Who Says You Slow Down After 50? Not These Ladies!
By Jack Danilewicz
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The month of July has been good to Eric Mau and his Holomua team in recent years. The Windward-based over-50 women’s soccer team recently returned from Bellingham, where they won a third straight national championship in their age group in July - all the more impressive since they arrived in Washington for the Veterans Tournament to find they were the highlight on every team’s schedule.
“Everyone was gunning for us, and that made this the most fulfilling,” said Mau, whose team won six games in five days to win the tourney.“To win three in a row is a big thing. They’re just great players and great people, and I’m happy to call them my friends.”
Holomua’s three-peat may have been spurred on by the team’s heart-rending loss to the same Washington-based team, Seattle Bests, in the finals in July of 2004 - the first year the bulk of the team competed together.
“It was bittersweet because the tournament was held in Honolulu that year,” Mau recalled.
Holomua flew to Wilmington, N.C., to claim the 2005 and 2006 championships. Next year’s tour-ney will return to Bellingham,where a fourth straight title certainly seems in reach.
Although the team was challenged in the title round, playing two overtime games, it out-scored teams 25-1 through six games.
“Your goalkeeper is only as good as the defense in front of you, and we had an awesome defense,” said goalkeeper Donna Fouts. “And to win on their home turf was great, especially after some trash talking.”
Unlike in past years, Holomua played in a (W.I.S.A.) league locally for an undefeated season before taking their show to the Mainland.
“We left our home teams so to speak and began training in March, so we were together about five months,“explained Fouts, of Kailua. “Everyone did their share, staying in shape, weight training, and remembering not to eat too many extra desserts.We have a lot of high-energy people on the team. Everyone is always up.”
Team cohesiveness is a major factor in its success, she said. For all its talent, Holomua is also a social outlet for most. Their unselfishness was also evident as 10 different players scored Holomua’s 15 goals.
“There was always a sense that it was all about the team,“Fouts said. “There is a lot of camaraderie - a lot of us have known each other for a long time.We’ve been through weddings, births, divorces together ... ” She likened the Washington trip to “a big girls’ slumber party.”
Depth was critical, too. With 20 players, they could weather injury issues early. “I thought Eric did a masterful job of substituting. A lot had to do with his keen ability to see our strengths.We’re also a bunch of competitive broads who don’t like to lose.”
Holomua includes Fouts, Casey Adams, Stella Allen, Debbie Boltz, Kathy Carey, Jennifer Dang, Linda Davis,Kathy Farley,Shelly Fey,Pilahi Gregg, Lee Kalama, Sandy Kalama, Patti Kim,Kiki Lau,Kathy Mahoney, Renee Martin, Corrine Merwhirter, Jan Pappas, Lois Tiedeman and Maris Vanderlee.
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