Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Greg Yamamoto | SL

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WAIKOLOA, Hawaii — Kauai wants in on a bigger piece of the proverbial pie. 

On day two of the 65th annual Hawaii Interscholastic Athletic Directors Association conference at the Hilton Waikoloa Village, a measure seeking the inclusion of the Kauai Interscholastic Federation into the host rotations for both the boys' and girls' Division II state volleyball tournaments gained enough traction to move forward. 

For the second day in a row, athletic directors were split into four groups, with each group overseeing a dozen or so proposals. Group 4 took on the task of items pertaining to, among other issues, general HHSAA concerns. 

Four of those proposals within Group 4's purview were introduced by the Kauai Interscholastic Federation and basically sought for the league to be included in the rotation for both the girls' and boys' D2 volleyball and girls' and boys' D2 basketball state tournaments. 

Currently, all of those state tournaments — with the exception of girls basketball, which takes place once every three years in Hilo — are hosted on the island of Oahu. 

ADs in Group 4 voted down both proposals that pertained to the D2 basketball state tournaments, but voted in favor of both D2 volleyball state tournament measures. 

"We're excited and we appreciate the KIF getting an opportunity and the community of Kauai getting a chance to see high level athletics," said Kelii Morgado, athletic director at Kauai High. 

Morgado has been at the forefront of the campaign for the Garden Island's five-school league to play host to state tournaments since the completion of Kauai High's modern 1,600-seat gymnasium which opened in 2023. 

Morgado, a former football coach at Kauai High, recalled his very first HIADA conference as a rookie athletic director nearly a dozen years ago, when both ADs from the Interscholastic League of Honolulu and the Oahu Interscholastic Association bemoaned the burden of having to host numerous state tournaments year after year. 

"At that time I felt like we should be able to help out with that, but we didn't have the facilities. Now that we have a $21 million-dollar gym we have the ability to do it now," Morgado stated. 

Morgado brought a similar proposal to HIADA last summer, which was voted down, but it did little to deter him from trying again. 

"This time they voted down basketball, but they voted for volleyball and we're stoked. The whole reason why was because we wanted to share the load of hosting tournaments and we also wanted everyone to help us share the burden of inter-island travel," Morgado explained. 

He noted that most of Kauai High's athletic teams participating in preseason tournaments are required to travel to Oahu. If said team qualifies for the state tournament, those costs are multiplied. 

"For every parent of an athlete on Kauai, if they win the KIF, they're cheering, but they're also cringing because that's four, five hundred dollars in costs they take on to get their kids there for states," Morgado said. 

Morgado was grateful for the support of several other ADs in group 4 who supported the proposal, namely Stacy Jones of Kealakehe and Eddie Maruyama of Iolani. 

"They were both very supportive of the motion, which we appreciated. Stacy said to the group, especially the Oahu ADs, that none of them know how lonely it is for a kid to have no family there at states and nobody cheering for them. To have to go to Oahu all the time is an unfair burden and again, I think our community on Kauai deserves to see state-tournament level competition," Morgado said. 

Still, there was some consternation from several ADs in the closed-door meeting. In addition to costs incurred by visiting teams, the quality of officiating was also called into question. 

"Some were concerned about the cost of travel to Kauai, but it's what we deal with all the time so welcome to our world. As far as finding enough officials to hold a tournament on Kauai for four days, that's the HHSAA's burden to address," Morgado said. 

Morgado noted that Kauai High's old gym is still standing and capable of hosting games as well. Furthermore, Island School — located two miles away — is also willing to host games at their on-campus gym. 

"Everything is centrally located and I've even talked to hotels from Lihue to the Wailua River about giving group discounts — nobody does that for us when we have to go to Oahu or other islands for states. We also have laundry facilities on campus so we can wash and clean jerseys daily for the teams, so we want these teams that come to feel like they're special," Morgado said. 

Kauai High's new gym also includes state-of-the-art scoreboards, locker rooms and a dedicated wrestling and cheerleading room. 

"Our Red Raider Productions puts on the full show. They were trained by the (University of Hawaii) crew — how to do the Shaka cam, the paddle cam, dance cam — we're the only school that does a live production during the game," Morgado added. 

The D2 girls' volleyball state tournament is a 12-team field, while the boys' bracket is an eight-team tourney. The proposal seeks for the KIF to play host to either tournament — but not both — every year. 

"It would be every third year," Morgado clarified. "In talks with the HHSAA, if we started with girls' volleyball this fall, then however the rotation ends up with boys volleyball in either two or three years. All we ask is for the KIF to have one per year; We don't want to have two in the same year."

In Tuesday's straw poll amongst the same group of ADs, the D2 boys' volleyball proposal passed by a count of 27 votes for and zero against with nine abstentions. The D2 girls' volleyball proposal was defeated 11-15-9. 

In Wednesday's committee vote, Group 4 also defeated a measure backed by the ILH seeking to swap the swimming and diving season in the winter with the girls' water polo season in the spring. 

Also of note Wednesday, Group 1 voted against another ILH proposal that sought the formation of a Division III girls' volleyball state tournament. The original measure laid out an eight-team field, but was amended in committee Wednesday to a reduced four-team bracket. 

The amendment was approved by ADs, 10-9-16, but the proposal, as amended, was defeated by a count of 9-26-1. However, the ILH intends to bring the proposal to the HIADA general assembly for a vote on Thursday via minority report. 

Several track and field proposals brought to the table by the ILH were defeated in committee Wednesday, including one to remove the per-school limit of three entrants for running events. 

Also, two flag football proposals seeking to increase the size of the playing field to 100 yards by 160 feet and another to allow for the kicking of field goals were both defeated in committee Wednesday. 

All proposals that passed out of committee Wednesday will go before the entire HIADA voting body in Thursday morning's final general assembly. Proposals that gain HIADA approval will then be forwarded to the HHSAA Executive Board, which meets in the early afternoon and can approve, deny or amend any HIADA recommendation. 

The HHSAA Executive Board is made up for the presidents of each of the state's five leagues. 

At an awards dinner Wednesday night, several individuals were recognized for years of service, as well as contributions to prep sports. 

Among them were former ILH executive director Don "Spud" Botelho, who spent 65 years as a coach, teacher, athletic director and league executive during his storied tenure. Botelho passed away on Apr. 25 at the age of 93. His son, former PAC-5 football coach Kip Botelho, received the award on his behalf. 

Also recognized were Kapaa athletics director Greg Gonsalves, longtime Kauai High boys basketball coach Ipo Yoshioka and ScoringLive reporter Kalani Takase. ADs honored with NIAAA awards of years of service were: Gillian Yamagata of Kahuku (15 years), Jon Viela of Kamehameha-Maui and OIA executive director Bryce Kaneshiro (20 years), Joel Kawachi of Moanalua and Kapaa's Gonsalves (25 years), Raymond Fujino of Island Pacific Academy (30 years) and Maui Interscholastic League executive director Joe Balangitao (35 years).