Better Field Turf, Track Bring New Hope To Mules’ Sports
By Jack Danilewicz
E-mail this story | Print this page | Comments (0) | Archive | RSS | Share
Del.icio.usLeilehua’s storied football annals only tell half of the story - the wins and losses and championships. Within the Mule Nation, however, there’s always been an underlying sense that its on-field successes should be given more weight considering the program’s poor football facilities.
That will all change soon, as it was announced recently that a $1.7 million field turf surface will be installed in time for graduation in May. The football team, and other school teams, will go from having the worst field in Division I athletics to arguably the best. Roosevelt is currently the only other public school in Hawaii to have a state-ofthe-art playing surface.
“For years, if not decades, we haven’t had good use of our field,” said vice principal Bob Davis.“We’ve always tried to preserve the field for games and tournaments. Fortunately, the middle school and elementary school are open to letting us have practice there. Our sports teams had grown accustomed to that.
“It will be nice to be able to stay at one site, and hopefully it will prevent injuries, which was a good reason why we pushed to get something done with this,” he added.
Just as Leilehua’s athletic teams enjoy rousing support from the community at their events, the community also wholeheartedly supported the vision for a major renovation, according to Davis, who called state Rep. Marcus Oshiro, Sen. Robert Bunda and consultant Jason Kage of Sato and Associates key players in the project.
“They were all very supportive of it from the start and even attended DOE meetings to see how things go,” he said. “We’re a tight community, and while it’s nice to get to a championship game, the community support is there for us for other things, too.”
Generous individual donations from the community will allow for some attractive extras as well, such as getting the logo painted on the field and new equipment to maintain the field.
The school also will replace the old dirt track with an asphalt surface, although the long-range plan is to install a rubber track should further funding become available.
Poor drainage was a principal reason the field was an unsound venue and safety hazard.
The situation was neatly summarized before a statewide audience when Leilehua appeared on OC-16 on a rain-soaked evening four years ago.
“The field was so trashed, and the jerseys so dirty, that you couldn’t tell who was on which team,” Davis recalled.
Head football coach Nolan Tokuda recalled a Punahou game when the Buffanblu elected to sit Division I college prospects Manti Te’o (now at Notre Dame) and Dalton Hilliard (currently playing for UCLA) as a precautionary measure against potential injury because of the poor field conditions.
“Actually, they played the game in their practice jerseys because they didn’t want to get them (game uniforms) dirty,” he said. “If they don’t like it for three hours, imagine that we do it for six or seven days a week.”
Tokuda also sees the installation of the new field as a continuing testament to the former Leilehua coach Hugh Yoshida, for whom the stadium is named. Yoshida remains close to the program, and among his regular donations is a scholarship donor to help send football players to college. Edieson Dumlao (‘09), a freshman at Western Oregon University, is a current beneficiary of a $1,000 scholarship.
“It’s another great way to recognize Coach Yoshida for all he has done for our program and for our community,” Tokuda said. “I’m very grateful to him, and our kids will be better trained, practicing on a field that is acceptable.”
E-mail this story | Print this page | Comments (0) | Archive | RSS
Most Recent Comment(s):
