Pastime Turns To Life Passion For Coach Cannon Paff
By Jack Danilewicz
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Del.icio.usFor some,soccer is an activity.For Cannon Paff, it’s a lifestyle.
“I still play soccer, and I’m in my 40s,” said Paff, who is founder and head coach of the West Oahu-based Ohana United Youth Soccer Club. “I’ve been coaching soccer for 10 years now, and I really, really enjoy it. The reward is seeing kids excel at something they love.”
Last month, Paff had another rewarding experience when he conducted a pair of youth soccer clinics while visiting the Dominican Republic.As part of the clinics, Paff gave boxes of soccer equipment and attire to the children through donations from Marian Barnthouse and Jason Kelley from Xtreme Soccer in Aiea and Geoffrey Peters of Rogue Soccer in Pearl City.
“I was just the facilitator,“said Paff, who has lived in Hawaii since 1992,“but it was amazing. The faculty there were literally in tears, and seeing the joy in the kids was a huge blessing. We also brought some school supplies.It was like Christmas 10 times over when we came into a school. The vast majority of the kids were Haitian refugees.
“Our interpreter came back to tell me that he’d never seen such generosity for a long time. Hopefully, we’ll be able to do something like this again.”
Added Peters, “We figured the kids over there wouldn’t mind some extra gear, and we wanted to do something unexpected. We had some balls and other items we thought would be appreciated.”
The clinics were held at Bayahibe and Las Cejas, both plantation schools where the parents work in the nearby sugar cane fields. In the DR, a good plantation worker might cut three tons of sugar cane by hand during a 12-hour shift,earning him $9.In the classrooms,meanwhile, students are three to a desk - with younger students sitting on the knees of older students.
“It was educational for my own kids, too,” said Paff, who was accompanied by his two children and and wife. “It’s a life-changing experience when kids can see how others (less fortunate) live.”
While a backdrop of poverty prevails in the Haitian-populated portion of the country, interest in soccer is multiplying as in other places, according to Paff.
“In the past, you would predominantly think of baseball when you thought of the Dominican Republic,but soccer is growing there just like in the U.S.”
Closer to home, Paff created Ohana United last year, and he will field four teams in various age groups during the American Youth Soccer Association season. OU players hail from Kapolei, Waipio, Ewa Beach and Makaha, among other communities on the West side, and they also play indoor soccer.
“Our focus is on development and on having fun,“Paff said.“That’s our mantra. Whether it’s doing drills, a scrimmage or in games, our focus is always on getting better.”
OU coaches are all volunteers,and there is no fee to join the club once a player is placed to a team. League fees, which are divided up amongst team members, and money to cover uniforms and standard equipment are the only expenses.
For his part, Paff said he came to soccer late.As a youth living in Ohio, Texas and California, among other places,he was active in baseball, basketball,football,tennis and track and field. It wasn’t until he was a student at Dallas Baptist College in the 1980s that he began to play soccer regularly.
“There weren’t a lot of soccer opportunities when I was growing up, but anything with a ball, I played,“said Paff, who is known for his positive coaching style.“When I began to play soccer,I knew I wanted to get my kids involved in the sport for the social aspects as well as to learn sportsmanship.
“Athletics was an outlet for me,” he added. “I lost my father when I was 13,and I had a lot of people step up in my life and take me under their wings. Now, it’s my turn to pass that down.”
OU still has roster spots available on its respective teams for the upcoming season. For more information, call 551-0133.
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