The high school football and volleyball seasons kicked off this past weekend, which means athletic directors around the state are back to their crazy schedules of preparing fields and gyms for game day and then overseeing the games themselves as site manager.

Wai‘anae AD Glenn Tokunaga was no exception, working on campus Friday afternoon to help set up Raymond Torii Stadium for that night's football games against Farrington.

The next day, he left town and will be gone all this week, but I think everyone agrees it is an excused absence: Tokunaga is in Williamsport, Pa., to cheer on son Tanner and his Waipi‘o teammates in the Little League World Series.

Glenn got a lot of air time on ESPN2 during Sunday's victory over Tampa, Fla., when Tanner hit a grand slam to put an exclamation point on a 10-2 win and the cameras flashed to the bleachers to show the Hawai‘i cheering section. Waipi‘o won again this morning, 6-4 against South Dakota, to go 3-0 in pool play and advance to Wednesday's U.S. semifinals. If they win that game, they will play for the U.S. championship on Saturday. If they win Saturday, they will play the International champ Sunday for the Little League World Series title.

We all saw what happened in 2005, when the team from ‘Ewa Beach won all the marbles. We saw what an unforgettable experience it was not just for the players, but also the parents, one of whom even quit his job back home in order to stay in Williamsport till the end.

I'm pretty sure it won't come to that (quitting a job) for Tokunaga, but these kind of last-minute trips still come at great expense financially and also as far as making work arrangements. I actually was surprised he was still in Wai‘anae and at work Friday afternoon while the Waipi‘o game was being shown live on TV.It just goes to show how busy ADs are, especially on game day.

I know Tokunaga has been at the field as early as 9 a.m. to start preparing for a 4 p.m. JV game.

So, I think he has earned the right to be in Williamsport this week. As a South Dakota dad said during an in-game interview this morning, just about any parent would be making the same trip if this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity presented itself.

Besides, Tokunaga's work as Wai‘anae AD will still be here when he comes back.In the meantime, Go Tanner! and Go Waipi‘o!!

We'll be watching ...

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WINCHESTER HAS GOOD GENES, IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE

Speaking of Waipi‘o, their best hitter for the past four games has been third baseman Pikai Winchester, who hit two home runs in the West Regional final at San Bernardino, Calif., another homer in Friday's win over Connecticut and drove in four runs in Sunday's victory over Tampa.

Knowing his parents, Kanoe and Rena, it's not surprising Pikai is turning out to be quite a ballplayer. Kanoe was an All-State basketball and volleyball standout for ‘Iolani in 1988-89, and Rena — his classmate — was a four-year starter and all-star volleyball player. She was co-head coach for the Raider girls in 2003-2004.

I first met Kanoe when he was in the eighth grade, and he was already close to dunking. His sophomore year — at 5-feet-10 — he took second in the ‘Iolani Prep Classic dunk contest against several 6-3, 6-4, 6-5 leapers from Mainland powers.

To this day, I consider it to be the best performance by a local kid in that dunk contest in the 25 or so years they've been holding it. When he pulled the Terrence Stansbury-toss the ball in the air, catch and reverse two-hand slam on his first attempt, the crowd (including Mainland players and fans) went absolutely nuts.

But Kanoe wasn't just a dunker; he was a tremendous 3-point shooter who made nine treys in a game against national power Dunbar (Md.) as a senior and nearly led ‘Iolani to ILH and state championships.

Kanoe's older brother, Kaleo, was an ILH all-star linebacker for ‘Iolani in 1986 and three-year varsity letterman in basketball and baseball. Younger brother Imai played hoops for Kamehameha, where their dad, Jim, was longtime boys coach and guided the Warriors to the 1992 state title.

Anyway, that was years ago and it's time now for the next generation.

Having known the Winchesters since 1983, I have to say all this Little League World Series excitement couldn't happen to a nicer family and it's great to see them enjoying themselves and getting major air time on ESPN2 as well.

Congratulations to them, and Go Pikai! Go Waipi‘o!!

This entry was posted on Monday, August 18th, 2008 at 2:12 pm and is filed under Prep Talk. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.