties on a daily basis, sometimes all day during tournaments they host, and they seem to host a lot every year.
I mean lets look at the grass-roots support Wahine Softball receives. Richie-Ann Titcomb’s father and others took time and funds on their own to build the air conditioned “clubhouse” next to 1st base at the stadium to provide the Wahine a place to eat and be comfortable in before and after games. They are also seen before and after every game providing “home cooked” meals for the players as there probably is no budget for pregame and post game meals like other sports.
Personally speaking, it is this closeness that endears the softball program to me as it reminds me of those days as kids where we would gather for a potluck after each game on Saturdays ala “local-style”.
It should be noted that the softball program is able to keep a lot of the local girls home to play and they have been able to maintain a good amount of success over the years. The softball program is pretty much doing their thing on their own.
Some people outside of the program can recognize this which is evidenced by the grassroots campaign about a year ago to raise funds to get the Wahine of the 2007 team their WAC Championship Bracelets as there were not enough funds allocated to give individual gifts to the players for a memorable season. They pretty much accomplished their sport’s equivalent of what the 2007 football team did for the school and the Wahine did it first.
Now, with declining booster donations and smaller crowds at home games, the question is, it possible for the other programs that have more boosters and more “funding” to take a small page out of Coach Coolen’s “book” and to take a look at the kind of effort those in and around the Wahine Softball program are doing to provide as much material and emotional support for their own programs to succeed?
While I mentioned it is out of necessity that all these helping hands are needed, the situation UH athletics is in parallels this. UH athletics is facing a budget, a hiring freeze, and may look at layoffs in the future if things don’t improve. Regardless of how many boosters football, Wahine volleyball, and basketball have, maybe these programs and those in charge need to look at how they too can “spread themselves thin” to ensure maximum success on and off the field. While that may sound desperate, we cannot kid ourselves that the department and our programs are at a “comfortable” era.
Maybe it’s just me, but I think what the Wahine Softball program has been able to do on their limited resources is a smaller scale example of what our other bigger programs can do with UH’s limited resources as compared to other programs we seek to compete with.
KD:
In 2004, several players, including two quarterbacks and running back Andrew Pearman, left the team.
The next year, JJ made sure that most of the Mainland recruits did not redshirt. JJ even put John Estes, who was redshirting that year, on the travel roster to San Jose, although he ended up not making the trip. The strategy worked and none of the recruits quit after that season. On a side note, some from that 2005 class — Mario Cox, B.J. Fruean — ended up leaving for a variety of reasons a few years later.
I think men’s volleyball also does a good job.
They leave a day later now, meaning they don’t get to practice on an opponent’s court.
They did away with pregame meals.
The boosters take turns hosting pot-luck postgame meals.
And they manage to have a roster of 18 sharing the equivalent of 4.5 scholarships. Think about it: the best players they’ve ever had maybe got 80 percent of a scholarship, meaning they had to buy their own food. For a year.
An outside hitter last year, Nemo, “retired” from volleyball to become the manager, because he received more student aid as a manager.
Also, look at the men’s golf coach. He moonlights as a member of the grounds crew for baseball/softball games
On football nights, the entire athletic department staff volunteers to help with field management.
KAZZ: RE WAHINE SOFTBALL.
Are you suggesting something like the drive for those bracelets last year except that it would be for the booster group?
Tom,
I’m not suggesting anything specifically.
I guess what I was trying to express was more “initiative” from those in and around the programs that have so much more than the ones not getting much financial support like softball or like golf and men’s volleyball as ST pointed out.
There are A LOT of boosters on this blog and everywhere in Hawaii and the mainland and what they can afford to donate is already more than appreciated and respected and it is not my intention to “question” or “challenge” those that already give what they can.
Maybe where I was going with my post is more for those that are higher up in the chain of “command” and perhaps if they can “spread themselves out” in other avenues those programs can possibly do more with “less”. Of course doing so without further compromising themselves of the financial health of their respective programs.
My post is nothing more than a thought and I again want to stress that I am not citing circumstances or situations in which I feel that some folks are slacking or whatnot.
Actually thanks to ST for pointing out the kinds of things Coach Coolen does for his girls with the minimal funding he has at his disposal, makes one appreciate the kind of Coach he is for the University and I think he is a great example (one of many) of what a program can do with everyone pulling the weight in the same direction.
BTW, it would be interesting to see some kind of accounting of what each coach does in terms of fundraising. I remember ST mentioning on the blog before that the UH sailing coach is tops in that category. It would be interesting to see who he works with, how he does it, etc…
As Jim Leahey says at the end of every UH broadcast, “Now is the time for us to roll up our sleeves and help each other.”
Darn weather person at KITV – it’s pouring in Maunawili – buckets of rain, windy, and cold – “shirt” what happened to the “nice” or MILD rainfall and weather???
We must have gotten at least an inch in the past 10 minutes!!
A-House:
Last night, Oceanic sent out a notice about flash floods on Kaua‘i. This must be the result.
The weather folks haven’t been right the past week.
Kazz:
I noticed he didn’t do his malama pono.
ST:
Guy Hagi said rain coming from NE or tradewind posture.
Wonder why Kauai was placed on notice when Big Island and Windward Oahu taking a smash?
Hope the water travelling down the hill does not go into your yard.
Yep, never “trust” what a weather person says cuz they are 99.9% incorrect.
ST:
At least my “normally dry water fall” is working like a charm or more like the Wailuku River on the Big Island when it rains really heavy!!
Yeah I think he started nixing it when men’s volleyball, and the basketball programs went on a combined 19 game losing streak then that one weekend where all the programs won I thought he’d stop doing it, but alas… he kept saying it.
Kinda gives you that “gloom and doom” feeling, even after a UH victory.
Since I was at the baseball game I wonder if he said it following our 11-5 win?
Kinda odd thing to say after blowing out the 26th best team in the country.
ST:
Please define “field management”. Is this at Aloha Stadium after a game? Is it noted who does and does not volunteer? nah, just joking!
To me there are two Guy Hagis on the TV.
The cocky one at the desk who made fun of Steve Uyehara’s “weight” recently and the one that made fun of Lyle Galdeira’s weight back on KHNL.
Then there is the typical weatherman that we see when he is in front of the greenscreen.
If Tautofi accepted a Wyomng scholarship after UH offered, I hope the coaches withdraw it and offer it to a player who really wants to be a Warrior. Best of everything to him!
Kazz:
That’s the one!!!
I’ve been to Wyoming.
Many times.
If it came down to UH or Wyoming, I’m sure he’ll pick UH.
Now, if I were a talented high school football player, and San Diego State came calling, it would be like:
“You had me at hola.”
I think San Diego would be a great place to live.
But I could never leave the A-Houses .
Nothing against San Diego, but my relatives on my mom’s side live there and everytime I visit I like to tease them and call it the “poor man’s Hawaii”. 😆
Don’t bad-mouth San Diego, you don’t want to get on Garret’s bad side. 😉
No hot potato salad in San Diego?
Kapolei Doc,
I would love to look up the Warriors who left, and maybe MySpace or Facebook would help with that (though I’m not on either, I could learn fast). If I get the time I’ll make that a project…though I’m mostly concerned with the current Warriors and the Warriors that are going to be trying to make it in the NFL in the upcoming months.
If I get some downtime, I’ll do it. I don’t know when that downtime will come…but hopefully it won’t be too long.
Of course, I get the feeling that ST knows much of the story already. I love it when he does the “where are they now” stuff about UH players from the past. Others here also know many of the past players, especially those that live in Hawaii.
Well, CD flashed on the TV that there is a flood warning for Honolulu esp Kailua, Kaneohe, It is suppose to be from 8:00PM-11:00Pm.
ST:
Now, that is truly a SUPREME COMPLIMENT and we thank you very much!!!
Weather report is that we got 2-3″ in less than an hour – dang, that’s a lot of water!!!
Kazz,
My wife’s parents still live in Kaneohe and she loves San Diego more than anything. She likes the weather better, she likes all the family-friendly activities (way more parks here and much better playground equipment, Legoland, SeaWorld, Disneyland, etc.). Most importantly, the public schools here are awesome. She has her dream house here and I joke that the only way I could move is if I divorce her…but there is a lot of truth behind that joke.
Until our kids graduate from high school, I don’t see how we could leave here. They love San Diego and they love their schools. The public high school here that my kids can walk to has more AP classes and better test scores than Iolani and Punahou!
I’ve lived in Kaneohe, Austin, Palo Alto, Albuquerque, LA, Pasadena, Cupertino and Santa Clara…all have great people and great things to do, but I think I prefer San Diego best. The work that I do is really just focused in 5 areas of the country, and I like San Diego much more than the Bay Area, Dallas, DC and New Jersey.
The public school tailors a reading program for every kid, giving them books (they keep getting new ones, based on their reading level) to read with their teacher and volunteers. Since Faith is advanced, she meets one-on-one with her teacher regularly, where she not only reads to the teacher, she answers reading comprehension questions. She is writing *book reports* in Kindergarten and somehow the teacher is making it fun for her so she is happy to do them!
Faith is advanced in math…so they bring in a math teach to meet with her one-on-one when the rest of her class (there are 8 other Kindergarten students in her class) has math. They do word problems and when she brought them home it was interesting to see that they were pre-Algebra-like stuff. One of the questions was just like a word problem that I used to tutor students on when I was at King Intermediate…
Faith also enjoys her other teachers: PE (she looks forward to PE every Wednesday!), science, art, music, and technology (computers). Sadly, the budget cuts will result in losing either the art or music teacher and having to share a PE teacher with 6 other schools instead of having 1 per school. But the school is fundraising to try to keep those teachers (benefit concert, carnival, jog-a-thon, etc.).
The teachers create a customized education program for every student in the classroom! One reason why they can do that is that there is a volunteer parent in the classroom at all times to help out the teacher…the parents (like Lori, who volunteers all Friday) serve as a free work force to enable the teachers to teach at the best of their ability.
We looked for a home in this specific part of San Diego because of the school district…and after seeing the amazing education the schools can offer I couldn’t move my kids away from here!
Okay, enough about that stuff. The latest news from Miami seems to indicate that Miami’s coaches want to hold on to Samson to be a depth player for them even if they want other players to start. The last line here is pretty depressing.
I’m glad that Colt McCoy is doing this again, but hope he doesn’t lose 10 pounds in the week he is volunteering like he did last year. This comes right in the middle of Spring Practice, since Texas had their first week of Spring Practice last week.
I visited San Diego this past December and had the best salmon salad I ever tasted in La Jolla at a restaurant call George’s on the Cove. Downtown San Diego seemed to have a lack of people walking around and not much traffic during rush hour which make driving easy. The oyster bars listed many different kinds of oysters which were very fresh which pretty much made my trip.
This star player promised to reimburse her school for her scholarship if they do not win the national title!
Free play links time. Please ignore my next 5 posts if you do not want to read the off-topic stuff.
UK researchers have discovered an ice chain structure built from pentagons that might be the key to develop new materials that can seed clouds and cause rain.
The $1 billion for air travel security in Obama’s stimulus package is projected to create more than 3,000 jobs and improve the security at these 17 airports (which includes Honolulu and Maui).
The Pentagon has complained that 5 Chinese ships harassed an American ship, including a complaint that the Chinese crew members stripped down to their underwear.
A lot of people in the UK are apparently going to McDonald’s for the free WiFi, some even ordering food that they won’t eat just so they aren’t embarrassed at being there for a long time.
Underwear-clad man wrestled a 5′9″ kangaroo out of his home after the kangaroo smashed through his bedroom window and started to jump around his home.
Free play links pau.
A-House ~
From the: “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” Dept.
I believe it’s time to review your ops plan code named, *The ARK!*
This calls for hot emergency soup provisions to be prepared by Mrs. A-House for distribution to your more deserving neighbors. Only the strong survive!
Feature interview with Russ Francis!
What is Russ Francis doing now? He’s a pilot for fun:
He is also a businessman.
I thought Francis would go into the family business, but he couldn’t talk.
Garret
Thanks for your reply.
Having been a season ticket holder for the last 20 plus years and a mainland transplant I often wonder what happens to those who come all this way and make the effort to only leave after a season or two.
Some of the players like Pearman were supposedly highly touted but never heard anything about them after they left. At one time UH had a samoan player from Florida that played high school ball with Emmitt Smith. I’m not sure but I believe he left before he ever played a down.
I remember Jason Elam went back home to Georgia after his first year and almost didn’t come back. After spending the summer practicing kicking at the Univ. of Georgia no one at GA seemed to be interested and his father and Bob Wagner encouraged him to return to UH. Good for us.
Once my wife and I were sitting behind Travis Sims High School Coach at a UH home game. He came all the way over to watch him play. He told us that while he knew Travis could play Div. I football, he had to keep after to not give up. It seems that Travis himself was not very motivated and didn’t really care that much for football that much. He later said once he broke into the starting lineup at UH his attitude changed and he invited him (the coach) to come to a game as a way of thanking him for keeping him involved with football.
Just curious what happens to the ones that didn’t come back.
Thanks for your time.
Hey Stretch, BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
gooda evening everybody
what rain everyone talking buckets about? wessai kinda get a few sprinkles hea and dea only. any way the windysai only going look more greener now.
hola senor homey 🙂 wazzzzzzzzzz up tonight?
shout out to myki, sj and jason for the walk for life campaing .. good job.
good times with kazz, rob25, midori, ajoe, brie, Jma, ralph and hiflyer at UH this past saturday.
congrats to UH ball team winning the series. especially their sat game comeback with 10 runs in bottom of 5th after giving up the grand salami to Mstate opening the 5th inning. kazz no forget it’s not how you start up but how you end up that counts.
oddath sports notes;
plenty undecided opinions about the sat high school double headers being played out this year. about 50-50 as to how it is working out in terms of saving the state money and not eliminating any sports activities. lot of time, stress and pressure put on high school athletics. I know time are hard but do drastic measures have to be put on the students and schools to meet compliance? Should not safety be one of the determining factors?
anyway das MHO …..
An den manong koakane.
Time to soak the dentures… good night.
in 2010 cal bears has an open date for one more game….isn’t JD looking for a 2010 game
hello & g’nite, or good morning from cold reno.
hope our teams are hot tonight!
USC has open dates for 2011 and 2012
CC are you in reno for the WAC tournament?
Ralph ~ The bright orange on the doppler radar screen is C_C standing on the corner of Virginia and 2nd st. in downtown Reno!
Let’s see when the rest of the Tsaiko graveyard crew checks in…..
C_C: What are you gonna do in Reno if the basketball team(s) lose tomorrow?
Ralph: I think we need two (2) more games to fill out the 2010 schedule. Well, one more if we can get JJ and SMU to come into town like he’s been wanting to.
Off to sleep. Goodnight.
Whoooooooosh!!!!!!!!!!
Good morning Tsaikos everywhere.
kinda quiet over here. not so cold tonight. must be low cloud layer, and all da snow stay above cloud cover.
Kekoa,
when I come over next month, i was only planning for spend da day cuz get plenny different jobs here, and kinda far Wessai. but definitely gonna try hook up wit yu guyz in Maui and if you in town for a practice, i giving advance notice.
right now stay runnin around like wit da head chopped off.
but neva mean fo slight da bradda. 😀
Garrett,
thanks for the posts.
Ralph,
you proposing an away game in Cincy? I’m sure they no scared play us. and we no scared play dem. 👿
and i’m also sure that how well we do this year will influence who else we gonna play in ’11 and ’12
ST
what do you think, Brian Smith as running backs coach..
stephen, re: blaze, as i understand it, your clock starts when you immediately enroll full time regardless of your school fielding a football team or not.
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2004/Nov/04/sp/sp04p.html
Great Morning All!
Hope erryboddy made it thru the night OK….
looking forward to the Tsai-Wai Show today!
HiHo!
New Post up!
Replacing Solomon and Adam Leonard will be no easy task.
Dont forget, a solid LB corp is judged by its depth, especially over a 13 game regular season schedule.
So, we are looking at a 2.5 rotation ratio or 8 LBs for a 4-3 prototype say 9 and allow for injuries.
We will be young, but the incoming players–Lopati, GD-L, TJ + Laurel r 🙂
Wouldnt rule out another safety or two moving up to LB….
dunno who will redshirt–my guess is CAL will play them if they can adjust to D1A speed and contact.
“LOSE WEIGHT NOW, ASK ME HOW!! best of luck.”
~the jared subway movement
The coaches believe there are enough quality linebackers. Brashton Satele and R.J. Kiesel-Kauhane will enter spring ball as No 1 linebackers. UH also has high hopes for Corey Paredes, Mana Lolotai, Viliami Nauahi, Art Laurel and Jake Heun. Heun is expected to be medically cleared to participate in contact drills in spring training.