Coach Miyashiro Carries On Pearl City’s Tennis Tradition
By Jack Danilewicz
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Del.icio.usDuring the school day, Kyle Miyashiro lectures his students on world history.
In the late afternoon, he makes sure his kids are well-schooled in Pearl City’s tennis history.
“It’s constant,” Miyashiro said of talking up Pearl City’s tennis legacy. “The kids know the tradition here, and they want to continue that winning tradition. They’re very hard workers. They’re very determined to get better, and you couldn’t ask for more.”
Miyashiro was talking about his current Charger team, whose members will take part in the OIA’s individual championships this week, but he could have been talking about any other Pearl City team from the past. Indeed, the Chargers have seldom known a less-than-successful season. As a player Miyashiro competed on a pair of Oahu Interscholastic Association championship teams at Pearl City (1988, ‘90 under Glen Miyasato) and has won eight OIA titles overall as the Chargers’ coach - six boys championships and two with the girls.
Making the Chargers’ success all the more noteworthy is that few arrive on campus with lengthy tennis backgrounds.
“We have to train and teach our tennis players,” Miyashiro said. “This group has already accomplished so much - more than I expected.”
Results of the OIA’s Individual Championships, which will take place Saturday and Monday, will determine which Chargers will advance to the Carlsmith Ball Tennis State Championships next month.
Among those who figure to qualify for the state tournament are Tezra Damaso and the doubles teams of Charis Peich and Jessica Yim, as well as Jaymi Urashima and Ashley Miyano. All five took part in last year’s state tournament and helped lead Pearl City to a second place regular-season finish behind Mililani in the OIA’s Western Division recently.
All are seniors, except Damaso, who is closing out her junior year. The Chargers’ No. 1 singles player, she finished second in the West despite a season weathering a sore back.
“Her determination to win is her strength,” Miyashiro said. “She’s been serving underhand all season long, which puts her at a big disadvantage, but she’s been pulling out matches. She works very hard. She’s been going to rehab every day.”
According to Miyashiro, the entire Charger team “has been hampered by injuries.”
Yim was out for eight months with a torn ACL and received medical clearance only a week before the official starting date of the tennis season. She and Peich combine to form the Chargers’ No. 1 doubles team.
“This being her senior year, she really wanted to play, and she worked hard to get back (to form) for the season,” Miyashiro said of Yim.“Charis’s strength is her ability to put away volleys at the net.”
Cohesiveness has helped Urashima and Miyano thrive as the Chargers’ No. 2 doubles team, in Miyashiro’s view.
“They’re very similar,” he said of the pair.“They’re small in stature, but they fight hard out there.
They’re both very competitive, very feisty.”
All four of Pearl City’s seniors were first-year players in the program as freshmen.
“To have only started playing tennis in their freshman year, they’ve had to play a lot of catch-up to get to this level,” Miyashiro said,“but they worked hard year round. After we lost during the regular season to Mililani 5-0, I was going to give them the following day off to rest, but they wanted to practice, and they all showed up the next day.
“They practice every day Monday through Friday, with matches on Saturday. Their only day off is Sunday.”
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