Best of both worlds for state hoops tourneys in 2009
August 20th, 2008 by WesThe HHSAA has released its state tournament schedule for 2008-09, and what should be to everyone's relief is that the boys and girls basketball tourneys will be held on separate weeks this time.
Thank goodness.
It should be noted that last season's logjam situation — in which both boys and girls tournaments were held almost simultaneously — was a result of Stan Sheriff Center and Blaisdell Arena both being available only on that same weekend. This time, fortunately, it looks like Blaisdell is available on consecutive weeks so fans can enjoy the best of both worlds and watch all the action in their entirety.
The only conflicts, it looks like, would be if the OIA boys semifinals and championship were held on the Wednesday and Friday of the girls state tournament schedule, colliding with the girls first round and semifinal action.
But hey, can't have it all sometimes. Compared to last season, we'll take this.
This scheduling crunch shows how we cannot take the availability of top venues for granted. Obviously the ones at UH — Stan Sheriff, Les Murakami Stadium, Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium — can be used only when the Rainbows don't have home games.
The problem is, the HHSAA tournament calendar is first drafted in June at the annual Hawai‘i Interscholastic Athletic Directors Association (HIADA) conference, long before most UH schedules are released.
If a conflict emerges, then the HHSAA has to shuffle things around. That happened last week, when HHSAA executive director Keith Amemiya announced to his executive board that neither Stan Sheriff Center nor Blaisdell Arena was available for the original week of the girls volleyball state tournaments.
With traditional crowds of over 3,000 for the Division I championship match, having it at a school site was not a good option.
Thankfully, again, SSC was available a week later so that's where it will be.
The other noteworthy item on this year's state tournament calendar is the track and field championships being held on the Big Island for the first time. The exact site has yet to be determined, but it most likely will be at either Kamehameha-Hawai‘i or Kea‘au, both of which are about nine miles south of Hilo.
That often means rain, but hopefully the weather will stay dry at least for those two days.
Some may grumble about traveling to the Big Island anyway, but I think it is fair to spread some of the state tournaments to the Neighbor Islands when feasible, because N.I. athletes, coaches and fans shouldn't be expected to travel ALL the time. Especially with the airfares rising the way they are.
So parents and fans, the schedules are out there, kapu your days off/vacation as soon as you can, and start saving money for those airline/SuperFerry tickets and hotel rates.
The first state tournaments are barely two months away, right around the corner.
August 20th, 2008 at 8:58 am
The HHSAA itself contributed greatly towards the simultaneous scheduling of the boys' and girls' basketball tournaments last year. It was a mess, b ut the HHSAA reacted poorly.
When Michigan lost its court case, it was inevitable that Hawaii would have to switch the girls' season. However, Hawaii probably would have had at least a year, maybe two, to comply.
In rushing to implement an immediate change without more time to plan, the HHSAA (mainly, principals and athletic directors) put a strain on the coaches, officials, and facilities. The scheduling of the boys and girls state tournaments were only a symptom of a deeper mistake.
August 21st, 2008 at 10:42 am
I thought the Fall, Winter and Spring sports schedules were not going to overlap this year... but the manner in which this is being accomplished is highly unbalanced. I understand that tryouts for boys basketball now cannot begin until December 1. And the start of the regular OIA league season stays pretty much the same, right after January 1. That means a number of highly enjoyable tournaments in December are getting short-shrifted. As a big fan of high school sports in general, I see this is a step in the wrong direction. For example, the traditional season tip-off Pete Smith invitational in early December at Kalaheo now is being forced to conflict with the James Allegre tournament at Radford. Why was the start of basketball tryouts put back two weeks, as compared to last season? Since most football teams will be pau after eight to ten games, why delay the start of basketball tryouts? It's pretty obvious we're sacrificing the start of basketball season for the sake of the state football tournaments -- which involve very few schools. With football tryouts officially starting at the end of July and not ending until the state tournament in early December, I gotta ask: why do we need to dedicate four full months (and parts of two others) of the high school year to football?
Even worse is the extension of the state boys basketball tournament by another two weeks into early March, chewing into the start of early season baseball non-conference games. The new schedule provides three months of basketball, plus the (boys') state tournaments. Some baseball teams rely heavily on winter season athletes to fill their rosters -- and some had to scramble even last season to field teams for early non-conference games. Yet the state tournament for baseball is not moved back, but is the same as last season (early May). That means only two months for baseball, plus the D-I and D-II tournaments coinciding in early May. My guess is that ILH schools will not be impacted nearly as much as many public school teams.
This shift in seasons hurts schools and teams with less resources, especially in baseball, beginning with the number of players available (relative to multi-sport athletes finishing out with their winter season teams).
Bottom line: 4-plus months for football (not including coach-influenced year-round "conditioning"), 3-plus months for basketball, and 2-plus months for baseball... do the math.
August 21st, 2008 at 1:33 pm
If K-Tom is right about the starting dates for sports, I would agree with him. Much is being sacrificed for footbal playoffs involving very few teams. When will the majority of leagues be finished--early November? Girls volleyball finishes on November 8th. I certainly hope K-Tom's date for basketball to start (December 1) is wrong. Why not November 10th, right after volleyball ends? Gyms will be free.
August 21st, 2008 at 1:33 pm
The girls and boys basketball schedules probably were "staggered" for the upcoming season to help alleviate some of the logjam of games and facility usage that happened last year.
As for the boys state tournament, March was the traditional time for it through many years until maybe a decade ago. So it's not so much something new as it is a return to the old days.
The baseball state tournament again will be held earlier than usual because that's the only week Les Murakami Stadium was available. But again, I remember the state tournament often being held in early May, because that's when my birthday is and I recall spending a couple birthdays at the ballpark.
One explanation for the football season being spread out more is that unlike basketball and baseball, you can only play football once a week. That leaves much less flexibility in trying to condense the schedule over a shorter time period.
Mahalo for reading.
August 21st, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Gyms will be "free" on Nov. 10 for varsity and JV girls teams. If you throw in vars and JV boys teams, all of a sudden there's not much free time to play with.
That's why they try to stagger the start dates a little.
Mahalo for reading.
August 23rd, 2008 at 5:27 am
Gyms being "free" for voluntary play, including informal basketball, still does not change the official start of try-outs on December 1 (confirmed to me by one OIA head coach). But it certainly does bring into question why basketball try-outs have been pushed back some two weeks, causing a chain reaction which severely hamstrings the traditional non-conference -- and highly entertaining -- tournaments in December.
The official start dates for official try-outs impact teams' seasons, obviously.
Wes, in your spare time on the other side of the North American continent, could you tell us when the official try-out dates for ALL Hawaii high school sports are, right through spring season sports?