Anyone interested? No plans or dates yet but it would be cool to put together something and see some boards, faces etc… If there is interest then I’ll start everything rolling… Open to hear suggestions… If its a go, when we get a place, and date I’ll post it in the Events section too…
Aloha,
Blane
OK, here we go…
What: Swaylocks Oahu Gathering
Local style Pot luck, BYOB, Talk story, Enjoy each others company etc…
When: March 18th 11:00am to whenever
Where: Puaena Pt (Waimea side along wall. This way we have grass too)
Hi Dennis, where are you coaching? I tried to get my younger daughter (8th grade) to play at Kamehameha, but she wanted to do gymnastics. She was on the swim team for the last 2 years. The older one paddles and has refused to play waterpolo.
Bernie and I both played at Kamehameha. I loved that sport. I still stay in touch with several of my teammates.
I coach for Castle HS girls water polo. I help the weaker swimmers with their stroke and the very basic skills. The head coach Ted is a '76 Iolani grad and the younger coach Chris Lee is '97 Iolani grad. It’s very different to coach girls especially trying to get them to be more aggressive. I have about two players that have all-star potential. We also have some very weak swimmers too. We are in the conditioning stage right now. According OIA rules, we can only start practicing with the ball after Feb. 20.
I enjoy water polo and it’s perfect cross training for surfing.
BTW: Coach Ted (Iolani) got his speedos ripped off by a Kamehameha player (hole position) back in the mid 70’s. Do you recall that story?
I grad in '76, but I don’t remember that incident. We always wore 2 pairs of speedos because it wasn’t unusual to have the outer pair getting ripped. There was always kicking and pulling going on underwater.
In '75 the hole man would have been Greg Chun or Kimo McClellan. I think Gary Miyamoto may have been our holeman in '76, or maybe Clem Crowell.
I remember the Choy brothers, Ortiz, Aaron Chaney, Angus McKibbin, but I’m not sure who Tom is. I think most of these guys were '75 or '74 grads.
He probably knows my good friend and classmate, Curt Ai who’s coaching Kalani HS swimming and waterpolo. He was coaching Kamehameha intermediate boys. Curt’s the only one of us that’s still involved in waterpolo or swimming. He was at Kailua before moving to Kalani.
He’s in Aaron Chaney’s class and must have played against us back then
but by 76’ the ref’s were too whistle happy
in the early 70’s '70-'73 there were lots of bloody noses, black eyes and kicks in the you know where…
The had two local japanese spinters that were olympic caliber but punahou was still top dog.
They had a great coach in Mr.Jay
Robin Durnham was ours and before that it was the famous swim coach Bill Smith.
Still remember when coach smith showed up to our first practice with a book on basketball.
But all he did was make us do butterfly 50 yrd sprints till we puked and egg beaters till we thought we would drown.
If you grabbed on to the side of the pool you could expect to get your head pounded by polo balls point blank till you let go.
I never was in better shape in my life that those days.
As far as speedos
every good waterpolo player knew to wear two sets of speedos for that exact reason.
All great players could grab your speedos with their toes and rip them off while pulling you under (especially the hole man) all the while with both hands raised up out of the water making innocent.
Every surfer should’ve played waterpolo it was the antithesis of the jock syndrome but harder physically.
Cool everybody… I’m guessing a park with facilities would be a good call… Maybe a Saturday or Sunday at a beach park somewhere… If North Shore I suggest Haleiwa because plenty parking, bathrooms, showers etc… I don’t know a Town side park that isn’t nuts on a weekend… I’m game though if anyone has a suggestion… East side has some beautiful parks… West side has Makaha or Maile… As far as a date goes we can plan it months out or weeks out…
when do all the contests end up on the northshore…
until then it’s pretty much a zoo isn’t it?
No more contest at Haleiwa side till Dec. Puena Pt side can along the wall on the Waimea side or even the main parking area… Nice to have the grass to lay out some boards and stuff… If the waves are cranking we can have it all! Shall we do it before the season turns to summer?
If I’m still here, I’ll do my best to show up. Would love to see some of the boards you guys have made. Just a comment on some of the West Side beaches: Maile is pretty much taken over by homeless and parking at Makaha can be pretty tough on weekends. I don’t know how big of a crowd you’re expecting, but there’s always Barber’s Point. If it’s a small group, you can set up your own awning, of if someone is military you might be able to reserve one of the covered picnic areas at White Plains or Nimitz.