Kapolei: No Pool, No Problem
By Jack Danilewicz
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Del.icio.usWhen it comes to prep sports, the best-kept secret on the West side may be the Kapolei water polo program led by head coach Dexter Lee.
With a resume that includes seven straight state tournament appearances as well as a runner-up finish (to Kahuku) at the OIA post-season tournament in 2007, the Hurricanes’ opponents know they have to bring their “A” game when playing Kapolei.
Making its advances in water polo all the more impressive, Kapolei still has no on-campus pool and must travel daily to the Hope Chapel pool for practice. (In previous years, they practiced at Wet ‘n’ Wild Hawaii water park.)
The team took a 3-1 record into last weekend and returns to action at 4 p.m.Wednesday against Kahuku on the Brigham Young-Hawaii campus. The post-season tournament begins next week.
Coach Lee recently took some time away from his schedule to answer some questions from MidWeek‘s West Oahu Islander.
When did you know that you wanted to be a coach? In 1987, I assisted Leslie Oshiro with the Leilehua High swimming team. He resigned the following year, and I reluctantly took the mantle. Les had set up the program with long-term goals, and the kids that participated were committed. It was great! I had several future OIA champs in that squad. Kids like Joey Fukuoka and Tony Coda made coaching easy. That summer I went to a clinic in Vegas with a lot of young coaches, and I was hooked. I applied some of the practice theories we learned, and we were successful.
Who are your mentors or role models when it comes to coaching? Les Oshiro, Mr. Uyeda and Keith Fukumoto, and many other individuals with insightful information on kids. They strove for excellence and had fun while doing it.
As a coach at a relatively new school, what has been the biggest challenge in building a program? We have been blessed that we don’t have pool issues and blessed again with great assistant coaches. Our biggest challenge is to get underclassmen on the roster.
Has water polo changed from your first year? What adjustments do you find yourself making? We have had minor rule changes with most of the same referees - so the sport hasn’t changed too much. The biggest adjustment this year is the change from the water park to Hope Chapel pool.
What area of your team are you most encouraged by as you look ahead to the second half of the season? Our basketball and soccer players are getting comfortable in the water. It looks very promising for us.
Is anyone on your current team ready for a “breakout” season? Who are some upand-coming players your fans will soonbeawareof? We have a couple of upperclassmen ready to go! Bethanie Salas-Selem, Maddie Jamora and Nicole Talion come to mind. Madie and Nicole are gifted sprinters. Beth will use her left arm to confuse teams.
Your teams have gone far in the OIA in recent years. How close are you to being able to field one that can win the post-season tournament? My goals are less linear than making the state tournament. We hope to get a summer league stabilized and a steady flow of underclassmen in the program each year. After we get that, we can start talking about state tournaments.
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